4th of July

We woke up the morning of the 4th of July to the Midway cannons going off at 6 am. It's a yearly tradition that jolts you right out of your dreams. We drove over to Oakley and claimed our spot on the parade route. Cody joined us this year. He's not a fan of parades, but I'm happy he came along. My parents, Cody's parents and Carson's kids minus Trevor came as well. The kids fared well and scored candy, Popsicles, water bottles and Cody even got me an Oakley t-shirt that I wore to the rodeo the following evening. Last year Heather and Dan surprised us by driving down for the parade and 4th festivities so I was missing my sister. We'll see some of them in a few weeks when Spencer gets back from his mission.

 Our kids had fun with their Calderwood cousins.

 The weather was hot and sunny, although not nearly as toasty as southern Utah.

 After the parade we went home and got our house ready for our annual block party. It ended up being our across the street neighbors and our family. We block off our circle with cars so that last minute people can't zip in to watch the fireworks and run over the kids running around. We BBQ'd and lit our own fireworks as it started to get dark. Unfortunately. with how dry the weather has been we set off 3 small fires in the lot next to our house. Our neighbors us had our hoses and buckets of water running and stomping our feet making sure the fires didn't spread. Amy and I were terrified. We don't have a lot of luck in our homes. She has a son with cancer. Thankfully no harm was done. As the fireworks on Memorial Hill began, each ember that hit the hill actually sparked fires of their own. By the end of the show, we counted 10 fires on the hill. Fire trucks were already on the hill, it was quite a sight to see and distracting from the fireworks themselves.

 Saturday morning we drove up to the cabin. Cody took the kids fishing at Smith & Morehouse and I rode my road bike down and up the canyon back to the cabin. The Foster families gathered for a big dinner before we headed to the rodeo.

 The rodeo was entertaining like always and most of the events and decent riders. The clown act tried clogging. I had to laugh at first, but when he did a pretty good job of double doubles I gave him a round of applause! I wish I could have recorded it. It would be fun to show. I think my cousin was recording. The firework show was good too. I've felt like it's gotten smaller in past years, but the city did a great job and we enjoyed it. After two late nights in a row it was nice to have 1:00 church the next morning.