4th of July Celebrating!!!

I LOVE SUMMERTIME!!!! So, of course I love the 4th of July. We love to pack as much celebrating into the day as possible! (Much to Matt's chagrin.) This year was no exception. This is what we did THIS year! We started celebrating July 3rd with a neighborhood party. We made a trip to Partyland and bought all the red/white/blue decorations we could find and found a way to put all of it on their bikes.

Then they were in a bike parade that started at the park north of our house and ended at the park south of our house. Lauren with her friend, Hunter.

Anthon felt like a celebrity. He thought he was the coolest thing ever, riding in his decorated red car. He really cruises in that thing! I think he kept bumping into the back of everyone else. They weren't quite going fast enough for him!

When we got to the park there was yummy food......

And cool treats (Micaela posing with her good friend, Halle)

And giant inflatables. This is Micaela (left) getting ready to go down with Hunter.

Lauren had fun cooling off.

Anthon got to the top of the slide and got scared. He wouldn't go down the slide, but he wouldn't climb back down, either. We made a neighbor boy grab him and take him down the slide so he'd get out the of the way of the other kids trying to come down. This is Anthon pouting because he was mad at the neighbor boy.

Then bright and early on the 4th of July we went to the Provo Freedom Festival Parade. This parade is always gigantic and the kids love it (not Matt though, don't even ask him about this part of the day! He HATES parades!!!!)

Lauren and her BFF, Hunter, had fun using their digital cameras. I think Lauren got about 58 pictures of the firetrucks and police cars alone. 1/4 of the way through the parade her memory card was full.

Candid picture of Lauren being her cute self.

When Anthon saw all of the Mormon missionaries in the parade he jumped up out of his chair so he could give them a high five.

Sweet, cutie-pie Micaela.

Anthon waving at the floats. I had to get this on the camera. I figure by next year he'll be too cool to do this.

We went to the parade with my parents, Uncle Steve, cousin Haley, and the our friends. These are the girls good friends, Hunter and Halle. Cute Anthon is always surrounded by lots of girls.

Next we went to Nana and Papa's for breakfast (my parents). Anthon being goofy!

Micaela LOVES her Nana...........

.........and her Papa!!!! Papa playing a game with Micaela. He's always good to play with the kids. You'd never know he was 72!!!

Lauren enjoying her watermelon. Any type of fruit is her favorite type of food. We're still working on her table manners:)

Anthon and his best bud---Uncle Steve (my brother). He loves to be teased.......and Steve is good at that!

Next we went to see Uncle Nate (Matt's younger brother) who plays in a band (Bearproof) perform at a local city celebration. Nate plays the electric guitar.

Uncle Nate the Rockstar!!! Anthon wanted to wear his "Rock Band" shirt with the electric guitar because it made him think of Uncle Nate.

Next we went swimming and for a BBQ at Aunt Christie's (Matt's sister) backyard pool. Basically it rained all of the month of June. The kids would pray every night "Please make it stop raining so we can swim in Aunt Christie's pool". I guess their prayers were answered:)

Next we changed into our PJ's, and headed to Uncle Ben's (Matt's brother) house to watch the fireworks.

I think Lauren took even more pictures of the fireworks in the sky, than she did of the firetrucks and police cars in the parade.

Uncle Ben had the best seats in the valley for fireworks. We sat on his rooftop. You could see all the fireworks in the valley. And the kids loved being with their cousins.

Anthon was very nervous that he was going to fall off the roof. Once he figured out his Dad had a good grip on him, he fell asleep before the fireworks even started. Goes to show, we did pack as much as we possibly could into one day!

Of course, the girls weren't ready to quit yet. They were wondering what we were going to do next! Lauren, Micaela, Eve, Emma, Aunt Tiffany hanging out on Aunt Tiffany's bed after a long and fun day.

I feel very blessed to be able to live here, and raise my family here. After Matt's parents lived in the Congo of Africa for 18 months serving a LDS mission, I have gained an even deeper appreciation for the luxuries we have........such as clean water, traffic lights, garbage pick up, medical care. I'm glad to be an American!!! :)