4th of July

I'm back to playing catch up but I blame it on not being able to find my connector cord between my camera and computer.  The cord has been found though so here I am!

Our 4th of July celebrations became a whole day affair, which was fun.  I'm used to just fireworks at night, but this year we started celebrating early.  And by early, I mean that Aaron woke up at 3 am to camp out with friends for the Provo Freedom Parade.  Thankfully, he let me sleep in until 8 and join him later.  Provo-ites take this parade very seriously (maybe a little too seriously?) and literally have people camping out starting at 3 pm the day before.  Provo does put on a good parade though, with floats from BYU, UVU, local businesses along with all the local high school marching bands.

 ^^I got to see some of my students march with the marching band^^

 ^^llamas!^^

 ^^And of course, the Provo Parade wouldn't be the same without the missionaries!  And look at all those sisters!^^

^^Aaron looking on in awe^^

We came back to crash at our apartment in the afternoon.  My brother Brad knocked on our door with our favorite ice cream (Denali's Moose Tracks--I seriously hope CA has this for us come September when we move) and sat and chatted it up.

Around dinner time, we headed over to see Blair and Chelsea (who were in town for the week) and partook in the deliciousness that is a Woodger BBQ feast.  It was fun to catch up with them and the funniest part of everything was seeing Addy take upon herself the role of waitress.  While all the other kids were off playing, Addy went around refilling everyone's cups of water.  She even came away with some quarters in the end!  Smart girl, that one.

 ^^I made a pretty 4th of July themed dessert for the BBQ...this is the before...

^^and this was the after...that massive cookie refused to come off that pan no matter what we did.  So we just ate the fruit off instead.^^

^^Addy hard at work.^^

We finished off the night with watching the Stadium of Fire fireworks with Aaron's sister Annie, the Collins family and the Bean family.  We had a spot just next to where the fireworks were being fired off, so we laid on our backs and watched them literally explode right over our heads.  I think it was the best fireworks show I have seen.

I was soooo tired by the end of the day, to the point of ridiculousness, but we had a lot of fun hanging out with a variety of our friends and family so it was worth it.

Thanks for being great America!