4th of July Weekend

We started off this weekend by driving down to St. George for my niece Maley's baptism.

She was so happy, that her cousins were there to celebrate with her.

After the baptism, we headed home and my family followed.

As the evening neared the kids were anxious to do a few fireworks

Maley was still in her baptism dress at the end of the day. 

She looked like a little angel!

Sunday afternoon was kind of interesting.The kids were playing outside, and while I was preparing dinner they came up with a crazy idea. They decided that they were going to have a carnival.

Not only were they going to have a carnival, but they were going to invite the whole neighborhood.

It was fun, but it was also a little crazy.

There were carnival games, balloons, a magic show,

cotton candy, and even snow cones.

 It was intense!

After the fun was over, and the mess cleaned up, we decided that we should lay on the grass and...

...draw on our faces.

Elias was in heaven!

 

  Next was this girls turn, she was not as excited, but was still a good sport

 Monday morning meant waking up early to go see the hot air balloons before the parade

 We walked around and looked in the baskets because the balloons were on a weather hold. After waiting a little longer, we decided to leave because it seemed they would not go up this day... and they didn't.

We still had a lovely morning. 

When we decided to leave, my mom and dad went down to scope out a spot for the parade. They didn't find one, and decided it would be crazy to get everyone to the parade and find a decent spot, so we resorted to our second option...

Kids parade.

We had some friends that invited us over to their kids parade, where the kids decorate their bikes, and scooters,(and themselves,) and have a little parade. The kids seemed to enjoy.

After the kids parade we decided we would go to Seven Peaks. Upon arrival to Seven Peaks, and seeing the mass of people that were there, we promptly turned around and went to my dad and mom's hotel pool.  The kids had a blast!

After swimming all day, we were hungry so we headed over the the park for our neighborhood BBQ.

 We enjoyed our dinner, and visited with lots of friends and family, and the grand finale was

THE CANDY CANNON!!!

The Winterton's have a cannon that they load with candy and fire it up into the air to make dreams come true. They fired it over and over again as kids and adults alike ran like crazy to grab whatever treats they could.  I was a "blast."  -haha, get it???

 That night we went home and watched fireworks until kids could no longer hold their heads up.

The fireworks did not disappoint!

I love this great holiday in which we celebrate the freedom of our country. I am so grateful that I was able to spend so much time with my parents, and my sisters and their families.

We are truly blessed to live in this glorious land of liberty.