The 4th

I can't decide which holiday is my favorite, the Fourth of July or Christmas. I think as I get older the Fourth of July is taking the lead. We do it all. The balloons, the parade, BBQ and fireworks. I would love to throw an outing to the pool in there...but I really don't want to brave the public pool on that day.

A couple weeks in advance talks of who will go out and save a spot for the parade begin. Lexie said she would go out and spend the night out there...or go out at 5a (for any law enforcement who may be reading :) She would get a spot and I would bring the breakfast. The night before we went to a friend's house warming party. And had a good time eating, and playing ping pong around the world, and bocci ball. They have new beautiful landscaping, some of which you can see in this picture . . . which Jon took of me while I told him not to.


As we were coming back to relieve the babysitter, I remembered, Oh yeah breakfast. So we headed to Macey's to get doughnuts.

Jon's family was in town this weekend. His parents are in the (long) process of moving to Wisconsin. And they decided to make a stop here before heading out there to look for houses. They would join us somewhere along the day.

Last year we missed the balloons by like 30 mins! We just could not pull ourselves out of bed. So this year I was determined to make it-and we did! I woke up at 5:00a to make sure we would have everything we needed, food, stroller, sweaters in case its cold, chairs, etc.

This picture makes me laugh, all the different facial expressions.


Jon took this cool pic with his iphone


It was so cool to be so close to see all the action. At first when they started to blow fire into this balloon the boys both jumped, it was really loud. First, they start to fill the balloon with air using a huge fan, then they blow the fire in there to heat the air so the balloon will rise.


A girl asked me to take a picture of her and her friend so I did and ask them to do the same for us... they did a great job-NOT! :( They totally cut off Max's head! Annoying!!


After watching the first balloon fill up, we went around to see all the other balloons going up. It was so cool to see them all and be so close. The boys really loved it. I am so glad we made it in time!

They have big speakers around the field where they do this. And there is an MC that gives interesting facts and things. They also play patriotic music, loud and very grandiose-I love it! It really enhances the experience with all the majestic, huge hot air balloons around, and everyone happy and excited to be there, surrounded by friends and family. I know this sounds sappy-but when they were playing "God Bless the USA", I really did feel so proud to be an American, and so thankful for all the people who made it possible for us to be free. My eyes got a little watery.





Then we got in the car to find parking near our parade spot. My parents decided to sit with the Valgardson's instead of meet up at Lexie's spot. So I met Lexie and brought her and her "boyfriend", and other guy friend some doughnuts, and then headed 4 blocks down to meet up with the rest of the family.

Max loves sitting in these little chairs. He is a little wobbly still.



There was a karate school that came through the parade and Zac got to break a board! He was so proud of himself! It had a free karate lesson certificate stapled to it. So I think we are going to get him into karate. He will love it.


Our Alma Mater

After the parade we went back to find our car, but we couldn't. We looked for it for probably 15 mins. We were hot and tired and dragging around a cooler, foam swords, camp chairs, and the stroller with a sleeping Max. We thought it had been stolen (what a horrible feeling)...only to realize that we parked more south-(how embarrassing). I was on the phone back and forth with my mom and Lexie when we parked and didn't pay attention (which is normally my job). It was pretty stressful, and sooo relieving when Jon found it.

Then we came home had lunch, and put the boys to nap. Jon went to the gym, while I made an angel food cake, and got in the shower. Then Jon's parents arrived. Within the next hour, Jason and Kari, Dave, and Emily came over.

I had been wanting to make a London Broil, for a family dinner, and I thought this was the perfect chance. A nice steak dinner on the Fourth of July-perfect. I bit off more than I could chew here. I was so tired from staying up late the night before and from waking up at 5a. I could barely do anything. I should have simplified (hot dogs and burgers) and I will next time. I laid down for a little bit and took some Ibuprofen. My mother-in-law helped a ton! There is no way it would have happened without her. The dinner turned out great, just the way I had planned, except Maryanne did most of what I had planned on doing. Thanks!!

I wish I would have gotten pictures of everyone. The boys played in the kiddie pool, and everyone else played outside too.

We had red, white and blue trifle (thanks for the motivation Callie). And then everyone headed their separate ways to watch the fireworks.

We met up with my parents and Adam at the MTC field. Rachel and Lex went to the Stadium of Fire.

This is the first year I got the boys glow rings. They loved them. It was relaxing and nice and cool-it did sprinkle a little bit. It was nice to just be outside. This is one of the things that I love about the Fourth of July, so much time spent outside with fun activities.






