You'd think that having July 4th on a Sunday would be a drag, but this year it was the BEST! We are visiting in Utah, which is probably the only state in the nation that avoided Independance Day partying on Sunday. The beautiful thing was that not all cities moved their parades etc to the same day, so some were on Saturday, July 3, and others were on Monday, July 5. The result was that we got to party all day with Brad's family on Saturday, and then party all day with my family on Monday. Sunday was a quiet respite sandwiched in between all the BBQ's, parades, and fireworks, and I loved having a "breather day" in the middle of it all to calmly go to church where we sang all patriotic hymns.
The cherry-on-top of all the July 4th celebrating was that Brad was here with us on Friday and Saturday. He's been working in Mexico, and arranged to fly up to UT for the weekend before he had to return to Berlin. This is the first Fourth of July he's been able to celebrate with us since the year Luke was born, and it's the first time he's been here to party with his family in almost 8 years. I loved having him here to snuggle with me during fireworks.
Like I said, Saturday was spent celebrating with the Bitner clan. We started at the Kaysville parade, which we'd heard was the best parade in Davis County. Our reviews were not enthusiastic. It felt like a two-hour-long commercial, as almost all the entries were just trucks driving by with signs for local businesses. There were lots of candy and prizes thrown (my favorite was the ties tossed out of the Missionary Mall truck), but that doesn't really flip my skirt. I love a good marching band, and there were only two in the whole parade. Blah.
After the parade, we went to Oakridge so the kids could swim. All the Bitner cousins were there, and there were free snow cones, so of course we had a great time.
Adam, Pepper, Livvy, Ellie, Jess, Emma, and Brigham in the pool
Pepper was brave enough to jump from the diving-board. What he lacked in form, he made up for in enthusiasm.
Luke was kind of a chicken and didn't want to even get into the kiddie pool at first. I finally just picked him up and plopped him in. After the initial shock, he loved it and didn't want to get out.
After a wet afternoon at the pool, we all gorged ourselves on the barbeque at Oakridge. There was SO MUCH food and lots of fun things for the kids to do.
Adam got his face painted with a dragon. I love the mountains behind him - Home!
Lukie and Gabe were spidermen - obviously. I was surprised Luke sat there and let the guy paint his face. He usually hates stuff like this. I guess the allure of looking like spiderman was enough for him to face his fears (get it?! "face" his fears?! ...no? ...sorry...).
This was actually Dave's idea - to have open eyes painted on their eyelids so they look like they are staring at you even when their eyes are closed. I believe his original thought was to have it done for church the next day, so they could sleep during sacrament meeting and no one would notice. This is a good example of why Dave and Becky make such a good couple - Dave has wacky ideas, and Becky is wacky enough to actually do them!
There was an area set up with a little track where kids could drive the golf carts. I don't suppose it will come as any surprise that this was Pepper's favorite part of the whole day. He waited in line and did this over and over again.
Luke - I mean Spiderman - had to have Dad's help, but it was still awesome!
Luke with his balloon Spiderman Shooter (he named it).
Adam was pretty happy with his Alien hat.
After the barbeque fun, we hunkered down in blankets to watch the fireworks show. This was Luke's first time going to big fireworks in the sky (we usually just stay home and light a few fireworks on an old door on my parents' lawn), and he was blown away. Everyone should have the experience of holding a four-year-old on their lap while he watches fireworks for the first time!
Sunday we had to say good-bye to Brad (sad) and then went down to Alpine in time for church in my parents' ward. We were all pretty tired from all the partying the day before, so it was nice to relax for the day. And, I liked singing patriotic hymns at church, even though standing and singing the "Star Spangled Banner" made me get kinda teary. I really do miss living in America.
Good thing we rested on Sunday, because we were up bright and early Monday morning for another Independance Day Extravaganza. Our day started with the Provo parade, which is HUGE and my personal favorite. LOTS of high school marching bands, city floats with waving royalty, war veterans riding by on tanks (yes, tanks!), and even bag-pipers screaching and whining their way along University Ave. We had a nice shady spot, and it was almost cold as we watched the parade (an Independance Day miracle).
Here's our group getting excited for the parade to start.
Adam and Jayce killed time before the parade by setting off those little poppers, and Luke blew bubbles.
The Utah Provo Missionaries marched in the parade, led by the mission president and his wife in a snazzy convertible. The crowd on both sides of the street stood and cheered as they walked by. I thought of our missionaries in Germany, and how jealous they would be of all the positive attention!
This is why I love Utah - where else in the world would you see a several cities come together and cheer on a group of Mormon missionaries, followed by a temple float, marching in a parade?
After the parade, we came back to my parents' house for a KFC lunch and water games for the kids. It was sunny and beautiful, but not very hot, so I'd say it was perfect weather. Pepper confided in me that he'd prayed for good weather the night before, so we gave all the credit to him for the lovely day.
Jayce and Adam acting tough in the kiddie pool.
Luke and Austin show me their muscles.
Luke would throw the ball up and just giggle when it landed in the water and splashed him. Ah, to be four-years-old again...
The "older kids" spent the afternoon in the shade watching all the water games.
My mom had the brilliant idea to play water kick ball. The "bases" were tubs full of water, and in order to get "home", they had to slide on the Slip-n-Slide. The kids played this for a pretty long time - we were surprised at how much they liked it.
Luke knew it was fun to be wet and play with the kids, but he didn't really get the rules of kick ball. Jess showed him the ropes, but after a little while he gave up and just splashed in the "bases".
We finished up the day with grocery store fireworks in my parents' backyard, which is lovely because we don't have to fight crowds or worry about traffic. Jen had burned a CD with a bunch of patriotic/party/I-just-like-this songs to accompany the fireworks, and I think the music stole the show. After the fireworks were over, we rocked to some Brooks and Dunn songs (my mother's favorite), and then put the kids to bed with "Neon Moon" running through our heads.
Too bad we can't do a three-day July 4th every year!
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