Before I settle down to my nightly ritual of watching Ron and Libby banter on Fox 31, I'll fill you in our week of excitement.

We spent the 4 th of July in Cheyenne at my sister's house. A few weeks ago, when we went to Cheyenne, we were driven there in my dad's humungous bus. This time we had to drive ourselves in our stinkin' mini van. The kids were mad about it too, especially when we told them, "You can take ONE thing on this drive: Your imagination".

We managed to annoy them quite a bit, on our almost two hour drive. They wanted kids music, and we played Rascal Flatts. When I offered some library books to them, I was struck with a little song about Judy Moody. Billy instantly joined in as my "back up" and also harmonized too, which is difficult as my melodies tend to go all over the place.

"Judy Moody. Judy Moody. She shook her booty. Judy Moody. While on duty. Judy Moody".

That's pretty much the whole song. And I WROTE it as I SUNG it. Can you even believe that? My daughter Faith, who has more musical ability in her ear lobe than I have in my whole body, was intrigued by the song at first, but quickly bored of it. The boys hated it from the first note. That's okay. Memories were made.

After stopping to buy a few "safe but fun" fireworks, we arrived at my sister's amazing house. She makes Martha Stewart look like an idiot. If it weren't for my sister, my whole house would be decorated with panty hose crafts, and buttons. When we were little, we would go to the craft store, and each buy something that we could make. Laura would pump out a new Precious Moments cross stitch in a day, while I would still be sorting the pre-cut yarn I was going to use in my rainbow colored roller skate latch hook. My mom was always very nice about each of our abilities. She would quickly frame Laura's artwork and put it on the Wall of Laura's Beautiful Creations. Then when I finished my latch hook, (months later) she'd find a nice fabric to sew on the back of it, stuff it with batting, and call that sucker a pillow.

Anyway, the 4 th of July in Cheyenne was a treat this year. Jack was most excited about the illegal fireworks. I had to tell him ( and Billy ) over and over again, that they aren't illegal in Wyoming, only Colorado. In Wyoming you can shoot things up as high as you can, wherever you want. Roger and Laura's friends brought a ton of fireworks, and as the sky cleared up, we all went out to celebrate. The kids held sparklers, and the adults set up the show. As soon as the show started, Will screamed and said he hated fireworks, and wanted to go home.

I could still see most of the action from their deck, and as Will drifted off to sleep in my arms, startling every few seconds from the noise, I thought about my independence. And how I don't have any.

The lowest point in the day happened when I accidentally pinched my brother in law's butt. I fear that the next family gathering is going to be awkward. I swear, I thought he was my 16 year old nephew, but as I looked up to catch his shocked reaction, I saw a bald head and knew instantly I had made a huge error in judgment. As the room screamed in grand hilarity, Billy asked me why I thought it was appropriate to pinch my 16 year old nephew in the first place. All I could say was, "I make bad choices sometimes".

This is who I am, and people listen to me when I say, this is me, WITHOUT alcohol. It's such a good thing that I'm not a drinker. I would be so messed.

We came home the next day, and had to play Monopoly all afternoon. Apparently Jack's cousins taught him to play while I wasn't looking, and now it's all he wants to do. I do good the first hour or so, then I start trying to make it all educational with the budgeting of money, paying rent, and how winning 2 nd place in a beauty contest isn't all there is in life...anyway, it goes downhill pretty much after that. By August I vow to get through at least one whole game. ( without tears, or a math lesson )

Anywho, I'm pretty tired, the news is about to come on, and my four year old wants to cuddle. Man, life is good.