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!