July 4th

Sean and I especially love the 4th of July because it is the one holiday where no one else really plans anything during the day for us. On Christmas and Thanksgiving, its kinda assumed what will happen, but the 4th is different every year. When we are in New Mexico we go to the carnival in the morning, and when we are in Utah there is usually a BBQ involving ribs in the evening, but the rest of the day is for us to figure out. This year we decided to go on a hike. Both kids were sick with a stomach bug the end of last week and we weren’t sure if they would feel up to the hike, but when Saturday morning came everyone felt good enough to go. We went up Butterfield Canyon in Herriman. It took a little longer than I thought it would to get up there, but it was beautiful when we arrived! The views were spectacular and it smelled amazing. We bought an extra hiking backpack and paid for 1 day shipping so it would arrive in time for our hike. Alana was especially thrilled to get to ride in such comfort! We chose a trail and got started:




We found a little creek of water that was so fun to look at, there were also lots of ants and rocks to look at.

 



It started raining near the end and we got soaked! The kids were really cold. I think one of my favorite parts of the whole day was when Brett let Alana wear his hat because he didn’t mind the rain in his eyes and she really did.
 


Both kids were cold and exhausted when we got in the car so we snuggled them up in blankets and they zonked out on the way home
 

Brett and I have become obsessed lately with My Cupcake Addiction on YouTube. We spend tons of time watching crazy cakes and cupcakes being made and Brett is always wanting to try it out. We decided to make a birthday cake for America. The cake we made had a red layer, white layer, and blue layer and an m&m American Flag on the top.
 


Can you tell which stripes I did and which stripes Brett did?

4th of July family pic:

The cake tasted as good as it looked!

Mom was teasing Dad about needing a haircut, Brett said Grandpa didn’t need one because he doesn’t have very much hair.
 

Sean teased me that the inside of our cake actually looked like a French Flag =)


LOVE these crazy cuties of mine!!


We also had a yummy BBQ with ribs made by dad! The other huge hit of the day which I didn’t get very many pictures of was swinging on this amazing new swing set. It retails for about $1400 from Costco and says it take 10-12 hours for TWO men to put it together. My parens found in on an end of season sale for $799. We went to get one and they were completely sold out. They did have the floor model left so they sold it to us for $700 + it was mostly assembled!! What a steal! The kids swang so so much on it, and I think the reason we didn’t get as many pictures is because we were pushing them =) We also did fireworks in the evening which Brett loved and Alana hated. She asked to go to bed after the third one was lit.