Fourth of July

Our Fourth of July was packed with all things American, and actually felt a little like de ja vu after going to all the Round-Up festivities last weekend.

We started off the day with another early morning race!

 

 Except this time I had a hard time falling asleep and then woke up 15 times in the 3 1/2 hours of sleep I got because I was so worried about not waking up.  Awesome.  But we made it on time!

Shad and I ran the Freedom Run in Provo with MaShay, Hank, and Nora.  I love dressing for holidays, and couldn't pass up the opportunity to dress-up my stroller too!

Jeff ran over to a spot on the course to watch for us, but was unable to find us in the huge crowd.  There were so many people there!

We originally planned to run the 10K, but since Nora was born in May, MaShay wasn't quite ready to run that far, so we did the 5K together instead.  

(I still think it's amazing she can do a 5K and even run the whole thing, pushing 2 kids, with an impressive pace after only 8 weeks...)

We did the first mile in 9:22, second mile in 9:43, and the third in 11:18 (it was uphill...)
Our total time was 31:32 and our average pace was 10:10!  Pretty impressive for running with strollers I'd say!

Here are a few that the race took of us.  Too bad they charge so dang much for legit copies!  

 

This guy ran the whole thing on stilts!  MaShay decided that instead of paying to run he should've been paid...

After the race we headed over to find spots for the parade.  We weren't expecting to find much, but were lucky enough to find a spot on the East side of the street, in the shade, against the building. 

Even though people were walking back and forth in front of us, it turned out to be a great spot since we had little kids.  Shad and Hank could run around on the sidewalk and Nora and Adalee could stay out of the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

I loved watching Shad and Hank interact.  It is so good for Shad to have a chance to hang out with kids his age in more places than church.  (All the kids his age are now in nursery and he only sees his cousin Tylie every couple weeks.)  Shad has seen Hank a lot lately, between the pool and the holiday.

 At first they had fun pulling the flags off my stroller and waving them around...

 

 

After which they enjoyed tearing the flags off their poles and then running around barefoot playing follow the leader while both holding onto the same flag pole:

 

After the parade Jeff and I walked around the booths with Cody, Jess, and Jess's sister.  That didn't last too long though since it was so hot and we were all tired...

At home we just watered the garden and let Shad run in the sprinklers for a second before his nap.  

 
Then we headed over to Cody and Jess's for a BBQ.  MaShay and Jason were there too.  I don't think we could've been more American than we were with homemade hamburgers, watermelon, chips, grilled squash from the garden, and lemonade.  It was perfect.

 Shad and Hank playing with Cooper's dog food

Hank playing in the dog house and trying to get Shad to join him 

 Nora and Adalee snoozin through it all

Then MaShay showed Hank and Shad how to throw pop-its and then lit a few sparklers for them to wave around.  Neither of them knew what to do with them at first...

Jeff and I finished the night by driving up on the hill in Springville to see all the fireworks going on around the valley.  It's cool to see them popping up all over.  

(I didn't have my tripod so they didn't turn as clear as I would've liked...)

We sat on the back of our car for a little while, before heading home to enjoy a bowl of ice cream and a movie.

 

 

Perfect American day.  We're definitely so blessed to live in this beautiful country and to enjoy all the freedoms and luxuries we do.  Happy Birthday America!

Friday night our neighbors were having a party and put on a pretty good firework show which we also got to enjoy from our front porch.  I wanted to include a few from that as well: