4th of July - 2012

Tuesday, July 4

It was a little weird not having M&M around for the Fourth of July this year (she was at Oakcrest Girls Camp).  We went to our annual neighborhood parade and pancake breakfast.  It was nice this year to be able to use the new pavilion/bowery that they built at the back of our church parking lot.  We actually had tables that we could sit and eat at this year!  Luke and Kitty rode their scooters for the parade, I helped push Kay on her tricycle, and Blondie rode her roller blades and pushed MJ in the stroller.

After the parade we got out our inflatable pools and let the kids play in them.  It was a pretty hot day so I'm sure it felt good for the kids.  (And Luke decided not to put sunscreen on because he thought that his skin was tan enough and he ended up getting sunburned pretty good on his shoulders.  We also missed a part of Kitty's shoulders and she got a little sunburned as well.)

Look what I found Mom!!  An ant!

My parents came over for dinner and then we did some fireworks at our house.  I made my usual flag cake with the strawberries and blueberries on top.  I also tried a cool drink where you layer red, clear and blue drinks and they stay separated.  They looked really cool and apparently I forgot to take a picture of it.  Here is a link to instructions on how to make the drink and includes pictures if you want to see:  Layered Patriotic Punch

We usually go to a big fireworks show on the 4th, but with M&M gone we decided not to do that this year.  I purchased a pretty good fireworks deal online and we had a nice little show in our front yard.  Because of a really dry summer we had some additional fireworks restrictions, which included parts of our neighborhood, just the next street over.  We live in a pretty well cared for neighborhood though and didn't feel there was much risk for starting a wildfire where we live.

MJ absolutely hated the fireworks.  She sat in Grandma S's lap almost the whole time, just sitting there hugging her!  And my mom tried to keep MJ's ears covered because she especially didn't like the loud sounds.  Kay tolerated the fireworks and sat in my dad's lap the whole time.

DH tried his hand at photographing some of the fireworks:

This was a tiny, awesome fountain called Popcorn Party that looked and sounded like popping popcorn and lasted at least 3 minutes!

Love the aerials that are now legal in Utah!

Last Memorial Day Reunion

This year was the last Memorial Day reunion for DH's mom's extended family. DH's parents came into town to attend it and spend a couple of days with us. We were actually surprised at how poorly attended it was for being the last reunion. I guess that families have just been slowly checking out over the years until it hasn't been a priority anymore to attend.

I will definitely miss the BBQ sandwiches that are always served for lunch and the homemade ice cream served afterwards! Plus I will miss hearing the family songs that have become tradition as well as visiting the Brigham City Cemetery afterwards. I will also miss the Perry City park which has some huge shade trees, fun swings for the kids and a fun new playground that is the perfect size for the little ones!
Probably one of our last opportunities to rub shoulders with Elder Nelson. His first wife was a sister of DH's grandfather.

Labor Day Activities

This past Labor Day weekend there were no soccer games on Saturday so DH spent the morning changing the rear shocks on the van and then we had my parents over for dinner in the evening. We watched the BYU vs. Oklahoma football game and were blown away by the ending - BYU won with a score of 14-13!! Hopefully the rest of their season will be just as good!
On Monday we took a picnic lunch to the Uinta mountains with my parents. We drove to Mirror Lake and the parking lot was jam-packed - apparently we weren't the only ones with this idea!! We were able to get some parking off to the side of the rode and amazingly we found some open picnic tables where we ate our lunch. Baby K had tons of fun walking around our picnic area. We then hiked around the lake (about 1 1/2 miles). It was a beautiful location and the weather was perfect!

Baby K loved walking around the boardwalk that went partway around the lake.Bald Mountain - Apparently the hike to the top is relatively easy so we would like to try it sometime with just the older kids.

Pioneer day

July 24-
We spent Pioneer Day by watching the Days of '47 parade on T.V in the morning and then I got the pool out for the kids to play in in the afternoon. My parents and M & Rog came over for a BBQ dinner. After dinner Rog showed us how to make paper boats and then we colored them and sailed them in our pool. We ended the day with our own fireworks show and root beer floats. My dad was a great help with Baby K and ended up holding her for most of the evening. She did just great with the fireworks and hardly cried at all the whole day!

Memorial Weekend Wrap-up

We went to the annual Memorial Day family reunion in Perry on Monday and then visited Grandma & Grandpa W's gravesite briefly before heading back home. I think the reunion is losing numbers in attendance. There weren't nearly as many people there this year as in years past. The day following Memorial Day DH took off from work and went driving up Big Cottonwood Canyon with his parents & Blondie & Kitty. Unfortunately it was not the best weekend weather-wise for DH's parents. We were below normal temperatures and it rained a good portion of the day for Memorial Day. We're grateful that they came though and were able to be here for Baby K's blessing.