Fourth of July trip

We went to Utah again for the fourth of July this year--just a few days after we got back from the beach. We stayed with Tyler's aunt Barbara and met up with Jacob Tyler's brother who was also staying with Aunt Barbara. As usual she was such a wonderful host. 

The kids always enjoy staying with her and so do Tyler and I. She has a fun assortment of interesting toys from sea shell necklaces to a fuzzy chick hatching out of an egg that Josh couldn't get enough of. . Kate and Barbara became fast friends and by the end Josh was referring to Barbara as Grandma. :) 

We woke up the next morning and had sort of a slow day. We stayed in and the boys ended up playing a game. Tyler worked part of the day and we had some wonderful fajitas that Janet made. 

  Janet's parents stopped in and we had a nice time chatting with them out on Barbara's back porch while Kate snoozed on her lap and Josh played in the water that sprayed out of the drip house running along Barbara's patio wall over her garden. It was nice to have time to talk and enjoy the nice weather. We shared some cookies and watched Josh dance a little bit. 

The next day we went out to the Colonial day activities in Orem. It was a whole lot of work to get there.  Once we found the location and found a spot we hopped out of the car and started getting the kids all ready in the stroller and stuff when Jacob starts putting on some sunblock.   

It came out like it was a firehouse and drenched his leg and left a puddle on the sidewalk. It was really funny and the boys couldn't stop laughing about Tyler's comment. "We don't need that." Spencer got a funny picture in the jail thing. 

After walking around the park we decided it was too hot and made our way to the bread stand. The boys all got a cookie and some sourdough bread with honey butter I guess it was pretty amazing. 

After that we went over to the BYU campus and stopped off at the creek around the campus that Kyle helped build and enjoyed getting in the water and seeing the cute little duck family and had some ice cream at the original creamery under a tree where we discovered Kate had a weird little bruise looking rash--like pin prick bruises. After the ice cream was devoured and thoroughly enjoyed we headed back for the annual Lawrence 4th of July barbecue at Barbara's.  It was nice to see so many cousins and again have time to slow down and chat. Josh enjoyed all the food. He loved the potato salad, Doritos, and watermelon. Grant and Spencer had fun with the kids and loved the food too.

I stole this picture from Maryann's Facebook page. It's the only one I have from the picnic. It shows the Carter cousins. 

 Soon it was time to put Josh to bed so he could make it for the fun night ahead. STADIUM OF FIRE!!

Stadium of fire was Awesome!! Everything about it was. I loved the concert (Carrie Underwood) Spencer claims he didn't like it and so did Tyler but I don't believe them for one minute. It was a spectacular performance and she is just so pretty who wouldn't enjoy watching her. 

Studio C performed a skit as well and they were pretty funny. 

Spencer and Grant really like studio C so they were happy that they got to be apart of stadium of fire this year. 

Josh had a dirty diaper and wouldn't you know I packed size 1 diapers instead of Josh's size 5. Oops.  Luckily, someone next to us had a baby and an extra diaper that fit Josh--so we changed him right then and there in the bleachers between us. That was quite a task. He really wanted to see what was happening and we really didn't want to get dirty. 

Josh loved the sky divers and squealed with delight when they came down. 

He loved the smoke that trailed behind them calling it water. 

The star spangled banner was nice and I loved being right next to this big guy.

And this awesome kid while I sang it. 

It was a spectacular evening for Josh.

I would love to make this an annual tradition I love it so much. It is so refreshing to be able to spend some time outside in the summer. It's hard to do that in Las Vegas.

The sky with the little moon in the clouds showing was really pretty. This picture just doesn't do it justice. After the last firework we walked home with the mass of people on a cool summer night in Provo--very cool.

The next morning we went up to the Bridal Veil falls area and had a picnic breakfast with the Carters. The boys played around in the water where Spencer got a bloody cut. I wish again I would have snapped a picture. It was nice to see them walking around on the rocks with their shoes of and having fun with the other kids. After playing by the stream near our picnic shelter was they trekked over the the base of the falls and played with some trout in the water. SOOOO sad I missed this. Apparently there was a really chubby fish they named chubby that got really close so the kids could feed and pet it. Spencer said it was slimy but cool. 

After the breakfast we picked up Jacob (he drove home with Barbara) to the Bean museum. We loved the bean museum and only wished we had more time. The bird exhibit is quite a site to behold. The colors and variety of birds on earth is pretty surprising. 

After the Bean museum we headed home to get our two little babies in bed in time to meet Mary and Joe for a little tubing--another one of my favorite fourth of July traditions. This year Spencer and Grant joined us!!! Mary and Joe arranged for one big raft and 2 tubes. At first Mary and I took the tubes. I absolutely cherish all of my time with Mary. I loved chatting her in line with our tubes waiting to get into the water. I love to laugh with her and I appreciate how easy conversation comes with her. I love her so much. Once we got into the icy water we decided we wanted to hold onto the raft while Joe and Tyler paddled. That seemed to be a dangerous idea. I got dragged through the trees a couple times.  So we let go of them and held onto each other for a while. Again it pure bliss having a chance to laugh and talk there was just one problem we kept getting swept over to the trees again and eventually decided it was best to let go of each other. That was much better and we were both able to relax, stay in the middle and enjoy the scenery.  Halfway through we met up with the rafters and did a trade. Mary and Grant decided to take the tubes and I got on the raft. It was nice to be with Joe. I don't feel like I ever get as much time with those two as I would like. Love every minute I am with them. We had a great time rafting a long and finally decided to take a little break to wait for the tubers to catch up. After a long while we decided to get going again when they didn't make it back. Once we got to the end though we saw them heading our way. They had a big story to tell too. Mary lost her shoes then lost hold of Grant who then capsized and got caught under his tube. He started yelling for help and a car pulled over on the side of the road and helped him make it to a spot off to the side where he could wait for Mary this was after he slammed into a rock trying to get his tube that had floated to far out of his reach. But by the end he was laughing and smiling saying how awesome it was and that he wanted to do it again. Mary got her normal burns on her arms again this year. :( 

Tyler and I decided it would be wonderful to do a several day camping trip along the Provo river to fish and enjoy the water more. It was like Heaven. Once we finished we headed back to Aunt Barbaras where she had a wonderful dinner waiting for us. Chicken Alfredo with bacon green beans. So good.  We were so hungry and tired. I was so grateful to come back after such a long day and have dinner ready. That almost never happens in my life since I am the dinner maker. Thank you Barbara for that...it helped me realize how nice it is to come home to a nice meal. I am usually stressed out when Tyler gets home. I could do a better job of providing more than just a meal...maybe a smile too. After the delicious dinner we headed over to BYU campus again and went for a walk. We parked up by the new life sciences building and got out and saw a baby deer right away. Then Spencer spotted the mama staring him down and making me really nervous. The life sciences building (I found this picture here) happened to be open which was Tyler's dream come true. So we went snooping around the new pretty building and even rode the elevators that didn't have a finished floor yet. After that we walked around the walking trails and saw all the beautiful landscaping and pretty rocky streams with waterfalls along the way. So inspiring and pretty. The boys ran ahead talking and laughing. Spencer especially loved all the time to explore and jump and crawl around through things. Joe spotted a wounded bird of prey. I think he even took a picture. I will have to ask him for it. Just before that we saw another dear dangerously close. I thought it was going to charge me and the baby. I turned around and started walking the other way. We finally walked back to our car and headed over to the creamery on 9th for our farewell ice cream. We got a nice roomy corner booth and squeezed in while we enjoyed some delicious BYU creamery ice cream.

It all ended way too soon. I loved it all. Goodbye Utah till next time.