WOW - what a fantastic 4th of July we had!!

The ice cream mix-in contest was cool (pun intended). I got voted "Most Outrageous" for my ice-cream-belly-with-pickle-belly-button idea. Hee! And my niece, Betsy (16 yrs old) loves pickles SO much that she took the pickle belly button out and ate it, with ice cream on it and everything! She's a really shy girl, but when it comes to doing nutty things like that she's always up for it! We actually got some video footage of her eating it - lol! And LOTS of other video footage too - Scotty was having a ball with the camcorder!
My mom and dad got there at about 1:00 and we all had lunch (sloppy joes and a bunch of other stuff) and then just relaxed and chatted. The weather was PICTURE PERFECT on their lake. About 77* and a beautiful breeze - and NO humidity!! They had this lawn game called "Blongo Ball" set up and lots of us took turns playing that. It's a pretty cool game!
Then....at about 6:00, Kathy (mom-in-law) and Koreena (sis-in-law) brought out a bunch of food for dinner and started moving tables and chairs around. I was sitting across the yard with my mom and some others and was completely oblivious as to what they were up to. Finally, I casually turned around and they had this huge bunch of balloons and decorations up, and a big ol' pile of gifts under the tree!! As soon as I glanced over there they all yelled "Surprise!" Everybody sat in a half-circle (there were about 25 of us there altogether I think - maybe more) and watched as Scott and I opened the gifts. There were even a couple of shower games, with prizes for the winners and stuff. It was really, really cool and I was so touched that I started crying a little but stopped myself cuz I didn't wanna look like a complete dork in front of everybody! The gifts were just amazing! So much *wonderful* baby stuff - clothes, booties, a tiny white fuzzy bathrobe, the infant bathtub I registered for, the giraffe swing, books, and best of all -- this AWESOME burley/jog stroller from Scott's parents!!! I wanted one SO bad for Alyssa but thought we'd eventually just buy one ourselves cuz those things are not cheap and we didn't expect to get one as a gift!! You can attach it to the back of a bike OR add a third wheel to the front and it becomes a jog stroller! In my non-pregnancy days, I do a lot of "power walking", so this thing will be sooooo great to have!! Up there is a picture of what it looks like. Cannot wait to use it!!
....By the time the shower was over and the food was all cleaned up, it was getting dark and my BIL, Corey, did his annual fireworks display. It was beautiful. By 10:45 I was totally beat and went in to bed. It was so cool to have my mom and dad there again - they had a terrific time. This morning, Scott and I and our parents went out for breakfast before we headed home. Traffic was great both to and from, so that was nice!
And during our little trip, my little stinker moved a lot. It was too funny - she was really boogying in there during the fireworks. No doubt she could hear them and probably wondered what in the world was going on! Scott's afraid that now she'll be born deaf cuz of all that noise last night! I think not! ; )

Tomorrow I have the doctor appointment where they'll do the glucose test. I have to drink that really sugary orange stuff an hour before the appointment. I pray that I don't have any gestational diabetes issues!!

We're hoping to work on Alyssa's room next week. We have lots of stuff to clear out of there before Scotty can start painting and we can move some of her things in there. I hope we manage to get a lot done - it will be SO great when that room starts looking like a nursery!!