Fourth with the Family

Our July 4th holiday was spread throughout the weekend, starting on Friday night with a trip to the park and a campout in my mother-in-law's backyard. We played tag in the park, went to Macey's for ice cream, and dropped Aubrey off at home with Jeremiah to sleep in her own bed. I shared a tent with the boys and Steve and Melanie were our tent neighbors with their kids. We finally made it to bed around 10:30pm and I'm pretty sure we were all asleep by midnight, after the boys were done getting over the novelty of the tent and all the zippered windows.

The next morning, I woke up at 6am to drive home and prepare my cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting for our ward's Boy Scout breakfast. I'd made the cinnamon rolls the day before, and just popped them back in the oven for a few minutes to make them nice and warm. They were the first things gone at the breakfast, always a compliment in my book! Kory and AnaLee met me at the breakfast since Hayden and Roman were still at my mother-in-law's and Jeremiah was asleep with Aubrey still. Aubrey went back with me to get the boys later in the morning.

After we cleaned up from the campout, we went home. Jeremiah and I cleaned the house and then I took a well-deserved nap with the boys while Jeremiah did a little studying. We then grabbed Subways and headed over to Josette's for dinner and fireworks.

You can see how I did Aubrey's hair for the holiday. She's getting better at sitting still for me, even if she is bawling her eyes out, and I got her bow from my friend Jen.

Can you see the stains on her dress? What was I thinking letting her eat strawberries in a white dress? After this, it turned into a challenge for me to see how else she could get dirty :) Gotta love OxyClean!

The boys were begging to run in the sprinklers with their cousin Taylor. At what age is running around in just your underwear inappropriate? :)

Before fireworks, we gave the boys a haircut. And by "we" I mean Jeremiah. The boys' hair is so thick and with this Utah heat I thought a good buzz cut would cool them down. Except Jeremiah decided to give Hayden the "Cristiano Ronaldo" haircut, meaning a mohawk-ish thing, except Hayden doesn't like product in his hair and prefers to wear it "flat" - Hayden's words, not mine - so I ended up cutting his mohawk the next morning before church.

No, Steve isn't really annoyed...okay, well maybe a little. And yes, Jeremiah really is that obnoxious.

The sparklers gave off so much smoke! Does anyone see my son? I think I've lost him!

Kory and AnaLee joined us for fireworks at Josette's house before we headed back to my house to watch the Stadium of Fire from my backyard. I'd made cheesecake for everyone, but by the time the fireworks ended, everyone was exhausted and went back home. We ended up having Kory and AnaLee back over on Sunday for cheesecake - we had to share our calories!

Monday morning we went to Provo's parade. People seriously get there at 4am just to get a good spot! Unfortunately, my kids slept until 8:15am so we had to rush to get there by 9am for the parade. Josette found a spot for her and the boys, and I found a tiny area of curb for Aubrey and me. The family next to us had several blankets laid out but had a lot of room and invited Aubrey and I to join them for a better view. Hayden later joined us and the family offered them some juice boxes. They were so nice to us!

A float with "How to Train your Dragon" characters. I love that movie!

Is this supposed to be President Obama? I can't tell.

These were some of my favorite floats. They also had a lot of fire trucks and police cars with their sirens on (much to Aubrey's dismay) and the parents of Utah's fallen soldiers, which received standing ovations. We left a little early because it was getting really hot. Next year, we are going to borrow Steve and Melanie's canopy and get there nice and early to get good seats (although I swear I say that every year).