Our very own splash-pad...from the sky :)

This isn't us - just a picture I found on the web - but it is what we were doing today! 

(minus the coats and shoes and umbrellas...)

(I wish I had a picture of us - but it was raining too hard! It would have been the death of my phone!) 

It has been quite hot the past few days (like upper 90's plus humidity - whew!) and we were going to go to a swimming pool or splash pad this afternoon to cool off, but the skies just opened up and brought the water to us! It was great! Warm rain poured down as fast and hard as you can imagine, filled our grass and cement patio with warm water to our ankles, and out we went! Braden decided he should don a jacket and pants for the outing - shoes were not necessary to any of us, and Cam and I were happy in our shorts and t-shirts as we stomped, tromped, splashed and played in the hard rain! It was our very own little splash pad and intense sprinkler, fun rivers flowing out of the gutters, and we were all soaked through and having a great time! It was even accompanied by an amazing lightning show and booming thunder! 

(after a good half an hour the more responsible mother in me kicked in and I figured we had had our fun and I had probably better take my kids in before I chance that one of us is going to get struck by (or traumatized by) the lightning - there was tons and tons of it! Even as I'm writing it is still raining hard, lightning making an amazing show in the sky and the thunder is shaking the wall behind me.)

Cam wailed when I had to bring him in - he was so anxious to go out in the first place - he loves water in any form and there is nothing about rain that doesn't make him think he ought to be out playing in it and enjoying it! Haha!  :)

So today, I'm grateful. So glad for that sweet gift of the heavens pouring down rain on us and bringing us our very own little splash pad to play in, right in the comfort of our yard! Such a sweet little gift. After a nice warm bath we went on to have yummy breakfast for dinner, with a delicious smoothie, watched Ice Age and played around on the disassembled couch cushions lining the floor, and viola! 

A perfect Friday afternoon/evening with my boys! 

Days like this just make me happy to be alive - and the feeling like Heavenly Father just goes to such great, but simple, measures to show us that He cares and to make us feel watched over and loved. Though He can't change everything we might wish in our lives, 

He does so much to show us that He's there.