July 23rd

Yeah, the title of this post is not a typo- This year we did our Pioneer Day Celebrating on the 23rd- how weird :)
I had been feeling bad that we didn't go to a parade on the 4th, so the Bountiful Handcart days parade sounded like such a great idea- they do it in the evening, so I didn't have to drag my kids out of bed at the crack of dawn. My mom went and set up chairs in the morning, and we met her there just before the parade started. It's a pretty fun parade- really long- they throw tons of candy out to the kids (so did the people sitting next to us- I think that's a fun idea- maybe I'll try that next year). They actually had a float that launched stuffed animals out to the kids as well- that was a real thrill :)


My kids are not big fans of the sirens :)- they like the trucks, just not the noise





Look at that cute double chin!!!



They started out right next to me, but slowly drifted out into the middle of the road- it worked out good that we were on the "wrong side" of the road because they did have this buffer zone between them and the parade- now that I think about it, it would have been a lot harder to keep Luke in a smaller area :)


LOL I just LOVE his face in this one :) I think he's trying to get the water bottle in his mouth, but it just looks so funny!


We sure had a lot of fun. It's been a while since we saw such a big parade.


Luke's the master at scavenging for candy. Especially when the people next to us think it's fun to watch him run to it and pick up like he just struck gold :) Reminds me of that Seinfeld stand-up thing- gotta get candy, gotta get candy, gotta get candy


After the parade we went up to Grandpa's and we all (Nana came too) drove over to the Mueller Park Fireworks, which turned out to be pretty good. I could have done without Noah screaming all the way there and back, and the other kids screaming during :) (again with the loud noises), but can you really skip the fireworks??? Nana loved the fireworks- that made it all worth it :) Then after the fireworks we went back to Grandpa's to do sparklers. The boys had all fallen asleep by the time we got back, so we just let them sleep while the girls had all the fun. And they sure did!! Grandpa had the really LONG ones that last forever. I love sparklers- takes me back!


Here's Charity showing off her cute little glow anklets and bracelet "Do you like my cute pose mom?"