For the 4th of July this year we decided to go up to Tahoe for fireworks. A lot of people told us how crowded it was and told us stories that made us question why we would go but we knew we had to try it sometime. It actually turned out to be really fun and not all that crowded. I've found that when you go into something with low expectations (especially a movie) that it always ends up being a positive experience. I'm not preaching pessimism, but sometimes low expectations can be good.

Our friends the Millwards invited us to go with them, we brought sandwiches and snacks up to Nevada Beach. Their youngest girl is such a cute little thing, she is over a year old but she is so small, I'm afraid Ellie will eat her sometimes.

This was the first time Ellie has seen fireworks and she loved it, she was clapping the whole time and was so happy. We were in Logan last year and they don't have fireworks on the 4th.

You have to go early to get a good spot, so we played on the beach until the fireworks started. The fireworks were so pretty with the mountains in the background and the reflection of the lake. I was scared a boat would catch on fire in the middle of the lake but everyone was safe. We will definately be back next year.

We've come to love Tahoe being so close and we definately need to take more advantage of being 13 miles away from such a pretty place. We really love it here and never associated northern Nevada as a cool place to be until we got here.

Joni went to a Michael Jackson tribute show in Reno with her Zumba friends, so Ellie and I stayed home and ate ice cream. They stayed out late and had fun, Joni does need to get out every now and again. I can just see the look in her eyes that she is ready to be done with this pregnancy but she has the right attitude about everything. She is at the stage where every little movement makes her uncomfortable. We have a name picked out but we'll reveal it when we see the baby and Joni confirms it is the right one. If not we are back to square one.

I love all the trees around our house that provide shade, but within every tree lies a bird that wants to poop on my truck. Ellie helped me wash it, she is obsessed with my truck for some reason so she had fun cleaning it with me. I could just feel the birds watching and waiting as I put on a fresh coat of wax...

Washing Daddy's truck is awesome!

Joni just finished our 3rd blog book, that's why we do this in the first place, it is so cool to have all of our pictures and blogs in books now. This one came out to be 180 pages. We wanted to start fresh with a new book right now, the next "chapter" in our lives involves baby number 2.

It is fun to look back on the last couple of years in a book. From North Carolina, Colorado, to Nevada...and our Oregon, Europe, and family reunion trips, it is so fun to think about where we've come from. Just a couple more weeks...or less...and our lives completely change again.