The best firework picture caught with the iphone-go figure. Good job Jon.


After the fireworks, which seemed a lot shorter this year, we booked it to the car so we could avoid most of the traffic. I think we did pretty good. It only took us about 30 mins to get home. Then we thoroughly enjoyed the comfort of our beds.

Freedom Festival 2009

These pictures were taken with Jon's iPhone and they are a little blurry-sorry. This year it was a bit overcast all spring and summer, always a chance of rain. Very unlike Utah. Anyway, the clouds looked ominous, but we decided to venture out anyway. It sprinkled just a little, but it was so nice that it wasn't sooo hot!

The boys enjoyed some cotton candy




It seems every year the freedom festival gets more commercial, and less arts and crafts (which is sad to me). I like to see what things people come up with. There were a couple cool things. (Now if I had girls to buy for I would see more of the arts and crafts-bows, tutus, skirts, barbie/doll clothes and accessories...) Not much boy stuff. I remember one year there was a wood craft booth. They made rubberband guns-you could load up to 10 rubberbands. They were pretty cool! I did buy a play tee pee. It is made of fabric and PVC pipe. I felt really nostalgic, because my Grandma Kolb made us one back it in the day. We LOVED it! I think I am going to make one for Max's birthday too. You'll have to wait til Zac's birthday to see a picture of it.

Ford had a presence at the festival too. They were showcasing their new Ford...Fizo ;)...or was it Fusion or was it Fiesta . . . I really can't remember, but I do think it started with an F...Oh, Festiva (I just asked Jon), I was close.


It is a little compact car, comparable to the Smart Car. Currently, they are only sold in Europe and they are being adjusted to meet US standards. Jon got to test drive it, and really enjoyed it. He would love one...surprising how he is starting to root for Ford... While he drove, we went over to this big "sandbox" in the back of a trailer. The boys really liked it.

This is behind plexiglass.


Then we stopped by the music and listened for a little bit. It is always fun to hear live music even if its pretty darn country!

These pics are from my phone, the Xenon, it has a flash!





Since I am posting so far behind...I feel a bit disconnected from the event. Please bear with me as I tried to recall the details.

Stay tuned, I have like 5 more posts (which probably won't make their way here til tomorrow, when hopefully I am more in the mood to do this). It has been a crazy couple weeks. I didn't even get pictures of a couple of the big things we did :(

Update

Well I am do for a post. But I am so not in the mood to blog lately. And I haven't been doing very well taking pictures. I have had pictures, the ones I've actually taken (half of which were after thoughts, days after the event . . .), sitting on the desk top for 3 days now, waiting for me to resize them and post...but I haven't done it yet.

I had strep throat for 4 days, then we had to get the house exceptionally clean (x2, which is another story). Then trying to plan things for the 4th of July weekend and plan ahead as I am planning my little sister's sweet 16 birthday, pool party. And we have family coming in town this weekend. So it just been busy. But this is a little bit of what we we've been up to before all this ...

Our Relief Society is doing these fun activities this summer, mom and child crafts, I love it. We made these garden stepping stones for June.

This is Zac's. His hand print and feet prints are in it too, but its hard to see.


Max's

Then for Father's Day, I surprised Jon with this great Weber Grill. We have been wanting a new grill for a long long long time. I had this planned for 3 weeks. The propane was hiding at a friend's house, the grill was at my sister's (thanks Rach, and for all the help with picking up and dropping off), and I won a BBQ utensil set at a game night=Perfect gift! We had New York Strip steaks for dinner and they were fantastic!!


Another day, we converted Max's crib into a toddler bed. Jon had been wanting to do this for a few weeks, but I was resistant. We finally did it and Max has done great. There was only one incident. When I was sick I was up at 2:45a and Max was crying and crying in the other room, after 10 mins I went to check on him and he was all the way under the bed. . . I could barely see his feet. Poor little guy. I have no idea how he got in that predicament, but I got him some warm milk and he went right back to sleep.






Max is growing up so fast these days. It seemed to take forever to hit some milestones, but he is doing great. He say lots of new sounds and says, ba for ball, and ca for car, and can say dut for duck. He really is a very smart kid. It is so fun to see him developing and so fast now that it is happening. He loves water, balls and animals, especially dogs. I just hope we can get him eating better. We are now exploring the possibility of reflux . . .

