4th of July

Since the 4th was on a Friday this year, and Ryan and I both get work off I thought, hey, let's actually spend it in another city for a change.  I've only ever seen the Tooele parade.  So we booked a couple of nights at the Casa de Lee in Cedar City.  We arrived late Thursday night just long enough for a little visiting and putting the kids to bed.  Andrea was super excited this time because Peyton has a bunk bed with an extra bed for her.  By by the second night her and Meryn shared the bed anyway so that all three kids could sleep in the same room.

Before the parade on Friday Matt and Sara's ward has a breakfast.  So Ryan and Matt headed over about 6:30 to start cooking while Sara and I got the rest of us ready.  I was pretty proud of the way Andrea's hair turned out trying a new star design I saw on Facebook.

I was very impressed with their breakfast, pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit.  I thought it was a very nice thought by their ward and they had a good turnout.

 Andrea's face in this one cracks me up.

After breakfast Sara and I took the kids over to find a spot for the parade and the men came once the breakfast was all cleaned up.

The Cedar parade made me realize Tooele's isn't so bad.  I don't even remember Cedar City's having a band in it.  And the kids only got about six pieces of candy.  Not that I'm complaining, I liked seeing something different and now I'll appreciate Tooele's a little more.

After the parade we headed to the park for the activities there, but everyone else in town was also there so we opted to pick up some Jimmy John's and go to Discovery Park instead.  The kids didn't mind one bit since Discovery Park is one of the coolest parks ever.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty low key.  Ryan and Matt fixed sprinklers, the girls put together their own parade in the living room.  And I did a little of my transcription work.

 Sara and Matt cooked us up a yummy barbecue of hamburgers, hot dogs, dip, crab salad, chips, and Sara had made a yummy patriotic cheesecake!

Not long after dinner we headed out to get a good spot for the fireworks.  The men had their tripods and cameras ready for the photo op.  And the kids and women were whining about the cold, well, mostly me and the kids.  So luckily there were some emergency blankets in the car that we wrapped up in.  Well, those of us who could stay wrapped up and not wiggle too much for the noise factor, which was none of us.  It was a pretty funny experience re-wrapping everybody and getting the seating situation just right.

Ryan got great shots of the fireworks, so I just quickly picked a few.  

The fireworks were pretty great.  And once the girls realized that they weren't going to land on us they seemed to enjoy it.

The next morning we decided to go on an adventure, like we usually do down south.

Matt and Sara suggested a drive up the canyon and hiking to cascade falls.  The hike was short and easy terrain for the kids.  It was a beautiful day as you can see....

Right as we got to the end of the hike a slight rain had started so we took cover under a rock.  But we thought we should head back before it gets worse.  As we did the hail started coming, so we found another refuge under a larger rock.  The rain let up enough we started again and of course larger hail had formed.  I must admit it did hurt, Andrea was screaming and crying.  I did my best to cover her, but I also wanted us to move quickly.  We found the best shelter of all which included a bench.  Once we arrived Andrea proclaimed "I got hit by ice cubes".  Yes, yes, we all were hit by ice cubes.  I wish these photos did justice to the storm we were watching from our hideout.

We slowly made it back to the car taking shelter under trees occasionally.  At one point the parents were all surrounding the kids taking the brunt of the hail.  I felt bad I couldn't cover Peyton more, but as you can see from the group shot I don't have much height on him anymore.

The trail was now a trail of slippery clay.  And our shoes were unidentifiable, just blobs of brown mass getting heavier with each step.  Luckily Matt and Sara were prepared with a bag in the car for shoes and we wiped the kiddos down well enough to sit in the car.  It was unforgettable to say the least.

After a quick stop back at the house to change and hose off our shoes we headed to St. George for dinner and shopping.  Fifty degrees in the canyon to 105 degrees in St. George is a quick change all in one day.

That night the kids lit sparklers in the back yard and crashed rather quickly as you might expect.

The next morning their family headed off to 9:00 a.m. church.  So we went over to visit Sandy and Fernlee before we left town.  I love visiting Sandy and Fernlee, but I love seeing the dogs just as much.  It seems every time we come Sandy has a different dog.  This time it was Rascal, a hug lab puppy, who doesn't know his own size yet.

And of course we love to sing with Cookie, I had a video of Andrea singing with Cookie but the size was too large to email myself.  I'll still work on it though.

Another great trip full of memories and good laughs.  Love this extended family I've inherited!