My Birthday!

Surprise!

For my Birthday my Brother (and Marlee) orchestrated a surprise party for me! 

 It was so much fun!  Lots of Balloons and Decorations!

He is responsible for this little gem!

It is really creepy to watch your son swing a bat at your face!

We laughed a lot and had a great time!  Thanks everyone for making my day special!

Hot Air Balloons and The Parade

We woke up bright and early Monday morning and headed to downtown Provo to see the hot air balloons.  As we are habitually late for everything we missed the big launch.  It was unfortunate but we still got to see a lot of the balloons in the sky, a first for my kids.  We were all looking up, enjoying the scene when I noticed that Adam was missing.  I froze.  Panic went through my body as I asked every member of my family and no one remembered seeing him for at lease five to ten minutes.  There were people shoulder to shoulder on the field by the balloons.  I had no idea how I was going to find him.  I began to RUN straight toward one last balloon that had not launched.  If I were a three year old boy, that's where I would be.  Everything was a blur.  I was scanning the crowds and coming up short.  I ran back to the car and shot hopeful glances at my family but they had not found him either.  After the longest 10 minutes of my life a woman said that she had seen a little boy with some people who were looking for his parents!  Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers (and for being in such a family friendly place).  I was so relieved when I ran up to Adam and squeezed his little body!  He had gone the opposite direction down the street toward the shops.  What a nightmare! We kept a close hold on Adam for the rest of the morning. 

      After finding Adam we went out for breakfast and then headed for the big Parade. It was warmer than I expected it to be and I was getting worried about where in the world we were going to find a place to sit and watch. As we were wandering the sidewalk we landed in front of two large easy up tents. As we were standing there discussing our options my Dad recognized a friend of his standing there. It just so happened that the tents belonged to this friend's in-laws and she invited us to a prime, front row, spot with a tent to boot! We got so lucky! Her in-laws had been camped out there since 3:00 a.m.

That is the end of our Fourth of July festivities. 

 It was speckled with some drama but all in all it was a huge success!!

A Near Death Experience . . .

     The Stadium of fire is one of my greatest childhood memories!  It was all so exciting - so many people, the music, the anticipation, the tangible buzz in the air.  We were always packed up with a couple of blankets and sweatshirts for after dark when the chill would hit the air.  I remember snuggling up with my parents, eyes to the sky, the warmth of the blankets and the heat from the fireworks as the largest ones would fill the sky.
      I have never seen anything like the Stadium of Fire since I left Utah.  Every firework show has paled in comparison.  I was so anxious for my girls to feel the magic of the night.  I was especially excited when I found out that Carrie Underwood was coming.  This single event is what coerced me into making the decision to stay in Utah for over four weeks!  I wanted to come for my family reunion at the end of July but I just couldn't miss the Fourth and all of its promised memories! 
     You can imagine the satisfaction I felt when we felt the deep boom of the first  firework as it exploded into the air! Audrey literally shrilled with delight!  Suddenly, the little body beside me tucked into a tight ball and began shuddering with terror!  Rachel was NOT having it.  She wouldn't even watch!  We reassured her repeatedly that everything would be fine.  "Just look up Rachel, it's so neat!  They are not going to hurt you!"  After several minutes of coxing from the adults, she finally settled into her seat and actually began enjoying herself.  With a little residual apprehension she started to smile and even laugh! 
     That's when it happened!  We were seated on the field nearest the stage and one of the lights had been set with fireworks that went off in the top of the pole. They were supposed to shoot straight up into the air but they began shooting right into the audience!!!  Right towards us!!!  The people in the seats in front of us began to pop up like popcorn kernels out of their seats and into the bleachers.  The next thing I knew I was hovered on the ground under a chair with Rachel folded up under my body.  Tyler had jumped over his chair and covered Marlee, Audrey, myself, and Rachel under a great umbrella of blanket with his long arms.  I was TERRIFIED!  I didn't know if it was going to keep coming at us.  Thoughts raced through my mind of the ensuing panic, crowds of people running from the stadium, mass hysteria, clothes on fire, it was all too surreal!
     Fortunately, they did not keep coming.  For the rest of the night I could never be too sure.  My Rachel was petrified!  She was literally screaming, "I want to go home!  I want to get out of here!"  I picked her up and ran towards the exit only to realize that to get out I would have to go to the exit nearest the stage and the empty side of the stadium where a lot of the inside fireworks were going off.

