Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July is perhaps one of our favorite holidays. Summer is at its prime, you spend it with family and eat yummy food...what can be better than that?

This year we went to the parade in Provo with Rob's sisters and their kids. We quickly remembered why we haven't gone for the past 4 years (it's hot and honestly, not worth the trouble it takes to save spots and fight the crowd). Everyone else in our family went swimming afterward, but babies have to have their naps, so we went home to keep the baby cool and well rested up for the big fireworks show we had planned for the evening. We met back up with our family for a BBQ at Kristy's house. After dinner, we had a Root Beer guzzling contest, which even my mother-in-law participated in and DOMINATED, no joke. Even better was the burping contest she won afterward. Oh, I love my mother-in-law! It was a lot of fun.

Last year on the 4th of July, I was about 8 or 9 weeks pregnant with Alaina and at the pinnacle of morning sickness. I remember sleeping on the couch while all our family was outside lighting fireworks. I had a dream that we got a family picture taken (Rob, me and the new baby), and the baby was so cute; however, Rob didn't have a nose. It had gotten blown off by one of his home-made fireworks concoctions that he LOVES to create with our brother-in-laws and nephews. 

The "no nose" look is good for him, don't you think?? 

I'm sure I had this dream because Rob transforms on the 4th of July into a teenage boy who thinks he's invincible. He is the Master Ring Leader of Explosion and rallies all the brother-in-laws and nephews together in a land of firework fun. I'm not quite sure why he thinks he and everyone else is invincible because as a teenager, he did burn his face with fireworks. But, to him, that's beside the point. He's a pyro at heart and he tells me there's nothing I can do to change that...needless to say, I offer lots of silent prayers on the 4th of July.

Dani, Alaina, and Aunt Holly at the Provo parade (Alaina wanted to be helpful and hold the umbrella for us. We all desperately needed a little shade. I swear it was 350 degrees!

Gearing up for the big illegal fireworks show, compliments of Daddy and Uncle Cody

This is Alaina's best friend, Carley. She is Alaina's cute cousin and often gets into trouble by her mom for wanting to help out too much with feeding, changing, and playing with the baby. According to Carley, this is "Baby Aleena". She can't say "Alaina". Rob was totally kidding and told her she couldn't play with her unless she said her name right, so she got sad and said, "Bob's mean!" Later, Carley came and sat by me and Alaina and said, "Can I play with her? Bob said I can't because I can't say her name right." I informed her that he was kidding and you would have thought Carley had just seen Christmas morning! They're best buddies, and if I might add, two of the cutest little girls ever! We love you Holly, Cody, Austin, Brenden, and Carley!