our 4th of July

I had so much to catch up on...there are 3 new posts below. I had to split everything up to avoid having a million pictures. :)

On the 4th of July my parents woke up early and staked out a prime spot for the Provo parade. It was seriously perfect. Front row. Perfect view of all the action. And the weather started out nice and overcast! Here is the gang:

 The kids waiting for the parade to start:

 Here's our little family at the parade. Funny thing is, we sat across the street from the 7 Eleven where Jenny and Spencer met! Romantic :)

 Jared took a bunch of pictures of all the kids soaking in the parade action:

 Gracie, post-ring pop:

 Lucy was content sitting on Grandma's lap eating a muffin through most of it.

 Then she kept crawling out onto the road. She needed to be in on the action!

 Cousin Lyndsey (her husband Anders sitting behind her), and Jenny, living it up.

 It was a really fun morning. The parade got a little long once the sun came out. My family was so fun to sit by and party with! We had a fun lunch with everyone before we headed back to Idaho. 

We made it back in time for Jared's parent's 4th of July cook-out. They had lots of Jones relatives over for a yummy dinner and an awesome firework show...and even a round of golf around their yard:

 The firework show keeps getting bigger and bigger. It rivals the city of Burley's show!

 Gracie loved her sparkler...

 Here we are, watching the big show...Gracie was plugging her ears, but kept saying to Claire (who was a little nervous), "It's not scary Claire, it's FUN!"  she said it probably 100 times. I think she was mostly just reassuring herself that this was supposed to be fun and not scary. Lucy just sat and enjoyed them without even flinching. 

We watched 3 different firework shows last weekend, so Gracie has it in her mind that fireworks are just part of life now. Lots of times during the day she'll say, "Hey mom, let's go outside and watch some fireworks." :) I wish they were a nightly occurrence. 

 We had such a fun weekend, full of family and parties. I told Jared that the 4th of July is now my 2nd favorite holiday, which is a pretty big deal :)