July holidays

The 4th of July is so steeped in tradition for me that it's up there with Christmas. I love watching my kids do nearly the exact same things I did as a kid. Even more, I love that they love it just as much as I ever did!

Bike parade-

Molly and Abby

Brynn and Grace

Seth, Stockton, Grant, Ivy

Plain City parade and matching cousin shirts-

Chloe, Molly, Tessa, Grace, Abby

Grant and Stockton

Ivy and Lucy

Harper and Brynn

Face painting-

After two years in a row of standing it line for an hour (no joke), Ali got smart and bought some face paints so we did the kid's faces before we went to the park.

Ivy and Lucy

4-wheeler rides and games at the park-

I enjoyed our time at the park so much more this year. Rather than racing over there and trying all the games, we took our time getting over there and didn't rush through the games. We gave each of our kids $10 and told them they could spend it however they wanted (we bought their lunches separate from their fun money). We watched Ben at his dodgeball tournament, I got to visit with the handful of people that I like to see each year, we had lunch (always Navajo Tacos), and then we took the little kids around to the games they wanted to play. There were no lines and that ended up being wonderful.

Molly, Stockton, Ivy, Grandpa

Molly and Abby

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's-

The best way to cool down!

Molly and Abby

Ivy and Tessa

Ivy and Lucy

BBQ, playing in the yard, poppers, and sparklers-

Ali nixed the bigger fireworks because last year we had a scare when one of the fireworks tipped over and flew toward her house and into the group of kids. It was kind of scary and we didn't really miss them.

Stockton and Spencer played soccer with each other for several hours. I love this picture-you can see Stockton's disappointment over missing a shot and Spencer's excitement over blocking the shot.

Josie, Ivy, Lucy, Brynn

Abby, Jeff, Chloe, Molly, Gavin

Grace, Tessa, Grant, Brynn, Harper, Seth, Stockton, Chloe, Spencer, Molly, Gavin, Abby, Ben, Ivy

Molly stayed at the Walker's for the next couple of days so she was able to go to the big fireworks at Fremont. The rest of us headed home but we were able to see lots of firework shows on our drive.

The 24th is always reserved for the Goodrich family and it works out well to divide the holidays this way. We invited all the families up to our house for a BBQ. Eric and Heidi were at their property but we did get the Brown's to come since they were in town. The night was filled with food, lots and lots of playing, a campfire with s'mores, work on the greenhouse (was not planned but those Goodrich boys can't help themselves), and a few sparklers to close the evening.