July 5

July 5th started out early...at least for the guys. Late Sunday night we decided that we would all go to the Provo parade and the guys graciously offered to wake up early and save seats (that is, only if us girls promised to do it next year...that's okay, we have it all planned out to take the motor home down a few days before, sleep in it that night and wake up early in the morning to throw down some blankets and then go back to sleep...). They were great sports and got us perfect, shady, front row seats.

Look at all the shade!

Cousins:
My favorite thing to see at a parade are the soldiers. Especially on the 4th of July. Parades are such a fun time to be with family and friends and to take a day of to enjoy life, and then you see those military men march by and you can't help but swell with gratitude, and pride at what they stand for and their sacrifice. I grabbed my camera, but was not quick enough, when two army vehicles went by with banners that said, "Parents of Lieutenant...". Their sons had died and they were there to remind us of the price our freedom sometimes costs. So touching.
We wrapped up the day with our traditional 4th of July weekend BBQ at Renea's:
Since the 4th of July was actually on Sunday we celebrated the whole weekend. It was great!! Sunday morning I kept thinking about how cool it was that we were free to go to our own church, and worship however we wanted to. We got to enjoy one of the greatest freedoms our country affords us, the freedom of religion, on the 4th of July.
Saturday was fun, Sunday was reflective and sentimental, and Monday was another party.
One of my favorite weekends ever.

July 3

What a fun neighborhood! To be surrounding with so many good and fun people is such a blessing. Here are a few of the creative and fun people on our street, at the July 4th BBQ, giving us the details on the 'Strong Man' competition soon to be had:But first, some of the babies who were in attendance:

(I have to admit that Lincoln had a little Root Beer in his bottle at some point that night. I feel terrible, but I was desperate.)

Oh, and Ammon arriving with his camping chair:

And now for one of the 'Strong Man' events:

Strong Man Event #2:
(Sugarloaf Drive won! Good strategy Dave.)

Strong Man event #3, stuff your face:

Strong Man Event #4, footrace:

The young boys (and girls) wishing that someday they will be big and strong like their dads:

The Air force decided they should send a fly by over our patriotic event:

And here are the winners:

Dave brought home this amazing gold trophy:

We finished off the night with fireworks in the street. Perfect 4th of July.
Thank you friends!

Josh

Do you ever have the urge to stifle your child's creativity a little?

Lunch with Nanny

I love my grandma! She is 87 years old. She has a slew of health problems and pains and she doesn't complain. When we moved here four years ago we started picking her up from her hair appointment and running errands together a couple of times a month. We always ended up going out to lunch and talk, talk, talking. She is so easy to talk to and I've loved the time to get to know her better. With her slowing down a bit, and my entourage getting wilder by the year, we don't seen to get to do as much together. I remember the last time I took her to the grocery store my three boys were so wild and loud and hard to get control I felt bad not being able to help her much and making the whole ordeal 10x harder. Last week we had lunch at her house and my boys managed to disable her exercise bike and loose a remote. I know it's hard for them to stay happy while adults are sitting around visiting and so our visits don't seem as often lately.
That's why I savor the good visits we do have these days!
We all had fun together at Kneaders.

And then went to her house to see the dogs and visit for a bit. We sure love you Nanny!

At least he's thorough...

...every last bit.

Cedar Hills Days

The candy parade:

Pre-fireworks BBQ:

Smores:

typical cousin madness:

can't stop dancing to watch the show:

wow:

some of the good company:

The Maxwells

We got to spend the week babysitting my Suzanne's 4 kids. It was great! Since all the kids and I didn't fit into their car we stayed pretty close to home all week, like at home the whole time. We did have to get out a few times like for Brandon's lacrosse game. Here we are playing together and watching him play:

Ohh, tough guy:

I kind of fell in love with this park and neighborhood. It was a little bit older but so pleasant and nice feeling. I loved the mountains, I felt like this was the perfect distance from them to enjoy them.

We invited some friends over to keep us company:

Ammon is drawn to the piano. I often find him just staring at it, or trying to play it a little. He is really interested in it. It's so fun to see what my kids are drawn to and what makes them tick.

The girls and I had a little girl date one night, so Dave made sure to do something with the boys. Hike on the mountain, of course.

Someone has my camera, and I have about 20 of these kitchen shots to prove it:

Guess what Josh is now addicted to:

It was so fun to be with these kids, and really easy to watch them. Now Dave and I have to plan a get away with no kids... :)

Spiderman at the park

Ammon played on these blue tubes the other day at the park. When I called them webs he got very excited to come back next time in his spider man pajamas and climb all over them as quick and easily as a spider would. I hope he wasn't too disappointed that the pajamas didn't make him a better climber, but it was really cute to watch him feel like he had some extra super power helping him along.
Before the park we spent some time in the morning wedding the garden. This is what Ammon and Lincoln do at the garden, play in the dirt.

And this is what Josh does at the garden, plant his pumpkin patch. Here he is planting seeds. Just don't ask us how the garden is doing now. We started doing a lot in the garden and then couldn't find our water timer (or the time to weed) and needless to say the garden got a little away from us this year. We will still get to pull some good stuff out of it but it is in pretty poor shape. Oh well, maybe next year.

Airplane

I gave Lincoln my fork one night during dinner and couldn't stop laughing at his take on how you use a fork. Enjoy:

Try to load fork: Then load fork with your fingers:
Get very upset if not successful:Ask mom to do it:
Begin airplane:
Do the airplane for a long time above your head:

Finally use fork for intended purpose:

Get very, very excited:

The End