Then the neighborhood co-op was selling flats of strawberries and raspberries. And I had been wanting to make freeze jam for the last couple years. So I bought some strawberries for my mom and me and I bought some raspberries (88¢) at Sunflower Market for my mom and me too. Then we spent all day making freezer jam. It was pretty easy. I think we got about 42 cups each. I made strawberry, raspberry and a mix of the 2. And I want to make peach freezer jam in August. I love having these summer fruits and flavors during the crappy winter-Jon does too, he makes sure they are rationed and not all eaten before the end of the year.



Then Rachel and I went and got pedicures with glitter toes. And I LOVE the glitter toes more than I thought. I chose red and they look like Dorothy's ruby slippers! Hey, I need to embrace girl-i-ness in a house of boys, cars and balls :)

Little Mill Camping Trip and Hike to Timp Cave

I am including a lot of pictures for family that we missed, so bear with me.

Last weekend, Jason and Kari, Emily and Dave were able to come camping with us. We went to Little Mill Campground in American Fork Canyon. It was a lot of fun-wet-but fun.

It was a very pretty setting for our campground

The cliff on one side

And cliff on the other side of the canyon

We needed a quick and easy dinner since we didn't get to the site til around 6:30p-roasted hot dogs, pasta salad, and chips.


This fire was difficult to get going. The ashes in the fire pit were all wet from all the rain from the previous weeks (I thought we lived in a desert??) All the boys (or "men" I should say) tried to start a fire. They were able to get one going for a few minutes, but then it would burn out. Emily was the only who was able to make a fire and keep it going! Thanks Emily you rock!


Then right as we were cleaning up dinner it started to rain and thunder and lighting. So we all headed into the tent. It was exciting and a little nerve racking, hoping that we would stay dry. While we were in the tent a gust of wind blew the rain fly and pulled out the front stakes. Luckily, Jon and his brothers were able to find all the stakes and put them back.


After about 15 mins, it stopped raining, so we went out to have dessert. Surprisingly, our fire stayed lit-thanks goodness. We had s'mores and roasted starbursts. Then put Max to bed-it went pretty smoothly.

Then we decided to get more wood from the Ranger since it wasn't burning very effectively with all the rain and wetness. The coals cooled down a lot faster than normal. We were hoping to stay up late and hang out by the fire, but the weather had other plans. It started to rain again. It was after 10p so we decided we would just stay in the tent.


Kari trying to fall asleep without the ambient noise.


It was nice to have a new coloring book to keep Zac occupied, while we all talked.


Max was great. He slept all night. We didn't use the portacrib this time and things were easier. It was easier to keep him in his blankets through out the night.


Yep, this is my Jonny.


This is what the rain fly looked like the next morning.



This is the trench Jon dug the night before it was full of water at night. Rain started to get between the tarp and the tent. Luckily we caught it in time. I don't think any of us got wet in the tent. It is an amazing tent!!

This was a puddle left over from the night's "moisture"

Jon making us banana pancakes

Enjoying breakfast and a warm sun. There was a log that had been laying on the ashes all night and kept one strip of it dry so it was easier to make a fire this morning.



The river was right by our tent spot


Then we headed to hike to Timpanogos Cave. It was pretty busy, so after buying tickets, we had to wait 45 mins before we could start the hike.

There were some birds of prey we got to go see.


The weather was great on the way up. Zac was not so great...he complained the whole time and we had to almost pull him up the trail. At one point Emily carried him, thanks Em.

View of the narrow canyon


The Heart of Timpanogos Cave


Cool picture by Jon

This was outside at the end of the cave tour. During the tour a huge rain and lightening storm came through the canyon. We had to hang out under this awning for 15 mins to wait for the rain to let up so they would let us hike down.


Rain is pouring off the side of the mountain. That "gray" area at the bottom right of the picture is supposed to be the mountain on other side of the canyon. It is a pretty narrow canyon, so it was surprising that there was so much rain we couldn't see the other side.


This is the first rock slide of 2. The second rock slide was a lot bigger. The Ranger is holding a shovel in it to keep the rocks from sliding while we walk across the upper part of it.


This is just past the second rock slide. There isn't supposed to be a waterfall here. . . can you see the water going down the trail behind me?


When we got to the bottom of the trail there was an ambulance and a fire and rescue team. Apparently someone was hit by a rock, but wasn't hurt badly.

Then we took our tired bodies over to the Purple Turtle and had lunch about 4p.

Wow! What an adventure?!