The 4th of July was special this year for a few reasons. First of all, we had some very sweet house guests, June and Quia (Kamille's mom and sister). Secondly, we were all together for our first 4th of July in Arizona. Last, it was special because Smed and Josh made dinner for us. Don't think grill or steaks or hot dogs. Think 4th of July in Japan. That's right. They made sushi. Here they are working on salmon, cucumbers and tuna.
The rolling mat and seaweed.
....and Smed's first roll!!! Let's just say it tasted GREAT but it took a while to chew because they were the biggest rolls we've ever seen. 
Here's is Josh's first California roll.
Kamille, June and Quia. We had a great time together!
Here's the table before we ate. The guys were artistic in their presentation. It was so nice!
This is Emet working on his sushi.
After dinner we caravanned over to Tumbleweed Park for some fireworks. Here are the kids with their friend, Nathan.
The girls.
The guys.
A mommy and her kids.
Last, some fireworks. It was a fun 4th of July. What a blessing to spend it with family and friends!
Part of their retreat includes a day at Knott's Berry Farm. They got tickets for all of us to go and in spite of how exciting that was we had a rough morning before getting out the door to breakfast and then to the park. Here are the kids demonstrating their grumpiness.
And here they are being excited about going. They really were excited and I can't even remember what the issues were that morning as we got ready. I think it had something to do with tangled hair that needed to be braided, not sharing toys or something of that nature...
The kids are playing by the fountain on Biola's campus as we waited to load the vans and go to the amusement park.
We're there! What shall we do first?
This is a sweet picture of Zoe, Emet and their new friend, Logan.
Our first ride was the silver bullet. "Our" meaning the adults. The first ride for the kids was the carousel. 
Then we were off to drive semi-trucks!
My knees barely fit in that truck.
Lunch time!!! The kids table.
And the "adult" table.
All SIX of us! (Thanks to the wind for pointing out the 6th)
Here is Evi with a HUGE bag of kettle corn. As you can see she was waiting for it all day!
These are the Pinaltos. We got to hang out with them all day. Bill is the pastor over student ministries at Camelback. We had so much fun getting to know them by riding roller coasters, eating expensive food and talking all day! What a great family. Also our girls really hit it off. 
One last shot before we left the park of the kids in a bobsled. We rode the log ride 3 or 4 times that day. It was definitely the favorite ride. I don't have a picture though because all 5 (well, 6) of us could ride it. We had a great weekend besides this day but I don't have pictures of Smedly preaching or of the kids and I playing at the nearby park during the sessions. We certainly feel blessed all around; to be able to serve by preaching, to be able to be with Smed while he's teaching a retreat and to get to enjoy new things as a family!
Evi and Zoe watch us while Emet is in his class and then after his class we head over to the big pool for their lessons. This is Zoe waiting for her turn to dive under the water. She's in the Tadpole class.
Evi's in the next class up which is called the Shrimp class. She's doing great! 
Zoe's back float.
Emet and I hang out under the umbrella while the girls swim. He's eating his raisins and telling me about which ones are yucky (the ones that fall on the ground) and the ones that are not yucky (the ones that stay in his box).
The kids love going. They're going to be sad when this week is over. They've been in the pool at 9:00 and 9:30 and then we get home and often swim before we take naps and then sometimes we swim again in the evening when Smed gets home. In spite of the 50 SPF sunscreen we are all looking like true Arizonians.
Evi wasted no time finding flowers for Grandma J.
Emet helped hammer in the tent stakes.
Playing in the dirt and on the rock with bulldozers and all kinds of tractors.
Hanging out by the fire ring, hoping that someone would start it and get some s'mores going.
We forgot our thermarest air mattresses so Smedly made a layer of pine needles covered with grass for our tent spot. It worked! It was so much softer and warmer than putting the tent on bare ground.
Grandma J taught Evi how to play checkers. She would have played all day.
Zoe and Job had a lot of fun playing together. She's showing him how cool it is that there is a Sesame Street character named Zoey.
A great picture taken by Smedly of Jon skateboarding.
The first night we got up three or four times in the night to either take Evi and then Zoe to the bathroom or to help the kids get warm again after getting out of their sleeping bags or blankets. We didn't want to repeat that the second night so here is Emet completely covered with a fleece blanket and one of the girls sleeping bags in his pack-n-play.
We put Evi and Zoe in the same sleeping bag and zipped it as high as it would go. Thankfully, no one woke up in the middle of the night!
In the morning the lake was so pretty and flat. This was the only time of day when it was calm.
Evi and Miles. She was so great with him. She loves babies and loved to give him attention and hold him.
Mr. Serious.
We were tired and hungry and so glad to be at their house! The big excitement was a trailer/mobile home parked in their driveway that Jon, April and their kids got to sleep in. I think Emet was a little jealous.
The kids tackling Uncle Jon.
We celebrated some of the June birthdays and father's day at one time. Zoe went first and unwrapped a super cute sun dress and hat.
Then April's birthday...
Mine... Zoe and Micah helped me unwrap. It was taking me way too long.
Then it was Father's Day.
A father's day hug from the girls.
We stayed at a condo close to the conference center. The kids played in the pool everyday. Although, the pool was not the heart of the conference it's what I have pictures of. I thought the scenery was great! A huge mountain, palm trees and blue sky....
This was a game that Zoe and Emet played everyday in the kiddie pool and here Sidney is being very sweet and joining Emet in the game. By the way, Zoe called the kiddie pool the "cat pool" because it's not just for kitties.
The kids made friends with other guests. Here are Elisa and Jayce jumping in with two new friends.
And Evi's jump...
Zoe and Sidney.
The boys and their muscles. (Emet's are yellow)
We were so happy to get some time with Jeff and Mandy, our friends from Nashville. We ate lunch together one day and got to catch up. It was so fun and so encouraging. Resolved is not over yet for Smed and me. We both have some sermons to catch up. I'm looking forward to my next three mornings to run so I can listen to the three that I missed.
