4th of July

I have to admit I was a little bummed when Taylor told me he would have Friday off of work for the 4th but that he was planning to spend all day Friday as well as Saturday studying for the BAR (I can finally see he's getting a little stressed which is huge for Taylor who's normally so laid back). So we had a normal Friday swimming in the pool and Ethan and I spent the evening at a REAL soccer game with Taylor's parents while Taylor stayed home and studied and Isaac slept (it's better for everyone if he goes to bed on time).
Saturday morning we ventured off without Taylor to the far away town of Provo. The amazing thing is that Baltimore always seemed like such a drive from DC but really it wasn't any farther than Provo and it seems like I'm down there every other week or so.
Even though we got a late start, we had amazing seats thanks to my friend Jessica and her friend's family who backed their truck up into the Far West Bank parking lot. Ethan and Isaac got front row seats- even in chairs. You can see their little heads here and they actually stayed in them most of the time which was wonderful. We love dinosaurs so of course I had to include this float picture.

Our seats were also amazing because the parade turned from 2nd south onto Center right in front of us so all the balloons had to lay flat to get under the telephone lines and then right in front of us they could pop back up and the crowds would all scream for them to circle and they actually did. So here's Garfield doing a circle.

For all my concerns about living in Utah, there are lots of benefits too. Where else do you find drill teams and cheerleaders in modest outfits??? I mean seriously- no bellies hanging out and they've even got sleeves.

And it was the Provo parade so it wouldn't be complete without a BYU float and lots of very crazy, over-the-top students running around singing the fight song. I love my alma mater but I will admit the students are a little crazy sometimes.

And since it's Provo we got to see the missionaries marching in the parade.

This is the other reason we went down to Provo. My sister Kristina lives there (at least for the next month) and so she came along to the parade with her adorable 3 month old who slept the whole time.

After the parade we went to Provo's freedom festival. Again I love Utah because there are so many kids around that they purposefully plan lots of activities for them. They were handing out free snow cones that entertained Isaac in the stroller for a full hour and they had 3 different bouncy slides/houses that entertained Ethan the whole time. And all free! After that we ate lunch with Kristina and Jessica and then drove back to Salt Lake for naps before dinner.

Since Taylor's family has lived in Salt Lake so long, there's lots of history and they've been involved in lots of things. For instance his great-grandpa was president of the country club in 1950 and helped draw up legal documents saving the golf course. One of the big issues for the club is that it stretches East-West and the golf course goes across where there should be an on ramp to I-80 at 2300 East. He was instrumental in fighting the city and they won so now there's an on ramp a mile east at Parley's Way and Foothill instead of at 23rd. Needless to say his family has been members of the club a long time so we got to have dinner there with his parents and then stayed to watch the fireworks. The dinner was amazing but the best part was that when Ethan and Isaac had had enough, we let them go and they just ran and ran and played with all the other kids out on the course. Notice that someone was smart enough to put fences around the sand traps so no one could dig.

On one of Taylor's recent golf trips with his dad, he brought back kilts as souvenirs for the boys. Who knew they made size 4T and 18 month kilts but they were pretty cute. Taylor insisted they wear them for the 4th even though we have no Scottish heritage and it's America's birthday we're celebrating. Sorry the pictures are so fuzzy. Here they are running in them.

And here's another "cousin" Ethan found to play with. Actually it's Taylor's grandfather's sister's grandson's step-daughter. Whew.

Can you resist that smile? Tragically he's so skinny that the kilt was low-riding on him and reached almost to his socks. I guess I have Halloween done for the next 3 years before he'll out grow it!

About the only fireworks I approve of my children touching are sparklers. Luckily, Isaac seems to have a healthy level of fear in him both for water (at least in a pool as we discovered this summer) and of fire. So he wouldn't go near them but was happy to watch. And Ethan's old enough now that at least he didn't touch the top and get burned this year (lots of tears last year though).

We were glad Taylor finished all his studying and got to come to dinner and fireworks with us.

My youngest brother Jeff also lives in Provo as he's attending BYU. He joined us for the evening and I really appreciated his help finding lost children once it was dark. (It doesn't help identify your children if they have glowsticks and everyone else does as well).

Taylor and Isaac watching the fireworks.

It was a spectacular show almost right above our heads and we got to feel all the little ash pieces as they fell from the sky. Happy 4th of July everyone!