Baby You're A Firework

We may not always spend Thanksgiving or Christmas together, but my siblings and I are starting to make a habit out of gravitating towards each other for the 4th of July. We've made it a tradition to head down to Bountiful for their yearly fireworks show, and it even brought a certain sibling all the way from California to see the spectacle. 

Popcorn was mandatory to lure the kids back to us if they started wandering once we got up to the golf course to wait for the show to start.

Matching t-shirts and hats were also mandatory. As was anything at the dollar store that had "glow-in-the-dark" written on the label.

After chasing kids around here, there and everywhere, the show finally started. And that's when Carson began convulsing in fear, clutching onto Jeff for dear life with each explosion.

My one complaint other than the show not starting until 10:30, and the lack of fighter jets flying overhead was that they didn't even play the National Anthem. What?? Instead, they played Katy Perry's "Baby You're A Firework." And sadly, that was the most patriotic song I heard all night from the D.J. #missingstonemountain

It was a fun night and one of my fav traditions. Even with the disappointing tunes.

Ben called me at the beginning of the summer to tell me he wanted to run a couple races with me before school started. We decided on The Color Run, and a 4th of July race. When I was in high school, we always ran the North Salt Lake 4th of July race, so we thought it would be fun to do that again...until discovering it was 5 days before the 4th of July and that just wasn't going to work. We settled on a 5k in Centerville and we roped Abe, Jeff and my Dad into running it with us.

It was so fun for me as I realized I was running a race with all my running buddies throughout the years.

And it was even more fun when I was able to beat two of them! I finished just over 28 minutes. Jeff kept me going strong throughout the whole race until he started whining about his foot hurting around mile 2. He got in my head and so I walked thinking he was going to walk once I did, but he kept going! I caught my breath for a minute and then picked my pace back up because I knew Ben wasn't that far behind me and I couldn't have him pass me. Just as I turned the last corner, I could see Jeff halfway between me and the finish line. He was going pretty slow, so I sprinted. Just as I was approaching him, he started sprinting, and he finished ONE SECOND in front of me! I was so mad.

When we got back, the kids were rolling out of bed. And then hopped on Ben's motorcycle for a little photo op.

Then we went to see How to Train Your Dragon 2. Eli seemed to enjoy it. Carson started getting fidgety one hour into it, and we eventually had to leave early. As we walked out of the theater, he sassily proclaimed, "I don't LIKE that MOVIE."

The night of the 4th, we went on a hike, and then the next day I went to the temple with Abe and Klarissa. Then we rushed over to Cookie Cutters for a cousin hair cut.

This was both of my boys' first professional haircut. It was long overdue.

I couldn't part with Carson's long hair, so they just trimmed his up a little bit.

 And then the three stud muffins refused to smile and cooperate for a picture. Maybe next time.

We ended our Independence Day Vacay with a delish shrimp BBQ, a suspenseful round of Clue, and endless bowls of homemade ice cream. We had so much fun!