The Fourth of July is Kev's favorite holiday, which makes it a lot of fun at our house. He gets everyone really excited for all the activities and never seems to slow down. I think that is where Ty gets his enthusiasm. Here are a bunch of pictures of our fun, and it was FUN!
Loved it so much that when our friends, the Browns, invited us to go on Friday, we went again! The boys had lots of fun again and weren't even grouchy from waking up early two mornings in a row.
Next stop was the Provo parade, which we normally wouldn't do. It is always chaos, hot and crowded! But we dared the crowds with the Browns and stayed just long enough to see Kev's parents' Stake float. Ty and Grace are definitely pros at the 'cheese' thing.
And the night finished with the ever traditional Cul-de-Sac of Fire. This makes the 4th for Kev and now I'm sure will be one of our kids' fondest memories.
Ty is trying to be brave and hold his flag during the National Anthem, but the fireworks were a little close. I was videoing, so thanks Lexi for watching out for him.
Ty could have thrown Snaps all night. He felt pretty cool and got very creative on how and where he would throw them.
At first you think Jordo was having a great time....
only from a distance I guess.
(He did get better as the night went on though.)
With fireworks and glow sticks, who wouldn't love the 4th!
Happy Independence Day and a special thanks to all those that served and serve now to keep our country free!
But after this, all I had to say was, "Where are the tractors?", and Jordo was at our window glued to the 'tractors' (I know they all have names, but to Jordo, they are all tractors) working on our street. Sometimes he would lose interest or remember he was supposed to be whining and he would come find me. I would ask him where the tractors went and he was off again to find them. I hope you don't consider this neglectful parenting. I just really treasure those times when the boys can entertain themselves, and today it was all due to construction.
My boys are all boy. They love balls, dirt, rocks and big tractors and trucks, and today it was a really good thing.
Too Stinking Cute! Ty was reading Jordo this book. Did you catch Ty's mouth? I think he's saying 'Wahoo', which is really what that page says. Both boys love books and read them all the time (thanks Rach and Mike for a book that gets well used). There's nothing better than having your kids play happily together and getting along. I hope these two always stay close.
When it got a bit later, we pulled out the marshmallows and tried to cook them. I put one on Ty's roaster stick and he rubbed it back and forth on the firewood. I think he was going for the organic flavor. We decided to try again with my help and once it was ready to eat, he didn't like it. He is a visual eater and didn't liked what he saw. He is used to white marshmallows and he was now seeing black and brown ones. I tried to tell him not to be racist against black ones, but he insisted on only eating white ones. So I roasted my own while he just ate uncooked ones. 
Once it got dark, he saw the other kids with flashlights and he wanted his own. So I got ours out and he with the rest of the kids went on a "bear hunt." Ty had no idea what was going on, but he ran around with the others looking in the wilderness for bears. Once that was over, Ty came and sat on my lap and kept looking at the garbage bag hanging from the tree. He finally said, "Dad what is that? Is it a monkey?" I guess if you had no idea what it was, a black something hanging from a tree can look like a monkey. I think the bear hunt was getting to him. Then he kept looking around to make sure no animal was going to jump out at us.
At about 10:45, he told me that he was tired. We got in the tent and he was almost giddy when getting in his sleeping bag which was a blessing. He snuggled right up and fell dead asleep. It was a chilly night, so I gave him all of the extra blankets. He slept like a rock! I, on the other hand, got a grand total of 2 and a half hours. I was so uncomfortable and it was freezing! I lost feeling of my toes at around 2:30 and when things couldn't get worse, it started to rain. It never stopped raining, and when morning finally came around, I was an ice cube. I opened the tent door to find it snowing! The fire was out and everything was soaking wet. I just grabbed everything and threw it in the car and we drove home. We were home by 7:15am.
(If you can't tell, that is snow and a VERY wet campground)
