Wednesday, July 8, 2009

4th of July!


Independence Day has been our major holiday for years. Living off of Center Street in Provo forces you to be a parade-goer and Jared and I have made the parade a tradition from the first year we were married. After we moved from Provo, we still went back and set up at the same spot on our former neighbor's yard. When I started running seriously, the Freedom Run 5K became a part of the tradition and for the last few years, Peter and Erik have run it too. So our Independence Day fun starts at 5:30 am, getting up early enough to get the kids down to our parade spot and walking down to the race start by the 7am start. After the parade, we hang out with Mark and Jeff's families and whoever else we are lucky enough to get here for the holiday (this year we had everyone for a short time!). Then we watch fireworks. It turns into a really long day which doesn't work so well on weekdays (Jared gets really cranky! :-)) but this year, to make it even more perfect, it was Saturday so we could sleep in on the 5th - 11am church is great!

This year was a keeper. The run was great, the weather was perfect - it even rained a little right before the parade and it was a lot cooler than usual - and Mom and Dad were here and Marcia's Mom so we had a huge group at the parade. After the parade came the family festivities . . .

The standard we-all-look-so-great-after-running-and-sitting-at-the-parade-all-morning family picture. Can we plan these next time?




After running and hanging out at the parade and the obligatory family photo op, we were finally able to relax and eat and play at Mark and Cia's. What an absolutely wonderful family filled afternoon with the perfect weather continuing. While the adults were doing this . . .






the kids were doing this, and this . . .










and this . . . and this.


















After a full day of family fun festivities, it was time for the fireworks. For the last few years we had been setting up on the road outside Thanksgiving Point to watch the fireworks. We had fun, but decided we could do better. Jeff's family and we arrived at Thanksgiving Point really early - around 7pm, and set up on the grassy parkstrip in the parking lot to the theaters. We had lovely soft grass to sit on, shade trees and a perfect view of the fireworks. We hung out playing games and enjoying each other's company while the boys made videos and who knows what boys come up with to do. We brought treats and had a great time relaxing before, during and after the firework show.


Taking a page from the "Cook's book" we set up a game of Werewolves after the fireworks ended and sat playing until the parking lot was empty. NO traffic! A fabulous end to a fantastic 4th of July weekend. God bless America!













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