Happy 4th of July!!

This 4th of July was so much fun! We did all our annual traditions...starting bright and early with breakfast at McDonalds. Nothing says, "I'm proud to be an American" like eating at the nastiest place on Earth, right?

Afterwards, we met up with our good friends, the Skinners, to watch the "big" Provo Parade. They are always so sweet to let us crash with them...


Every year, when we go to this parade, I always wonder why we do it. We usually bake in the July sunshine (not this year though...it was actually overcast for most of the parade); the parade organizers won't allow any of the floats throw candy; and you basically just sit there and get advertised to as businesses and politicians pass by. But, the kiddos love it, and it's fun to see the Skinners...who we don't see nearly as much as we'd like to...so I'm sure we'll keep going. Here's Uncle Dan & his little shadows...

Poppy is usually quite vocal at parades. He likes to pick totally random names (Jennifer, Makayla, Samantha, etc.) and yell them out as the beauty queens pass by. He also likes to razz every single politician who passes through that has EVER voted for something he doesn't like. But, he didn't do much of that this year. Maybe he's getting soft in his old age. (Just kidding Poppy!) The only funny thing he did had to do with the Baby Contest winners. When they passed by us, Poppy jumped up, grabbed Cohen & just joined the parade along with the winners, as if Cohen had won. We all got a good laugh out of it...

The boys loved, loved, LOVED it when the Star Wars characters came along though...

My mom, Kristin, Amanda & I all walked around the bizarre to kill some time in the middle of the parade & I was able to find some super cute bows for Viv there...so I guess, all-in-all, the parade wasn't that bad.

After the parade, we all came back to our house to hang out & have a barbecue. The kiddos got the kiddie pool & the slip-n-slide out first & had fun doing that for quite a while, despite the fact that it was still cloudy & slightly cool. By the way, that monstrosity in the background is our partially completed fire pit. More on that in just a second...

While the kiddos played, the rest of just sat around & chatted, and cuddled Vivvie Girl of course...

She's so patriotic...

After the kids finished swimming, it was on to a rousing game of Bocci Ball...

And trampoline "routines". These were pretty hilarious. Kristin, Dan & the boys all made up their own routine of trampoline tricks. Then Nana & I had to judge them. It was...entertaining...to say the least...

After that, we had a yummy barbecue, but I didn't take any pictures of that because I was too busy stuffing my face.

Later that evening, we cooked s'mores around the partially competed fire pit...in the rain. Seriously, what was up with this wacky 4th of July weather? It hardly ever rains here on the 4th of July...

Okay, so this is the partially completed fire pit. It has been Mike's project over the past few weeks. He ran the natural gas line, did all the stonework that you see on the ground & put together the walls of the fire pit. He basically was able to get it to the point where it was usable, but not very pretty. Eventually, the rock that you see on the ground will cover up the cinder blocks on the fire pit walls to make it pretty. The natural gas ring will come down several inches & will be covered up by lava rock. The lava rock will make the flames look more natural. So, I'll do another post when it's all done so you can see the before & after. Even though it wasn't completely done yet, it was still fun to make s'mores in our backyard...and to not smell like campfire afterwards!

Once we finished our s'mores, we headed to Kristin & Dan's house to light off fireworks. We couldn't light them off at our house because the state has designated our area as a "Urban Wildlife Interface" (whatever the crap that means) and so fireworks are banned all the time. Lame-O! So, we drove down the mountain to Kristin & Dan's house and lit fireworks off there. First, we did your standard normal fireworks...

And then we lit off the one areal firework that we bought this year. This is the first year that these kind of fireworks have been legal in Utah, so I figured we HAD to buy one. I got the cheapest one I could find, which was still $13. Guess how long it lasted? Approximately...12 seconds! That's more than a dollar per second! Can you say RIP OFF?!? Here's the only picture of the areal firework that any of us got. Does that look like it's worth $13 to you? I think not...

Kristin & Dan have a pretty good view of the entire valley from their front yard, so we were able to see areal fireworks going off all around us. We decided that next year, we're not going to waste our money on the areal fireworks. We're just going to watch everyone else waste their money.

After fireworks, we drove back up the mountain & watched the Thanksgiving Point fireworks show & then took everyone home for a good night sleep!

It was a fun 4th of July! Happy birthday U.S.A. Thanks for being the greatest country in the world! I am so thankful to be an American & to have the freedom to do what I want to do, say what I want to say, and think what I want to think! God bless America! --Lindsay