Not. A. Chance.

    Instead, we ran into the middle of the field and sat with a group of others seated on blankets.  Everyone around me was looking at my hysterical child.  None of them had seen what happened.  I looked at them sympathetically but what could I do?  We were trapped.  The rest of the night felt like a dream. I felt so terrible.  This was not the experience that I wanted my girls to have.  Audrey was amazingly logical.  She received the comfort of her Grammy and continued to watch (and enjoy) the rest of the fireworks from the comfort of Grammy's lap.  Once we finally got back to the car Rachel was saying things like, "I am NEVER coming to Utah again!  Never!" 

Lovely.

      She emphasized that she would not ever watch fireworks again for the rest of her life.

    The trauma of the experience has since worn off and I am happy to report that we will be returning to Utah.  Rachel has even come around to mentioning her fond memories of the event.  PHEW!  For the record, Carrie Underwood put on a great show and we REALLY had so much fun!  Furthermore, no one was seriously injured and I do not think they will be doing in stadium fireworks again. 

STADIUM OF FIRE!!!!



                   They asked every Eagle Scout in the Stadium to hold up this paper and make the Eagle Scout sign.  It was incredible to see how many Eagle Scouts there were in a Stadium that size!  It was practically every 10 people!         

                        

Tyler held up the wrong hand!

He soon realized and switched hands.

Me and My cute Girls



Audrey Singing



Dancing

We had the most gorgeous Sunset over the stadium.

Here is Miss Underwood herself!  We had great seats. 



Fourth Of July

The fourth of July is one of my favorite times of the year!  (In Utah)  I can't say so much for Houston because I do not enjoy sweating or mosquitoes!  Utah is magical on the fourth of July.  Those Utahns know how to Celebrate our Country in a BIG way!  I could not wait to share this day and my memories with my kids.  This is the first time that the kids have been there for the fourth.  The Holiday was spread out a little more than usual this year because it fell on a Sunday so Utahns, being Utahns, celebrated around the Sabbath;)  The hot air balloons and the parade typically come first in the line up of special events, but this year the parade was on Monday.  It was nice to sleep in because we had just flown in the day before.  To kick off our Holiday we went to the sceara park where they had a little "festival" going on.  The festival wasn't all that we had hoped but we enjoyed less crowds and BEAUTIFUL weather. 

This is a new favorite of mine from my little man!

I love this one too!

                                                      Audrey is highly skilled in the art of Hula Hooping!

One of my absolute all time favorites

   Audrey was really into all of the reenacting. 

She always has so much enthusiasm for anything that we do.

 I really rely on her.

                                                                          "Daddad" ~Adam

Cici LOVES to swing!

                                      "Little Dude" and her buddy Ty Ty having a nice chat!                                               

Me and Audrey doing the spider.

                                                       Marlee and Rach were so cute on the swings!

                                                                                       Buds

The SCREAMER!  Terradactyl, the Saucer or Cici Pants. 

Apparently this girl is going to be a singer. 

(My Dad calls her saucer because of her huge eyes)

Grammy is always willing to push the swings.  She is so much nicer than I am:)

One of the casualties of the park was that Adam ran full speed and caught my Dad's pinky toe in the action.  He is going to LOVE having his foot posted on the world wide web but I just had to share. This became known as the Patriotic toe as it was RED, WHITE, and BLUE!  Way to support your country Dad!