We Love The...

(yes I know "Fourth" is spelled wrong...but hey a kid did it!)

It has always been one of my favorite holidays and now it's even more fun with kids.

To see the excitement and wonder in their eyes as they watch (and set off) fireworks is the best! I love it!

We had a really fun weekend. Lars got Friday off, so he spent the day fishing, then after he got home we went over to our friends, the Villas (Gio & Aurora)... ...for a barbeque and let the kids do some party poppers and snaps.

So simple, but SO fun for them!Even the little ones loved pretending...

Then it was off to watch the big fireworks.

Gunnar was excited and he didn't even know why!

He was so happy all night long...After being stuck in traffic for an hour and a half last year on our way home from watching them, we decided to just go watch them at Lundstrom park and leave before they were over. We had planned on meeting up with the Villas but never did find eachother. The park was packed and it was pitch dark. But we still had fun just the four of us. The kids had their glow sticks and loved running around with them, then we all sat on a blanket and watched the fireworks.

Gunnar kept rolling around on the blanket and laughing...Ashton loves the fireworks every year, but it was so fun to see Gunnar's reaction since this was really the first year he saw them. He would look up in the sky at them with wide eyes, then look over at me, like "WOW...did you see that Mommy??" He even made all the oooh....ahhhh... sound effects! It was so cute to watch! He LOVED them! So as planned we picked up our stuff and left after about 25 minutes, beat the traffic and were home in about 10 minutes. Saturday we slept in a little then got up and made it out to the Hyrum parade with about 10 minutes to spare before it started. It is such a huge parade and soooo many people go to it. I really didn't think we'd find a spot, but we actually didn't walk far and found a really good one. Ashton absolutely loves parades...and really what kid doesn't like going and getting candy thrown at them for no apparent reason?? He waved at every float in the hopes of getting their attention and getting some candy thrown his way... He came home with way too much taffy to add to the basket of Easter candy I think we still have left.

Gunnar even got in on the fun...

To miss the traffic we did our same leave early trick and left about 3/4 of the way through and made it home in about 10 minutes again.
Just in time to start prepping stuff for our barbeque. My Mom & Step-Dad and my Uncle Charlie and his fiance' Deborah and her three kids came down for the afternoon.It was fun to have them all at our house to eat good food, and the kids had a blast together.

Oh and Deborah's little boy happens to be a Gunnar too!
Here they are together...We also invited our great friends and back yard neighbors Kent and Debbie over and Debbie brought some of her fabulous cookies to share. Yum!

Then it was time for everyone to go, so we cleaned up and took a break before we finally let Ashton get out some of the fireworks. He couldn't stand to wait any longer. Really the 4th is right up there with Christmas, Easter and Halloween to him.

He LOVE, LoVe, LOvEs fireworks.I think Gunnar will follow in his footsteps...he already had no fear of them and loved watching everyone set them off and even threw a few snaps...

Lars took Ashton shopping that morning and told him he had a budget that he had to stick to, so he really needed to think about what he wanted to get and stay in the budget. At first he wanted the giant box with a variety (but mostly fountains) in it. Then after walking around the store with it, he decided he wanted to trade it in for a smaller box that had tanks, and a few other different ones that he liked better. His favorites are of course sparklers, tanks and party poppers and snaps.
So Lars and he started before dark setting some off, then 3 other families in the neighborhood came to join us and we took our party across the street to the big open spot and everyone set theirs off together. It was a fun night and just a really fun weekend!
Hope you all had a happy 4th too!