July 4

July 4 is always fun by us.  We decided to start the celebrations on July 3 with a BBQ with our good friends.  Juliette clearly dressed for the occasion!

Paul grilled up some delicious meats for everyone!

The boys hanging out.

Nice grilling!

Matthew enjoyed playing some backyard basketball with Charlie!

And there was some yummy desserts too.

Matthew charmed Mrs. O'Connor into giving him lots of cookies :)

Then we got out the sparklers.

We are lucky Paul didn't burn any fingers in this process...

or worse!

My good friends!

Once it got late, the kids settled in to watch a movie.

It was a very fun evening.  The next day we got up and went to our favorite teacher's house for the parade.  Matthew found Mrs. O'Connor right away!

The kids all waiting for candy to be thrown!

The Acuff's met us there too!

Michael and Ben

Abbey giving Ellie a hug.

Abbey really looked adorable in her festive outfit that she picked out herself.

Matthew looking at his candy with Uncle Brandon and Andrew.

Back at the house we had some lunch.

After lunch (and nap), we headed over to Frontier Days, which is the annual July 4 fair in AH.  The kids love it because of all the rides and festivities.  Caroline and Juliette liked this ride!

Andrew and Ben on a ride.

Going down the big slides in a race to the finish!

It was a close one - photo finish!

Matthew mostly enjoyed riding on Daddy's shoulders.

or drinking the iced lemonade and Uncle Brandon bought him!

He did happily go on this spinning ride with Aunt Domi and the kids.  He did not get off of it very happy though!

He decided to sit out the next few rides with Uncle Brandon.

He eventually went on another ride, but didn't like that one much either.

So we switched to playing some games.

And this year we did not come home with any fish.  Instead, we came home with a hermit crab.  So off to PetSmart we went to get his habitat set up and $100 later, we had a home for Sushi.

July 4 is always one of our favorite summer times!