Fourth of July

We had a low-key Fourth of July celebration down at Grandma and Grandpa's in Provo.  There were lots of city celebrations happening around us the whole weekend leading up to the 4th, but we ended up passing on all activities.  I did consider attending the West Jordan parade on Monday morning, but when the day dawned the sun was beating down and I just didn't have it in me to kiddie-wrangle in the heat.  So we focused on the evening family BBQ and just headed to Provo a little early.  I thought to call Grandpa the night before and see if he would set up the inflatable pool in the morning, giving the water some time to heat up.  The girls came ready to get wet!

The Valgardson family came over too, along with Elliott's Grandma Jerry and my mom and we had a great time, eating and chatting.

The watermelon was a hit...

so was Grandma's homemade ice cream.

 Cousin Clara enjoyed a dip with Lily and Piper

I volunteered to bring cupcakes because I had seen the cutest idea on a blog and needed an excuse to make them.  In fact I am pretty sure I called Momma Kay weeks ahead of time to make sure I had dibs on cupcakes.  (I also wanted to make really cute white chocolate-covered strawberries with blue sprinkles, but ran out of steam.)

Aren't they cute?

We decided to pass on buying fireworks this year, as in years past the girls have been too scared to enjoy them.  But the Valgardson's brought some to set off, so we all sat out on the front porch to enjoy.  Piper lasted all of two seconds before she started crying and saying she was "scared of fireworks", so I took her inside and we tried watching (rather unsuccessfully) through the front windows.  (The funny thing is Piper is still our only child who loves noise.  Nothing thrills her more than when people vaccuum or when I run the food processor, but apparently fireworks are her Achilles Heel.)  Lily did better than last year, but she too still needed to come in from the noise for awhile. 

We took off after dark and enjoyed all the fireworks' displays on the way home.  This year Utah relaxed their fireworks laws and people took full advantage.  The sky was lit up all across the valley; it was really beautiful.  Not that the little girls noticed; they were conked out 10 minutes into the trip.  A fun - and full - day.