4th of July

We had another good 4th of July celebration. I'll say it again, this is my favorite holiday. I love the summer time, the BBQs, the friends, the family, the red, white and blue, the parades, the swimming, the fireworks. Fun.

We left for 4th of July weekend. Our friends, Todd and Anna, invited us to their cabin in Star Valley, WY. We were so excited to be heading out of town to such a BEAUTIFUL place. It was so green and so pretty. Star Valley is where my grandparents grew up and it always feels good going there. We stayed in their cabin with them and their three kids (also 2 girls and 1 boy) and had a very fun and very relaxing time. The girls played together soooooooooo well. Our only problem . . . Zachary. He is quite opposed to sleeping in a pac n' play and gave us some hard nights, but we got through on Diet Coke. Saturday, Anna took us for a ride to the park on the golf cart and we came upon the town's 4th of July party. The girls got to be in the kid races and got free cotton candy and popcorn. Sweet!We took naps and read and ate and then went swimming. Good day, right?
Out the kitchen window of the cabin while I made dinner. Jayda and Brielle became best buds.
On Sunday we joined all the other tons of people that came to Star Valley for the weekend at church. For the afternoon we drove to Jackson Hole and wandered around. We left Monday and stopped in Smoot and Afton on our way home. We visited the graves of my grandpa and great grandparents. It was nice to be there again.And then on to the general store in Smoot for a treat. Ava looked in the window of the store and said, "There's no treat in there." The general store has turned into the post office. Too bad.
After some good naps in the car on our drive home, we pulled in, unloaded the car, loaded Krista in the car and took off again to Landon and Sarah's house for a 4th of July BBQ and fireworks at Sugarhouse park.Sarah's mom makes one mean bowl of fruit.
A one woman parade.
His shirt was already drenched in watermelon juice, so he got to go topless while he ate another 20 pieces.
After a good BBQ, we walked to Sugarhouse park to wait for fireworks. Ava entertained us all by rolling down the hill over and over and over. You can imagine how thrilling it was each and every time.
It started getting dark. It was almost time for the firework show we'd been waiting for. Brielle played with the glowing sword.
All the kids played with sparklers. While Ava made me sit and hold her like this - fingers plugging her ears. She then was found crying, hiding under a blanket and the fireworks hadn't even started. Krista tried to talk her through it with her years of experience of being deathly afraid of fireworks, but nothing calmed the girl. Scott took her back to the house and she sat in the van with the radio blasting while the rest of us watched the show. Poor Ava.