July 4th 2009

So I am hopping between new stuff and old pictures and videos that I am coming across that I haven't blogged about yet, so bear with me while I get caught up!!

This past Independence Day we were very excited to have Mom and Robynn and Kennedie come up to help us celebrate... You would know how momentous this actually was if you knew how much my sister Robynn dislikes coming to Utah, but we managed to get her up here in summer!! We had a great time together celebrating and playing and eating yummy food!! Between them all they got me to agree to go out and watch the Hot Air Balloons launch. I have lived in Utah for almost 15 years and I have never been (I think the 6 AM start time has something to do with that!!) but we went and it was amazing!! We got to watch all those massive balloons get inflated and launch and fly through the air... it was great!

Then we walked over to see the Parade... it was a lot of fun, despite Mikayla being in a very bad mood and crying the whole time... Jaden kept running out to the street to pick up candy, which of course is the best part of ANY parade!! We saw Princesses, and Pirate Ships, and the BYU athletes with Cosmo, and the LDS Missionaries, and lots of marching bands and horses and all the good stuff you would expect to see in a parade. Pres. Lincoln even drove up in a golf cart and gave Jaden a shiny new penny minted in 2009! It was great fun!!!

After that we dragged ourselves back home for a shower and lunch and to start getting ready for the next phase in the festivities... Its never a party until Kell gets out the grill and does his family famous Carne Asada... as usual it was fantastic... Brad and Jan and kids (including their adopted daughter for the summerMorganne Romney) and Melanie and Ken Donahoo all came to join us... along with Mom, Robynn, Kennedie, Kelly and Steph, and Brian and I and our kids... we had a great time eating to our hearts content, then rushing off to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks from just below the Provo Temple. We were a little disappointed at first in the fireworks display... about half way through they just stopped with no grand finale or anything... it was quiet for so long that a lot of people around us got up and left. We hung around, though and were rewarded with the rest of the show. Apparently there was a glitch and it took a good while to sort it out!! The kids all had a great time though during the wait playing with their light wands, the boys being Jedi Knights with Light Sabers and the girls making necklaces and bracelets. We did have a second of panic when I looked around and couldn't find Jaden ANYWHERE... eventually we found him. He had wandered off to join another group so he could play with their kids!! Like I said, he will play with ANYONE! (more FHE's on stranger danger, I guess!) By the time we fought traffic and got home it was closing in on midnight, so we let the kids hurry and do sparklers in the parking lot and then everyone headed home... it was a great day... AND a very FULL day!!