4th of July

Unfortunately, I spent most of my birthday cleaning house to prepare for out big party the next day. Tony spent it assembling my birthday gifts! My grandma & grandpa Quinn give us a very generous check for our birthdays and this year I didn't want to put it in the bank and let it get eaten away by bills. I wanted some fun stuff for our backyard--a swingset and a trampoline. When Tony went shopping for them, he found a great clearance deal on a patio set and gazebo tent thing and I settled for those instead of the swingset. I must admit, I do love them!


On the morning of the fourth, I took the kids to the Kaysville City booths and parade while Tony finished his assembly work. We had never been before because we usually go to Willard. They didn't have many booths, but a company that was advertising their inflatable party service had a bunch of bouncy stuff that kids could go on for free!



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Faith & Christian went on this slide about a hundred times.






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They loved the ball pit at the bottom!







They also loved the one that had an obstacle course. Just after the parade started, I got the kids to leave the slides and bouncies to find a spot to watch it.


The parade was not especially entertaining. Given how many millions of people were there to see it, I was very surprised when a man sitting in front of us commented, "Ooooh, a float! Kaysville parade's finally got a float this year!" It was mostly pageant winners, police vehicles and posses. It was kind of funny that that same guy was shouting to everyone in the parade as they passed by. Things like, "Woo, hoo for miss Kaysville/Fruit heights! Lookin' great there, let's see that wave!!" and "All right Davis County Commissioner ___ !!!! You can throw that taffy right here!" and "Go pioneer outfit kids, yee haw! Uh oh--I mean Thoroughly Modern Millie olden day costume kids!" (that was the musical Kaysville city was performing as part of the festivities). I loved that it made them all look kind of tickled and embarrassed at the same time and it also got more candy thrown to our area :)
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After hiking back to our car, we got home to set up for our 4th of July BBQ. It's traditionally held at Tony's parents' house, but this year they were dealing with getting the interior painted and also Larry's office remodelled because of water damage from a broken pipe.
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Larry & Lana, Tammy, Tina & Brian, Zach, and Jason & Athena came over to celebrate with us. Of course, we had a ton of food.





The kids swam for a bit right after dinner. Don't they know about the 30 minute rule? ;D

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We laughed at this giant bumblebee climbing into and out of our snapdragons.

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The kids sure enjoyed bouncing on the new trampoline!

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Pa Braegger and Christian went into our bedroom to "watch Little Bear" but this is what I found just a few minutes later. I think it's so funny that they fell asleep in the same pose!

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About a half hour after that, they had both rolled over into a snuggle :)

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Grandma Braegger got obsessed with playing Wii bowling.

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Leave it to Faith to strike a pose and become the center of attention in a picture where she was supposed to have a supporting role!

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Tony dared Tina to get on the tramp, and then bounced her so hard that she fell down. After that he kept doing it so she couldn't get up. I don't think her hysterical laughing helped either!!

At sunset we woke Christian up for marshmallow toasting,

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and sparklers.

Faith barely even got brave enough to hold hers poked into a pencil eraser, but she loved it!

Lastly, we went to the front for some fireworks that Tammy & Tony had gotten. I love how they are all covering their ears for this loud one! They loved the show, but I think their favorite part is taking turns choosing which ones get lit next :)

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It turned out to be a wonderful Independance Day! We feel very lucky to live in a free country and very much appreciate those who have fought for it and those who are still working to keep us safe.