What A Week!

Sunday, we said farewell to our niece, Hermana McKenzi Huey as she leaves on her mission to California.

Monday, I had an appointment with my midwife that included an ultrasound, revealing the gender of our next baby.  I kept my eyes away from the screen during certain diagnostic angles, and I told the midwife not to tell me the gender, but to write it on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope.   I promptly took the sealed envelope to a local bakery and asked them to put blue filling in for a boy and pink filling for a girl. 


Wednesday night, we rented out the local swimming pool and invited family and a few friends to come party with us.   It was a beautiful night and the water was perfect!   The men and children enjoyed a raucous game of keep-away and even Grandpa Johnson (a.k.a. Santa Claus) went down all the water slides, claiming that it was the first time he'd been on a water slide in his life!  He was a natural, and couldn't seem to get enough!   He kept on going down the slides, much to the delight of us all!  The party was too short, and I was sad to see it end, but before our guests went home, we cut the cake and revealed that our baby #6 will be a....boy!!!  I must admit I was rather surprised , but definitely happy.   Eden, on the other hand, was devastated.  She sunk down on her seat and cried her eyes out.  Poor sweetie.  She will remain the one little princess surrounded by her own protective brotherly knights.  She doesn't know how lucky she is. 

Our family has been rotating through animals again lately.   About two weeks ago, we brought home an adorable, fluffy, lop-eared baby bunny rabbit we named "Maple".  We had to be careful with her, because we have been dog-sitting a bloodthirsty boxer for the past year who had already killed our cat and pet bunny we had previously.  We would juggle positions with the bunny and dog, bringing the dog inside while we played with the bunny outside, and the dog outside while the bunny was inside.  It worked pretty well, but I noticed that the bunny's long ears were starting to get ticks from her time outside.  I had some leftover Frontline from our deceased kitty, and thought I'd just put that on the rabbit to protect her from ticks.   Little did I know that Frontline is poisonous to rabbits.  Two days after application, the sweet bunny started having violent seizures, and finally Thursday morning, she died. :-(  It was a sad, sad day for us all.  Turns out I'm more dangerous to have a round than a bloodthirsty boxer. 


Fortunately, on Wednesday, we had gone to a friends' house to help build a chicken coop, and in exchange for our efforts, we were sent home with a cute baby kitten we named "Misty".  Again, we had to be careful to keep the kitten away from the dog, but the new kitten definitely helped lesson the sting of losing our pet bunny. 

Then Thursday night, after the pool party, our friends we were dog sitting for finally took their dog away.  We had been taking care of the dog for about a year, so it was weird to come home that night and not see him running up the drive to greet us.  I was sad for about thirty seconds.

Yesterday was Independence Day!   Our whole family woke up extra early (6:30am) ate a quick breakfast (half a banana, anyone?) and drove to Columbia for the Parley P. Pratt Freedom Run. There's a story about Parley P. Pratt, W. W. Phelps and King Follett being imprisoned under the Missouri Extermination Order.  After sitting in prison for months and months, they were transferred to the Boone County Jail in Columbia, Missouri, where, on the 4th of July, 1839, the men broke out of jail and ran for their freedom.  Parley was the only one who wasn't caught, although the other men were both released shortly after.  There were two routes to the run: a four mile and a one mile course.  Our family opted for the shorter, one mile path.   There was a man dressed as Parley, waving a flag for Liberty, and handing out tokens to any of the kids who tagged him.  The tokens were then traded in for smaller versions of the "Liberty" flag that the original prisoners hung from the window of the Boone County Jail during their internment.  After the race, the local missionaries cooked a dynamite pancake breakfast and the race winners were given watermelons as trophies.   Fun morning!  
 

After a quick stop at Sam's Club, we went home and started preparations for our 4th of July barbecue.  Justin grilled chicken and delicious ribs.  Grandma & Grandpa Johnson, Uncle Chris, Aunt Allison & family, and the missionaries all came over to eat and then Uncle Chris went to work painting the kids' hair and faces red, white, and blue.   It took most of the afternoon to get everyone decked out.  Then Chris broke out some leftover color powder from this past spring's Paint the People color run and the missionaries and kids had fun throwing it all over each other.  After dinner, we loaded up in the Jeep and drove downtown for the festivities going on there.  We sat in the jeep and watched fireworks over the Capitol building while Justin blasted the local radio station's synchronized patriotic music.   So fun to celebrate our nation's birthday!!!