A Utah 4th

It's no secret that I love the 4th of July.  And no one gets it more right than Provo/Orem, Utah!  I haven't been back for the 4th since being married and it was good to enjoy the day with all my family and especially to share all the things I loved growing up with my two boys.

We started out at the parade.  Thanks again to MaryAnn and Josh for scoring such a good spot.  And I'm not sure they arranged the weather but it was pretty well perfect too.


Jacob spent most of his time chillin' in the shade with baby Ben.  Ben seemed to love the parade.

Matt and Isaac watched from the street and threw some poppers too, of course.

And a priceless 4th of July family photo! Cuteness abounds.

Matt, Isaac, Lauren, Uncle Sam and Brinton watching the festivities.

Later that day we headed to Aunt B's house for a good old bbq with lots more family.  

Scott with his sweet new babe, Maelie.  She is adorable.  Nothing little about this girl, born at 8 lbs 10 oz, but she sure seemed little next to my bigger baby.  Man how they grow so quickly.

 

It's exhausting being that cute and patriotic.

We tried getting a good picture of all the cousins that were there.  It was less effective with Hannah who wouldn't leave her daddy's side and then my little Isaac breaking down.  He had just woken from a nap and wasn't thrilled.

 

 

 

But, you get the idea.  Hannah in the back, Brinton, Matt, Josh, Maelie, Megan, Ben, Isaac, Lauren, Logan, and Emily.  We sure missed Shannon and her family!  Way less fun celebrating the 4th in Germany I'm sure. (Or London as the case may be.)

And then John opened shop.  He is both a fantastic nail artist (he and Diana did all the little girls nails and mine and MaryAnn's as well) and he does a mean temporary tattoo.

Clearly:

 

 

Jacob was patient with cranky Isaac and helped to get a little nutrition in his body besides all the treats floating around.  But what is a holiday without lots of goodies?

It was so fun watching Ben and Isaac with fireworks this year.  Isaac has never seen them before.  We didn't take home out as a baby, the next year he was asleep in the car as we drove by some fireworks, and that brings us to this year.

He wasn't quite able to throw the poppers hard enough to make them snap but he demonstrated his ingenuity.  Those crocs are useful footwear indeed.

 

Ben was hilarious.  He was in his car seat in the stroller for a bit because I was hopeful he'd fall asleep.  Then I heard this really adorable laughter and turned to see Ben busting up every time Uncle Tim would throw a popper at Matt.  It was quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen.  So funny.  And then, since he wasn't sleeping anyway, he got to spend some quality time with Aunt Barbara.

So, Isaac was not much of a fan of the fireworks Uncle Sam was lighting off.  He pretty well was afraid of the proximity.  He spent a good chunk of the evening like this, ears covered in the safety of Dad's lap.  Ben, on the other hand, loved everything about them.  I tried to get Isaac to do some sparklers with me and that was funny.  He ran so fast to his Daddy.  He was not having it.  I thought for sure he'd love fireworks and sparklers.  Not so much.

But the strangest thing is he was perfectly fine for the Stadium of Fire big firework show.  I think he just needs some distance from them.  And Ben slept through those fireworks.

Happy 4th of July!  It was maybe one of my most favorite 4th ever.  Loved being with my boys in Utah!