Tony Grove

 Some of my friends and I took a short day-trip up to Tony Grove because it is beautiful and we've been trying to do play dates every Wednesday during the summer.

 What can I say? It was beautiful and truly enjoyable.

 The kids loved climbing the rocks and the moms loved being together and getting out of the house.

 See? Beautiful.

 

This is our group of kids-although we had my friend Kira, and her kids: Tyler, Perry, and Nash join us at the end. So the kids in the picture and who they belong to: Isaac (Alisha), Caden and Hallie are in the middle (Lacey), between Isaac and Hallie is Sky, and then on the other side, her two sisters Talia and Ruby (Sarah) and their sister Coco was in the baby backpack. Then Meili and Grant was with me.

Independence Day

 After not-enough-sleep after the fireworks, we woke our kids up too early to head over to the Honeyville Independence Day festivities. Josh and I both ran the 5K. Josh ran the whole thing, which I think is a feat in itself-seeing as how the most he's run in probably 3 or 4 years is a mile. I, on the other hand, didn't do as well as I thought I should have, but hey, it's the Honeyville 5K and that's how things go. I did, however, get second in my age group-after Grayce.

Then it was time for the parade. Even though it's against the rules according to the boys in Josh's family, I tried to actually plan some things for the float ahead of time-as did Josh's mom and some of the sisters-in-law.

 And this is the finished product. (In reality, it's probably not that much different than all the years that the boys planned it over breakfast.)

 I had this brilliant plan to have some of the kids ride bikes, and Grant would push his little car alongside of the float. And I was going to decorate his car like a bee. In the end, there weren't enough kids that could ride bikes, so Meili opted to be on the float, so I didn't really follow through with decorating Grant's car. I was just going to have him on the float with me, but Josh said that since we had taken the car all the way over to Honeyville with us, we might as well use it. We just put Grant on the ground right in front of Josh's family, so he was really confused about what was going on, and didn't push his car-Jenson did. Anyway, all in all, I thought that part of the parade was pretty much a fail, but I'm sure no one else even thought about it.

 Meili liked throwing candy though, and the people at the very beginning of the parade were definitely spoiled by her!

 

At least we can say that Jenson was a really good sport about helping Grant!

 

 Then we went to the park for the carnival. Meili is finally old enough that the thought of catching a live fish was gross to her, and she wasn't in to it. Grant loved splashing in the water until a fish touched his foot and then he wanted nothing to do with it.

 At least Carson got one!

To be honest, I think by the time of the carnival we were all really tired and REALLY hot, and Josh had to get home to fix something for work, so I was more than happy to use that as an excuse to get in the air-conditioned car and take. a. nap.

That night we went to our neighbor's house for a little celebration, and then the kids and I tagged along with Josh for work to take the radio station's music van out to the Hyrum fireworks. 

I was talking to my sister-in-law about how every year the 4th of July ends up being 2 or 3 days of late nights, early mornings, disrupted naps, and so much tiredness, and grumpiness. But when it's all over that's not the part any of us remember. We remember all the fun and traditions and I love it!

Fireworks

 

We debated back and forth whether we would rather watch the Logan fireworks from inside the stadium, or watch them outside in a park or something. The decision was made easier when Josh was able to get quite a few tickets through his work. It helped that Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band was playing there, and they have a few songs that I really like.

 Because he got so many tickets we were able to go with my parents, and my brother Nick's family, Josh's parents, his sister Marlyse's family, the Hunsakers, and Jake and Kami's family. (Look at Chalisse, already teaching Meili to make a kissy face. Ah!)

 Grant loved an endless supply of treats, and dancing on Josh's lap.

 Meili, Shasta, Shelby, and Grandma did some dancing of their own!

 Grant, clapping along to the music.

 When the fireworks started, Grant kept pointing and saying "boom!"

 The older I get, the more I really appreciate Independence Day and watching the fireworks. I understand a little better how truly blessed we are to live in this country, and know that God has had his hand in establishing the freedoms we enjoy.

 I love this picture, and how it truly sums up the whole night for me!

Family Reunion

 We had a family reunion with my mom's siblings in Nibley on June 27th. It was filled with breakfast and crafts for the kids...

 Apparently Meili and my cousin's son Raiden really hit off. They were inseparable for a good portion of the day.

 My grandma: always the party animal

 Then there was lunch and bounce house/water slide to cool off in the heat.

 It was so fun watching my dad play soccer with Jackson. He has quite the leg! (Jackson, I mean. Although, I'm sure my dad does too!)

Then we finished off with some karaoke from all the beautiful little performers in our family, (which I thought was awesome, but I didn't take pictures of) dinner, and an auction. It's always fun to be with family, but we sure wore ourselves out!

Bear Lake is Perfection!

 Josh and I celebrated our 9-year wedding anniversary this year. I'm not going to say that I forgot about it, because I totally remembered, but I thought that he and I had a mutual understanding that because we were going to Bear Lake that weekend, we weren't going to do anything the actual day of. The night before he said, "So, what are your plans for tomorrow?" I rambled some things off like I usually do when he asks me that question. He laughed and said, "So what are your plans for tomorrow?" I rolled my eyes and said the same thing over again, until finally he said, "You don't remember do you?" So finally it clicked and I said, "I DO remember that it is our anniversary, but I thought we were going to celebrate it this weekend, so I was planning on going to Bunco. That's fine, right?" Yes, I guess that makes me wife of the year. So yes, even though I did end up going to Bunco on the night of our 9-year anniversary, I also made this candy-bar card for him as a sort of peace offering.

 

This is Meili's new trademark. One time I tried to show her that she could draw a picture of an eye, a heart and then the letter U, and it would say "I love you." She changed that to the letter I, a heart, and a Unicorn horn, and to her, that means the same thing.

 The last few times I've gone to Bear Lake with my family, I've thought the same thing: Bear Lake is perfection. I have loved it every time. My kids could play forever, I love playing with them, where the water is shallow it is the perfect temperature, and the water is shallow forever.... I could go on, but really I'd rather be a beach bum. Going back to the anniversary... Originally I told Josh that we needed to do something big this year. Next year will be 10 years, but most likely I will be pregnant, or have a new baby, or something, so I told Josh that we needed to do Hawaii or something. Well, then Josh went and got a new job, and we're just not as comfortable with a huge expense right when he switches to fully commission salary. So next best thing? Bear Lake. 

Actually I had a speaking engagement in Bear Lake that I had to do for work, and the next day I had a family reunion, so we just went up for the evening; played in the water, ate dinner, Josh and the kids got a shake while I did my work thing. It was a great way to celebrate.

 

Hawaii will just have to wait! But don't worry! We'll get there!