Independence Day 2011

"What date is the 4th of July on?" This is the question (however grammatically incorrect) I asked the kids as we happily left for Utah to celebrate the birth of our country. I actually had them stumped for a few seconds. It's like how L-M-N-O-P is sung too fast in the alphabet song and kids don't know they are individual letters.
But they figured it out. I don't think they've ever been happier to finally pull out of the driveway and head out. I'd been telling them all week that we'd leave after I got home from Girls Camp on Friday. I forgot to mention the the 3 hours or so it'd take us to unpack my Super Soakers, rope, hair feathers, clothes caked with dirt, do a couple loads of laundry, repack, go over our list, try to make sense of the list after a week of sleep deprivation, etc, etc (you know how it goes). They were out of patience and so were we.
But we made it out and as you can see, we decided to bring Scouty.
Utah's beauty never ceases to amaze us this time of the year when the desert is so brown and SO hot.

We were met with warm welcomes.
And idyllic scenery.
Which caused us to reflect on the beauty of the Earth and also- why do we not live here again? Oh yeah- 8 months of snow. They were just as excited about the nice weather as we were.

I was deemed official photographer which is a nice title but on the downside comes with very frequent photo-op suggestions from family members. I was also in charge of taking family pictures of Dana's sister's family since their oldest son Luke will be leaving on his mission in Sept. That was actually a lot of fun.

And we got a family picture of our own :)

Dana, scruffily handsome.
Yep, I'm a lucky gal.
And I took a few of Dana's mom and dad. He's been a hairdresser all his life. It makes me wonder how many times he's done her hair. It's always cute to watch.
This was my favorite. A little candid smooch.
One of the kids favorite activities at grandma and grandpa's is feeding the horses nearby.

July 4th starts off with a cannon booming through your dreams at 6 am. About 10 times or so. Dana, 3 nephews and 1 niece (who smoked them all) got up and ran a 5K in Moroni. Kodi got 1st, Dana got 9th. Kodi is running for BYU next year. Simply put, she's amazing.
Next, off to the parade!
The kids LOVED this little puppy their cousins just got. She was hardly put down the whole time because everyone wanted to hold her.
All the cousins minus Dale's kids.
Emma and Savannah were inseparable.
Eli's a serious candy grabber.
Lots of princesses from all the nearby towns.
Anything can be a float in this parade which makes it quite fun to watch.
My favorite.
No, this takes the cake for sure.
We skipped the fair this year in favor of relaxation and shaved ice. Then waited for the fireworks at night. Dana picked up some sparklers on the way there.
It wasn't long until we were all trying to write our names for the camera. ("katie" sans the K)
I'm not sure what we were thinking bringing scout to the show. He was not a happy camper.
I got this picture though which gave us all a hearty laugh. Poor doggie.
Spectacular show as always. At the end it started raining which made the night even more fun.
On the 5th we went out to "Palisades Park". It was cloudy and windy and all the local family were irritated because they wanted a nice sunny day. I'm sure I'd feel the same if I lived there but we were enjoying every bit of it. We all rented a canoe which the kids had a great time on.

(Dana rowing against the wind)

Sadie and Sophie were really cute together the whole time.



We left from there to come back home. Dana saw this as we drove through Gunnison? I believe, and so we made the kids get out in their crazy get-ups and take a picture.
And here when we stopped for gas :)
Aww- we (the kids and I) Loved all the storms we drove through on the way home.



I didn't get pictures, but Dana put on a great program where we remembered what the 4th is all about and felt grateful for our freedoms. We are all so blessed.