4th of July Week

We spent the 4th of July back in Cedar with my family.  Casey and his girlfriend Laura flew in from Ohio and Sundee and Mike came up for a few days from Vegas. So most of the family was able to get together (minus Garrett and his fam who just moved to east Texas).

We started the trip off with a boys fishing trip.  They had a great time on the Khaki Kraft trolling for fish on Panguitch Lake. After a morning of fishing they ate at Biff's in Duck Creek. The best pulled pork sandwich around.

The girls got pedicures, went shopping, and spent lunch at Chili's enjoying chips and salsa with virgin margaritas.

On the 4th, we went out to New Harmony to participate in their parade. We did this almost every year when I was a kid, and I loved it. We would decorate all of the 4 wheelers and ride down main street. One year I dressed up as the Statue of Liberty and sat in a little trailer that someone pulled behind a quad. I felt so special :)

So following tradition, we let Brighton decorate her bike to ride in the parade. She had so so so much fun with the crate paper, ribbon and beads.

Here she is all ready to ride!

 Or not...

That girl and her sass.

Don't worry, once a few people threw candy, and we told her she could have a sucker, she was stoked to ride down the street. (it might have helped that like 10 men on horses were right behind us).

I pushed Boston in the stroller (decorated in fancy streamers) next to her. After about a block, it started to rain. Braden hopped in the van and picked us up before we got too soaked. Super hero Daddy.

The start of the parade. Spectacular, isn't it?

My Uncle Rod and Grandpa Fenn.

 Me and my sweet chubby baby.

I just had to post this picture of Boston throwing a tantrum. That girl has quite the temper. This is just because I sat her on the couch for the picture. Drama!

After the parade we enjoyed hanging out at my grandparents ranch, chatting, riding horses and quads.

Braden and my grandpa get into some serious talks.

That evening we bbq'd, played on the lawn, and made s'mores. Thanks to the new Utah firework laws, we enjoyed aerial fireworks from every angle. And not only do they allow 150 foot fireworks, they also let you light them off from June 26th - July 26th. A whole month. A little ridiculous if you ask me.

We were lucky enough to stay in Cedar the rest of the week :) I just have to say that I am so thankful for Braden's job. He works 12 hour shifts (day and graveyards), but about every 4 - 6 weeks he has an 8 day break. So lucky for us that break fell over the 4th, and he didn't even have to take a single hour of vacation time. Thank you SoCal Edison.

During the week we went to Sand Hollow Lake. Brighton had so much fun! Boston... well she usually loves the water and sand, but wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought she would. Maybe the orange sand weirded her out. Who knows.

Laura & Casey

How cute is she with her old school orange life jacket? She was super apprehensive about going for a ride, but once she was on, she loved it.

We also played at the Aquatic Center again.

And had a little road rage...

My engineer brothers decided they needed to build a dueling tree for our shooting outings. After several sketches and a trip around town to various hardware stores, they started to build.

I think they finished just after midnight. Crazy boys.

The finished product:

Out at the shooting range.

I wasn't that bad of a shot! Casey even said I had "excellent form". :)

On one of the last days we went out to Three Peaks. It's an awesome place to ride, bbq, hike, etc. Brighton was mesmerized by the rock crawling cars Brandon brought. She was following them everywhere, being so brave.

Going for a quad ride. "Um... do I remember how to do this?" It had been awhile.

The girls were pretty good there and back. Neither one of them sleeps well in the car. But what do you do.

Here are a couple of car ride shots where I captured two of Boston's favorite faces.

Cheeeeeese!

The weather was absolutely amazing the whole week. Not too hot, not too windy (Cedar gets some c-r-a-z-y wind), only thunder showers at night. My mom and I just kept saying, "The weather is so perfect today!"

Until next time.

The end.