Celebrating the 4th

It's been so fun to read about everyone's Fourth of July celebrations.  I have to reiterate Julie Johnson's statement about what a fun holiday it is without requiring gifts or even preparation (although with family gathered, there was definitely a certain amount of time put into getting food ready on my part).   I would go to every parade put on in the county if I had my choice.

But marriage involves working with our partner, and mine doesn't particularly love parades unless we have a child in them (or a grandchild - next year I vote Stephanie head of the float committee for her ward - it's time for Kamryn to get a turn on a float! Last year it was Mike's kids in the Days of '47 Children's Parade, which was so fun to cheer them on).  Anyway, so he doesn't love parades so even when our guys were in the marching band and in the Freedom Festival parades and the Big Days of '47 parade, we were watching from the comforts of our air conditioned, no parking hassle living room.   Sigh.   I love a parade.

But our Fourth does not go without celebrating.  We always wake up at 6:00 a.m.  No sleeping in for us Lehitans.  The very first Fourth I spent in the city I thought the cannons booming off at 6 a.m. were delightful.  Not so delightful after forty years of never sleeping in, but that's okay.  When I hear them, sometimes right outside our house, I swear, they are so loud, I can't help but ponder in my half asleep stage about how grateful I am for the men who were courageous enough to stand up and demand the freedoms we as a nation would grow strong under.

Anyway, our big day was mostly a quiet one - we went shopping, of all things.  Would have been better if the stores had all been closed, right?  But it ended with a whole lot of celebrating.  And the weekend also involved staying with Bill and Stephanie's girls while they went on an overnight 'date' to Park City Saturday night.  That included a swimming party with Mike and Makinzee who were in the middle of a Price family reunion camped at Willow Park in Lehi.  So enough of the talking, here are some pictures  (I already posted a bunch with the Facebook link from my post yesterday) from the swimming, followed by pictures from the Fourth and a link to more pictures:

Stephanie suggested Tonya try Eric in the baby floaty.  None of her children ever cared for it and neither have Kinzee's.  Eric?   No different.  Seems like a great idea, but the reality is far from the perception!  And, yes, Makinzee has a gorgeous tan!

Mike was brave enough to get IN the pool with the kids, and they loved it!

Ummm, that snorkel was not one of ours, by the way.  But the Kamryn holding it is.  Jack is all boy, teasing the girls!

(Set the camera down for a second and see what happens?  What?  Where'd this picture come from??????)

In explanation:  Bill's neighborhood does a huge all day celebration every year.  Everyone puts in money to help rent bounce houses and provide prizes for contests and have a barrel train for the kiddies, and lots of fun. 

Red, white, and blue - my patriotic grandkids!

Train Rides......

Pie Eating Contests!   (Bill is the white striped shirt looking toward the camera.  No, he didn't win, but he didn't throw up after, either.)

Cotton Candy!

And more cotton candy!

Firecracker Cupcakes! 

And Homemade IceCream - Yummmmmm!

 And then this year, for the first time (and after all the fires, maybe the last time) Utah has legalized the use of some aerial fireworks.  And this town has gone wild using them!  All through the weekend they've been lighting up the sky, but the night of the Fourth was without question incredible for a fireworks lover like me.  Bill's neighbors were shooting them off all over the place.

Thanks to everyone who paid money to watch what they bought burn up in seconds.  It was a great celebration!

All across the neighborhood!

Bill lives near Thanksgiving Point, which is where Lehi does it's big fireworks show every year.  So we had a lot of Bill's friends and family and family of family come join us for the big show.  We had a dark cloud cover which made the sky dark earlier in the evening and from about 9 pm until the big show started at 10 pm there were enough fireworks going off that Tonya finally texted me from her brother-in-law's home where they were gathered to watch the same city fireworks and asked me to please let her know when the real fireworks began.  I echo Makinzee's comment that it made her teary to see all the celebration.  It's impossible to capture in a picture but here is the link to some of the other pictures I took - all different from the ones here:  Click Here

Kamryn loved the sparklers and I took a ton of pictures of her with them.  Not one turned out, which made me so sad.  This was the closest.

The Grand Finale of the Lehi Fireworks was wonderful - it lasted at least five minutes at the end of a great show.

   My favorite quote from the night:
Someone told Kamryn to come and sit down, she was missing the fireworks.  She was dancing around the back yard twirling her neon necklaces and having a wonderful time in her own world.   "No I'm not!" she replied.  "I'm being my own!"