Let Freedom Ring

I love pics from the 4th of July--all the vibrant colors and fun activities that just define SUMMERTIME! Jeremy took three days off work, so we had a fun week. Wednesday we went to the zoo with Jeremy's mom. After a rough start to the day (Miranda got sunscreen in her eyes), we all ended up having a great time. And now we have a membership, so if anyone wants to go with me, I have a free 'visitor' on my pass! Brad's first trip to the zoo. He loved it and was such a good baby the whole time!Thursday we went to the Oquirrh Temple Open House. It was really neat, but M was being a pill the whole time, so we hurried through the end of it. We even had to skip out on the cookies--that I've heard are SO yummy--because we couldn't reward her for bad behavior. Also, there are no pictures of the event because of this. Jeremy and M also went fishing that morning, but there aren't any different pics to show for that, either :)

Friday we went swimming at our local rec center. It has a great pool with tons of fun things going on and M had a huge smile on her face the whole time. Even B loved it. Every one but M was worn out after an hour, though. But this day, M was very good and didn't throw a fit about leaving early, even though I know she could have enjoyed a couple more hours. We promised her we'd get back there soon. I also don't have any pictures of the pool because I didn't want to tote the camera along this time, but here is one of M and B in their swimsuits prior to the open plunge. They were both hamming it up, excited before the swim! Saturday was the classic celebration, of course. We started out the day with a street breakfast and kid's bike parade. It was a lot of fun--we have great neighbors and others in the ward always tell me they're jealous that we live on "the fun street". Check out M's cool wheels. She loved having her tricycle all decked out--ahh, to be two again. Then Saturday night we ended the festivities at the Yoho's in Sugarhouse for an old fashioned BBQ, firework display, water fun for the kids (and husbands) and watching Sugarhouse Park's fireworks from their backyard. I was the only one in my family who stayed awake for those, though. Then, last but not least, I have to include this photo, too. This is from the Lehi Round-up All Horse Parade last week. We went with our fun friends who also have a two-year old girl and a baby only one month older than B. There were horses with glittered hoofs, stars painted on their hips, braides in their manes and tails, ribbons galore, and a cowgirl 'princess' on almost every other one throwing handfuls of Tootsie Rolls at us. But guess what the two toddlers couldn't stop talking about for the next couple of days: all the horse poop. Great. Maybe next year they'll get more excited about the glitter.