4th of July

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, it's so fun, yet still low key enough that it doesn't ever stress anyone out.  It is filled with warm weather, BBQ's, swimming, fairs, fireworks and family what more could you ever want!  This year I woke up early so I could go to the hot air balloon festival with Bethy, unfortunately it was cut short because the sky was overcast, so we missed it!  So we compensated by going out to breakfast at kneaders which is always so tastey!  While we were eating, the cutest little pomeranian dog came and sat next to us, his name was kodiak because he looks like a baby bear, oh he was too cute!

Then we headed over to University Avenue to watch the parade.  We got excellent seats, front row on the street!  The parade was really fun with lots of random entries and floats!

After the parade I went for a wonderful scooter ride that ended at the shaved ice shack to get a cool, sweet treat.

A picture I took on my scooter ride down by Utah Lake.

Then we went to the Freedom Festival on center street.  Every time I go to the Freedom Festival I have to get one of these lemonaid twisters, they are so good as well as tradition!

Then we headed to Thanksgiving Point to dig for trilobites!  I know it is kind of a random activity to do to celebrate the holiday but since it is a new attraction at Thanksgiving Point employees and one guest could do it for free!  So we had to take advantage of that offer and check it out!  It was so fun and we found so many fossils!  You get to keep everything you find so we walked away with three full bags!

I know this is also another random thing to include on this post but I couldn't resist posting the pictures of this cute little kitty.  After our Trilobite Treasures adventure we met up with Bethy and Reece and went to visit Oliver.  Oliver is one of the many cats that Bethy saved off the street.  She already had two cats so she couldn't keep him but I feel in love with him and I wanted him so bad, so she asked Reece's mom, a fellow cat lover, to take care of him until I got a house that would allow pets.  When we found him he was a lean, white kitty with gray markings, he looked like some sort of arctic leapord.  Since then, he has changed a little bit ... his colors have darkened to the point that he doesn't really look like the same cat.  He also has proven to be quite a large cat, he just keeps growing and growing!  Right now he weighs in at 27 pounds, he is a big boy!  But he is so sweet, I hadn't seen him too recently so that is why we made a stop to visit him today.

Then it was time for the main event!  The Griffin's hold the 4th of July party every year and they always make it such a fun night.  Mike is a master on the grill so he cooks up delicious hamburgers and Jenny always makes such fun 4th of July desserts.  This year she made cute little individual red, white and blue pies as well as a beautfiul fruit pizza (pictured later)

Cute Jenny remembered that there was a Canadian on her guest list and made him a speical little Canadian pie, she is so cute!

After dinner we all gathered in their front yard for Mike's annual firework show.  Mike always gets the big firework package from costco which always makes for a good show. 

After the show it was time for sparklers!  I love sparklers!

US...A?   

Nora wanted to draw something with sparklers so she decided to do a heart, I was rather impressed at how good it turned out.

Me, Bethy and Mike drawing stars

Then we came back inside to enjoy Jenny's wonderful sweet creations.  They were sooooo good and all gluten free!

Our family is starting to rub off on Nora, she is on her way to becoming a professional photographer.