Celebrating more than the 4th..

Independance day was happily celebrated in Tucson with Matt's dad Dennis getting out of the hospital. We packed up the house and headed down the 3rd where he was already waiting for us at home. The diagnosis: Non Hodgkins Lymphoma - he's had his first round of chemo already.

This proved to be the perfect opportunity for me to 'practice' my nursing skills...since SOMEDAY I would love to become a nurse. I kept thinking, hmmmmm...what would Miss Christine do? (Mia's nurse.)

I'm hoping next time the patient will look more enthused... :)

A golf cart ride around the block...Ashley, watch out for the parked...car.

The girls love Grandma and Grandpa's hot tub...

Relaxing outside...

Grandpa & Mia talking about hospitals, and what they like and don't like, they also talked about where they like pokes and IV's. It's something you can talk about when you know exactly what the other person has been through.

Maddy had a really good nap...especially after all the swimming.

4th of July DINNER

Matt giving the Freedom Speech...

The 3 Freedom's we celebrated:

1. America's birthday...we live in a FREE country!

2. Freedom that God has given us in His Son Jesus

3. Dennis' Freedom from the hospital...yay!!!

Celebrating together as a family...

Family Portraits ~

Wishing you the best!

The Neighbor's

Dennis & Pam's neighbor's had a 4th of July party...so Matt and I accompanied them for a little while a few houses up the road, yes...the wanna be nurse tagged along too. (That's me!) It was great for Dennis to get out and see some of his friends, and I know Pam appreciated it as well. Dennis took the liberty of showing everyone his port...and I thought it was a kodak moment. Thankfully someone had a camera, so I borrowed it...all for the blogs sake!

Can I just say, what a GREAT group of neighbors Pam & Dennis have?! They are so much fun to talk to, and they know how to have a good time, but most importantly, they are there to help out eachother is anyone needs help. That's exactly what neighbors are for. Thanks everyone for being so kind to my in-laws! We tagged along with most of them to watch fireworks...

Fireworks!

Matt got a few little poppers for the kids to throw on the ground, and a few snakes.

Grandpa liked to watch the kids play...then it was time for a drive.

Here we all are in the car, yep...eight McPoland's 4X4'ing through the desert on a mountain on 4th of July...we told the girls you can't wear flip flops because of rattle snakes and bugs...

...they were a little scared but when we got to the look out they were excited.

They sat in the back of someone's truck to watch the fireworks.

We waited for the fireworks to start...

I was so happy to see Dennis & Pam having a good time with their friends, and I'm so thankful that Dennis got to be a part of it. We truly had a great 4th of July...usually we stay home because it's so hot here. I'm glad that we made some special memories this 4th of July.