Party on 4th of July Family

Ok - could someone more brilliant than I please show me how to rotate this picture? If not - you'll have to lay sideways to see how incredibly cute Andrew was on the 4th of July at the parade! Forget it! He's cute at any angle!!!!! Our day started out with a trip to Cafe Rio for some serious Mexi mix of tasty temptations. Then to work off the refried beans we took off on a hike up Bell Canyon - hard to believe something that beautiful is 5 minutes away. We found an ice cold place to cool off - oh ya.... good thing it was hotter than $%#@ & and our pants dried out before we were back to the car!


Then we headed off to the Sandy City Parade where the streets were our seats and Drew got into the spirit of things. Our favorite? The motorcycle cops and their routines. Give those guys a ticket for being too cute! Going to the parade has been a tradition for many years. It has always been a hometown celebration and it brings out many friends that we get to catch up visiting with. The weather had been hot all week - like - awful. Today the clouds came in and a nice breeze blew and it was fairly tolerable. It did require a stop at Sonic for a Cherry Limeade, a Strawberry fruit slushy, and Mandy - well - Mandy wanted a breakfast burrito... On the way out to the car the kid carrying our order dropped the extra large limeade right in the entry way of Sonic - I'm sure he didn't have any nice 4th of July words. We laughed our 4th of July butts off!!!

This is how Mike and Ashley watched most of the parade - GET A ROOM! Mandy and Ryan could hardly wait for all of the politician hopefuls to pass by with their campaign promises....
Matt made it back from Seattle to be with his sweet wife Bethany and his adorable son Drew.
Drew was glued to the fireworks - we watched him more than we did the show! Ryan and Mikenzie were waiting for the candy at the parade.... we threw them some just so they wouldn't be sad. Our favorite thing that people threw out to the crowd? Frozen Otter Pops - oh ya... We were joined by some friends of Mikes from Camp Williams - Can we have a big shout out for the troups from GEORGIA? Even GRANDMA got in on the action! I bored Drew to sleep! Ya - I'm sideways (Matt fix this!!!!!) Afterwards we all headed up to Jordan High's parking lot where we did some serious tailgate partying. Burgers, dogs, salad, chips and Ashley & Mandy frozen delights. BYOROOT BEER.... and lots of laughing and talking. Then Mikenzie's parents came and it was the first time for our family to meet them - they are wonderful people and it was fun to visit with them (I feel in love with Jordan - he kissed my hand - eat your heart out...) After we had eatin' our fill of goodies - we all settled into chairs and blankets and enjoyed a great fireworks show. Drew was glued to it - we watched him more than the show! I looked around at my beautiful family and realized how lucky I am to have them in my life. I appreciated the efforts they made that day to be with us and realize many sacrifices made in the name of 'being together as a family' on the 4th of July. I love my kids so much - so I'll share their smiles with you and then I'll join Andy Pants for some sweet dreamin....