Parade, Park, & Pool Party!

In Utah the 4th of July was celebrated on Saturday July 3rd rather than Sunday. It was nice to take part in the festivies and celebrate with family by going to the Murray Parade. We haven't been to a 'big town parade' for quite a while! The past 6 or more years we've only been to small town USA parades, which are fun and quite clever! I must admit though that parades really are more for kids than adults! It was sure fun to watch the parade through my children's eyes! They loved seeing the floats and hearing the band. There is nothing like seeing the flags go by and feeling the patriotism and remembering why we are celebrating! God Bless America!

Caleb loved watching the parade and all the fun things go by--especially with his aunties!!

Ty & Mara's favorite part of course was the candy! They ran out as soon as it was thrown and tried getting as much as they could!

It was fun having the aunties there to help with the kiddos and enjoy the parade! Glad they would come be with us!

Now there is a grandpa's boy! Caleb went right over to his grandpa and wanted to be his buddy!

If there is one person in this world who loves parades it's grandma Lewis! She was so excited to take the grandkids to the parade! Last year she came out to Tillamook and we enjoyed watching the Cloverdale parade with her.

My other favorite part of the parade was sitting by grandpa Lewis and hearing his comments on each parade entry! He was hilarious: for example, when the Utah Utes float went by he started cheering "Go Cougars! Yay BYU!" He was so funny to listen to!

Besides giving out candy, they gave out flags, necklaces, frisbees and footballs!

Who loves that Chelsie?! MARA does!!

Too cute! Just chillin together as the marching band goes by.

Ty and Mara had great front row seats! Perfect for running out and grabbing the candy.

A fun time with family at the parade! Thanks guys for going with us!


After the parade we walked over to Murray Park to celebrate the festivities of 'Murray Fun Days' and yes it was fun! They had booths, rides, activities for kids, but the kids mostly liked the inflatable slides and bouncing in the jump room!

The bouncing room was one of Mara's favorites! She didn't want to come out when her time ran out! She is pretty bouncy!

On one of the bouncy slides the kids had to climb up a vertical wall. As you can see Ty had no problem climbing up, but it was difficult for Mara. When Ty reached the top he could see that Mara was having a hard time, so he slid right back down by Mara and helped his little sister.

It was the cutest thing watching him help her up the wall. He told her where she should put her hands and feet and gave her encouragement along the way.

He helped her all the way to the top until she was safe and could slide down! Ty is growing up! That was a 'proud mama moment' for me to watch my son help his little sister! I'm grateful Ty is such a wonderful big brother!

Mara was very thankful Ty helped her up. They both loved sliding down the tall, tall slide!

Caleb wanted so bad to climb up and slide down, but he was too little so he got to bounce on the side!

Ty really wanted to try climbing the rock wall. Here the man put on all his straps I was a little worried about my boy climbing up the huge wall, but I knew he would do great!

The man gave Ty a quick lesson and told him what to do and Ty scrambled up the wall like a pro!

Here he goes! Go Ty! Go! The man was impressed with Ty on how well he could do for being so young.

Ty was doing great and having a good time until he looked down and realized how high up he was and got a little scared! He didn't quite reach the very top but he did great!

It was fun to watch him climb and he had gun time even though he was a little scared. I was proud of him for trying it! Good job buddy!


We were invited down to Alpine for a pool party at Uncle Mike's house. It looked like the perfect night for a swim, but really it was quite chilly! It's a good thing the water temperature was 80+ degrees of I wouldn't have gotten it! It felt so good. We had a nice BBQ followed by swimming and water volleyball. Then we headed down to Thanksgiving Point to watch the fireworks. This year we actually just watched them from the car, but it was perfect for our little Caleb who fell asleep and could rest peacefully without having to carry him around in the cold!

I was very proud of Ty swimming tonight without his floaty arms on--he is getting to be such a great swimmer! Way to go Ty!

Mara sure surprised us! Boy did she love swimming this time! She was all over the pool and not holding on to anyone! She was doing it on her own! I'm very proud of her, maybe she will be a little fish after all!

Water volleyball--now this is a fun sport! I enjoy playing volleyball, but I enjoy it even more in the water!

Mara enjoying a swim with her grandma!

Everyone wanted to have a swim with Caleb--but he only wanted one person: his mama! When he had what he wanted he was a happy little swimmer!

Check out that kid's muscles! What a buff little boy!

This is the life--just sitting by the pool enjoying family!

This picture is hillarious! Look closely at Caleb--he has a dog leash on and Ty is taking him for a walk! We were worried that Caleb would jump into the pool so we kept him on a leash until we could get his swimming suit and life jacket on!

Caleb and Grandma enjoying some yummy homemade root beer! Caleb loves soda!

We took our soccer goals to the party and as soon as the cousins saw them they yelled "Yaaa! Soccer!" Nate and Ty were excited also to have kids to play with. Ty likes playing goalie the best. And Caleb loves playing with the nets and throwing the ball in and trying to find it!

Ty was amazing to watch play soccer because he could keep up with the big boys! He had no fear.

This looks like a real soccer ball but it's actually a pillow soccer ball. Caleb loved carrying it around!

Mara is a little bouncing queen! She had the tramp to herself and kept saying "watch this trick! Watch me do this!"