4th of July 2018

Back Row: Krystal, Ivan, Debbie, Aaron, Chuck, Carter, Spencer, Jordan, Jared
Front Row: Ollie, Ruby, Cal, Lincoln, Misty (the dog), Lisa, Aneya

Adelia and Cal

Ruby and Krystal

Ivan and Ruby

Cal and Aaron

Ruby

Cal

Ivan and Debbie

Spencer, Carter, Jared, Aneya, Lisa, Misty (dog), Debbie, Adelia, Chuck, and Ruby

Ollie

Aaron and Nike (dog)

Cal, Aaron, Ivan

Lincoln

Aneya and Adelia

Our beach set-up

Lincoln

Adelia and Ivan

Adelia

Instead of a parade, which are not my favorite things, we headed to the mountains, which are my favorite things. We packed up the kayaks and a picnic and the dog, and drove up to Payson Lakes, which is about 25 minutes from our house. It was a beautiful day. Not too cold in the water, and not too warm out of it. Aaron's sister Lisa and her family met us up there, as well as Aaron's parents. So we had good company and the kids had cousins to play with. There were other people there, but it didn't feel claustrophobic or over-crowded. And it was so fun to hop in a kayak and row away for 15 minutes at a time. I took Ruby and Ollie on lots of trips around the lake, since they aren't old enough to kayak out by themselves yet. Between what we brought and what Lisa brought there were plenty of water craft, and my big kids spent the majority of their time out on the water.

I decided today was going to be the perfect day to introduce Nike to swimming. She's basically afraid of everything, including water, and didn't want to go anywhere near it last time we were here. Today I came prepared though. I took a handful of dog treats and waded out about knee deep. Nike was on the leash, so she had to come in after me. I called to her and gave her a treat when she took a step towards me. Another step, another treat, and so on, until she was in up to her neck. I was proud of her, and let her go back to shore. An hour or so later we did it again. Then again. Then I decided it was time to try her out on the kayak. I got on with her the first time, and we made it out into the middle of the lake before she jumped off. She swam! But I was worried because it was long way to shore and I didn't know if she'd be able to swim that far. I didn't have to worry though, because she swam over to a boy on a paddle board near by and jumped on. I paddled over and retrieved her and pulled her back onto my kayak. She sat peacefully the whole way back to shore without trying to get off. A little while later Aaron took her out on the kayak with him, and they made it all the way to the other side of the lake and back and she didn't try to jump off at all. Maybe there's hope for her yet that she'll turn into an adventure dog. Haha! Goddess of Victory! She's taken to hiking, and we're slowly getting her to like water. She got along with Misty (Lisa's dog) really well too. So it was a good day in the pet world.

At about 3:00pm, Ruby and Cal had had enough sun, and needing naps, so we packed up everything and headed home. We bathed everyone, had a yummy grilled chicken dinner, took a short rest. And decided we'd venture down to Nephi to see the firework show. (Fireworks are strictly prohibited in our town because we're up on the mountain, and the ease with which someone could start a forest fire makes everyone nervous.) Can you believe that in my almost 11 years of having kids, we have never once taken them to a professional firework show? We never have. We've always opted to light our own fireworks on the street with family and/or friends. My kids had no idea what to expect. Neither did we, so we got their quite a bit early, got an awesome spot to spread out our blanket so that the fireworks would launch right above our heads. The kids ran around in the grass and played with other kids until it got dark. Then the show started and it was a huge success. All the kids were just like "Whoa! Whoa! WHOA!" Cal, who hadn't really had a nap, and who was up WAYYYYYY past his bedtime, was being a psychotic lunatic and trying every other second to dash away from us into the crowds of people, and thinking it was hilarious. I was about ready to strangle something by the time is was over and time to go. I love fireworks. But holy buckets.....toddlers.

We were exhausted. But it was a good day. A really good day. Well spent.

Nephi Fireworks 2018

This is how close we were, the fireworks are right at the bottom of the hill. Lincoln brought his camera and tripod to film the whole show. 

Ruby in the wagon.