We always celebrate the 4th of July with the Morris family. It's an annual swim/BBQ/rockets/ fireworks extravaganza!! This year I wanted to do it at my house, so thanks everyone for being willing to break with tradition. :) These are photos of the rocket launching. Scott usually preps the rockets, although I did learn how to do it myself. It only took a few botched launches to figure out what I was doing wrong. But I think I will forever be teased by my dad for trying to use an old engine. It really was an honest mistake!!! We tried to keep everyone hydrated. None of the kids wanted to be in the shade, they wanted to be chasing the rockets. Grandma snapped this photo of my "snack packs" before they took off to run around. It had rained for several hours the night before, and the park where we wanted to shoot rockets was under water. So the vacant lots behind our house became the new launch pad, and thankfully, there wasn't any really wet mud!

This is the baby eagle we got to see on our hike down to Woods Canyon Lake. The forest ranger took my camera and focused it through the lens of her telescope to get this image. It was really cool!

We saw the mom eagle while we were kayaking on the lake the day before. I've never seen one in real life, so this was very exciting. She has a 7 foot wingspan and is 1/3 larger than the father. Way to go...girl power!!

Dad and Raegan were in a kayak together, Kiersten and Rylee got their own and Aubree rowed Canon and I around...until I got nervous and made Raegan switch with me. That was a hilarious sight. I'm sure the fishermen who were out never bargained on such early morning entertainment! Canon's life jacket was way to big for him and swallowed him up most of the time. He was not happy.

We went camping on the Mogollon Rim last weekend. It was nice to escape the heat and get together with extended family. This is the first real trip we've taken as a family since Canon was born. He did pretty good and we had plenty of warm clothes for him...

Aubree didn't get any sleep, however, because she's developed into a light sleeper and Dad was snoring all night! She rolled over to me at one point, in tears, and confessed she hadn't slept since we got in the tent! Poor Aubree... she volunteered to sleep in the 2-man pup tent the next night and said afterwards it was the best night of sleep she'd ever had. :)

Rylee was in the zone all weekend with so many bugs, rocks, plants and animals to identify...there was never a shortage of things for her to do. Here she is with her cousin, Avery, holding a horny toad.

This is the beautiful scenic outlook near Woods Canyon Lake. We had a lot of fun, but boy did that shower feel good when we got home!