= Fourth of July =

I loved the extra-long Fourth of July weekend this year. We were thrilled to have family here and went from one fun event to another over the past four days. My photos here are in no particular order.

We tended Emmett over the weekend which only added to the fun. He's a cute little twenty month old. He's a climber, so he loved going to the park and scrambling up the steps and ladders.

At the park some college kids had rigged a slackline between two trees. They let everyone in our group try the tight-rope type walking on the slackline. This is Aaron's friend Pat balancing on the nylon webbing.

My dad volunteered to help flip pancakes at the Boy Scout Breakfast this morning so we all went to eat a good breakfast and support the scouts. Dad ended up cooking the scrambled eggs. This is funny because if there's one thing in the world my dad has never liked to eat, it's eggs. He said, "When I walked up to the volunteer sign-in table, I had a premonition I was going to be assigned to the eggs...and sure enough they said they needed help with cooking eggs." Just look at that big pan of runny eggs. He's smiling in spite of it.

We went to the Cache Valley Cruise-In - a parade of restored antique cars.

We had Sunday dinner and "marble cake" for dessert made by Brookelyn and Bailee. If you have kids, you have to let them make marble cake. It's a delight to watch them figure out how it works. Here are the girls with their cute great-grandmother, my mom.



This is the legendary Fudge Marble cake mix. And btw, you can half the oil that is called for in the cake instructions.

Scott, Aaron, and Pat took the kids to Logan Canyon for a hike. The Logan River is very full and fast moving right now. They took one look and decided to go to an area away from the river. Three-year-old Carter said, "The river is mad."

They found a trail away from the river and hiked a trail surrounded by green grass and wild flowers.

We got to swim at my brother's pool. Scott was in heaven with his no-sunburn shirt and dark glasses and floatie.

There was the traditional Hyrum 4th of July parade this afternoon. The kids got lots of candy. At one point Carter said, "I got enough dad."

Aaron and Becky both ended up in purple for this patriotic holiday.