Happy 4th of July!

For those of you in Utah let me just say, celebrating Independence Day in Utah is the best. Every town has a parade and they throw out candy, movies, toys, and t-shirts. You have the choice of several different amazing firework shows within minutes of your house. If the 4th actually falls on a Sunday I think it's pretty safe to say that most festivities would be held on Saturday for all us Mormons. All the festivities are free and entirely family friendly. And although I don't love your 90-degree weather, it actually feels like summer on the 4th of July.

Justin's parents have been trying to get us to their ward 4th of July breakfast ever since we moved here. It only took nine years, but we finally made it yesterday morning. After a wonderful breakfast and a few patriotic songs the kids were able to participate in a little parade. The owners of the barn where the activity was held also own an old fire truck. Jason and the girls got in the front seat and Jason immediately started to "drive". When the real driver asked Jason to slide over Jason decided against riding on the fire truck and opted to ride with Justin and his cousin Hannah on the back of a trailer.

In the past few months Jason has started holding his hands over his ears when something is loud. Here’s his reaction to the siren on the fire truck:

After breakfast, our whole family went to the theater to see Toy Story 3 with Justin’s mom. Knowing we wanted to take the kids sometime this weekend they watched the first two movies during the past week or so.

Funny how I can sit right in front of four children watching a movie, taking picture after picture and still not compete for their attention.

Taking an infant to a movie was a first for us; in fact I don't think we've taken any of our kids until they were at least 2 years old. Thankfully everyone did awesome and the movie was great.

Last night we watched the fireworks from the local racetrack. We learned our lesson from last year and arrived early enough to upgrade our seats from a slopped gravel spot right next to the busy railroad tracks to a solid piece of concrete on the other side of the street. The show was pretty good, the traffic afterward pretty crazy and 9am church came very early.

I think our high yesterday was 68 degrees – instead of a cute summer romper, Katie wore a snowsuit