Picnic, Pegasus and Parade

Tuesday was a pretty mellow day.  I went with Kim and John to Deseret Book and Richard and the kids went to the church ball field to play some baseball and have a picnic.  When we got back from the bookstore, Kim and I took Susanna and Timothy to Walmart and  Sam's Club for some grocery shopping and to get fireworks for the kids.  When we came back the kids were all home relaxing and cooling off.  They were completely absorbed in the "classic thriller" Barbie and the Magic Pegasus.  If you look closely you can see the Pegasus flying on the TV.   

That evening Kim and I went out for a while with out any kids.  We went to Pier 1 and looked at all the beautiful things (Thanks Kim for the pretty ring!)  and then went to Cold Stone for a treat.  While we were there we got word that there was an awesome fireworks show about to start.  We hurried home, piled all the kids and Richard in and head off to see the show.  We parked at a car wash, jumped on top of our vehicles and watched the best fireworks show I have ever seen.  It was fabulous and we were almost right under them.  As soon as it was over we pulled out of the car wash lot and got home with almost no traffic delays.  It was great spot!

The next morning we all got ready for the 4th of July breakfast and bicycle parade at the church.  Sam, Josh, Tim and Andrew B. went out early with John to put flags up in yards around the neighborhood.  Rich and Sara went early to the church to help set up for the breakfast.  Kim and I straggled along with the rest of the kids.

Sara and Andrew with their patriotic shades on

 Susanna swept off her feet by big brother Daniel

 Timothy and Natalie

Everyone loved breakfast, pancakes, ham, eggs and melons with juice and milk.

Then the kids decorated their vehicles with streamers for the parade

Me, in my red, white and blue

 John getting things started

 The parade!

Nate and Laney

Kim and Matthew

Nate and Susanna

Bethany, such a pretty smile!

 Josh and Zanna

 Sara and Natalie made a bunch of dazzling rings and bracelets for the girls.

After the breakfast party we hurried to clean up and make our side dishes for the Loveridge (Kim's family) BBQ.  The Loveridge family is a ton of fun and welcoming.  We feel so at home with all of them.  It feels a lot like hanging out with the Ely gang at home.  We ate steak and hot dogs and all sorts of other yummy foods.  The kids played with all the cousins.  It was a great time.

Daniel, Laney, Timothy, Bethany and Susanna worked for a long time to build this amazing thing out of Duplos.  They were all so proud.  I let Daniel take the camera downstairs to document their creation.

Sweet Timothy

That evening we all went different directions.  Drew and Daniel went with John and Kim's gang to a rodeo show.  Sadly, the fireworks were canceled due to fire hazard.  (There were several massive wild fires burning across Utah already.)

 The boys said their favorite part was the rodeo clowns. 

Richard took Sam, Josh, Tim, Sara and Nate to Provo for the night in preparation to hike Mount Timpanogos early the next morning.  They stayed the night at Richard's sweet Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Randy's house.  They parked a few miles away from BYU's Stadium of Fire and watched the show.

It was a full day, even with out evening activities, so I stayed home with Laney and Susanna and we showered, turned on La La Loopsy on Netflix and went to bed by 9pm.  It was WONDERFUL!  We were exhausted.  The Rodeo group didn't get home until midnight.  I was grateful to get a good nights sleep.

Father's and Son's Camp Out

I started a post and loaded all the photos for the camp out, then I realized that this would be much better coming from someone who went on the outing.  So...   I handed off to Richard to fill in the words.  Take it from here Honey!

We had a great time on our Father's and Son's outing this year.

Here was some kind of ground spider

And some caterpillars spinning silk in a tree

They are pointing to the caterpillars in the tree.

We talked about the contours of the land and how to pick out landscapes in case you get lost.

Here is the crew serving breakfast.

The breakfast scene with Bro Barry's van on the side.

We went to Beaver Creek as we came home.

They had a blast swinging out into the creek.

Monday, Funday

Monday we slept in a bit and then headed out to Liberty Park for some fun in the water.  They have a bunch of little rivers and ponds to play in, modeled after the Jordan River and it's tributaries, Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake.  The kids loved getting wet and cooling off.  It was beautiful in the shade with a nice breeze. 

Sam took a TON of pictures of the flowers there.  It truly was beautiful landscaping, also a greenhouse.  Sam got these cool ones of a dragon fly.

While taking photos, Sam stepped on a bee.  He had never been stung by a bee before.  Sara quickly got some mud to put on his foot to draw out the venom.   

Ash and Josh having fun together

Richard having some lunch 

 Nate

Ashley 

 Kim holding her adorable little nephew.

Matthew chillin'

Drew 

The water gun fight 

 The mom's hangin' out in the shade.  Kim's sisters Amy and Carrie came and brought their kids.

 Josh took this pic

After the park we packed up the kids and went to Temple Square for a couple of hours.

We let the kids split into groups and walk around at their own pace.  Richard, Kim and I stayed with the little ones.  Sam was off on his own to take pictures.

Lovely Natalie

 Bethany and Laney

Susanna

 The little guys, Bethany, Timothy, Laney, Susanna and Daniel posing with the incredible statue of Christ.  The visitors centers there are full of beautiful art and displays portraying Christ, His life, followers and His church.  It teaches what we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe and how we strive to live our lives.  

 Josh and Ashley just being silly.

 Here are some of us on the pedestal used for picture taking.

 Matthew and Drew were great buddies during this visit.

 Timothy, Tim, Andrew, Sara and Nate

 Matthew

Timothy

Bethany, all worn out.

  Sam took gazillions of pictures of all the pretty flowers and the temple.  Here are a few of the temple.  I am sure he will post his favorites on Facebook.

  

It was a wonderful day.  We were all pretty worn out when we got back to the house.  We ate dinner and settled down for Family Home Evening with John.  Poor guy, he had to work while we were out having fun.  After FHE we watched Rob Gardner's The Price of Freedom.  It is so amazing!  You can't watch it and not have your American heart be stirred.  Have some tissues handy.  It was a great way to end the day.