4th of July Celebrations!!

We had a fun-packed 4th of July.  We started off with our annual neighborhood flag ceremony, parade, and pancake breakfast.  The fire truck came to lead the parade and the cute little girls in the lower right picture sang the National Anthem.  They were awesome!!

In the evening we headed to a SL Real soccer game with fireworks following the game.  We took David's nephew, Seth, with us who is living in Orem for the summer working.

On the 5th of July we had the whole neighborhood over for a potluck BBQ which was lots of fun and we ended the evening with our own fireworks show.  It was CRAZY!  Some of the neighbors also added their fireworks so it was quite a big show.  The evening ended with nobody hurt which we considered a big success.  :-)

Did I Mention Lagoon?

What would summer be without a day at the local amusement park, Lagoon?  We went a little early in the summer because there isn't going to be any other day when all 3 kids are available to go (busy with camps and tournaments).  The end of June turned out to be a perfect time to go.  Not too hot, but hot enough to get wet on the wet rides and not very crowded at all.  Here's a slideshow of the day.  I didn't take my good camera so they are all from my phone (therefore, some of them aren't very good quality but you get the idea).

This photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

Light

Tanner took a photography class his last semester in High School.  Below is one of the projects he did.  We all helped by being the letters in the pictures by using sparklers or lights and then moving them in the shape of the letter while he photographed.  It was a lot of fun and we're planning future shots now that Tanner knows how to do it.

100 Degrees

What do you do when it is 100 degrees outside?  We mostly stay inside unless we can get wet.  Rebecca and Adam cooled off by slipin' and slidin'!!

Bridal Veil Falls - Provo Canyon

My brother, Roger, was in town from West Virginia last week visiting with (and helping) my parents.  While he was here, I took Rachel and one of her friends, Jacee, and our bikes to go on a bike ride with Roger.  We drove to the mouth of Provo Canyon and rode up the bike trail to the falls.  It was early in the morning (well, early for me - about 7:30 am) so it was nice and cool and most of the trail is in the shade anyway.  I could tell I am out of shape because I kept saying how nice the ride back would be since it was all downhill.  Roger didn't even think we were riding uphill until we started back and he noticed the downhill slope.  I definitely could tell we were riding UP HILL.  Anyway, the falls were beautiful and the pond at the bottom was full of huge fish and had a "no fishing" sign next to it.  Lucky fish!

It was a fun ride and I was glad I got to go with Roger.

Roger

Roger and Gaylene

Rachel and Jacee

The Manti Pageant

A few weekends ago, I loaded up the kids in the car and we took off to Manti, Utah.  It's about a 2 hour drive southeast from Draper.  It's kind of a small farming community out in the middle of nowhere really.  But there is this beautiful temple there.

Each summer they do a big production on the lawn-covered hill to the south of the temple.  They re-enact the whole restoration, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon including several stories from the Book of Mormon, and the migration west and setting of Utah by the Saints.  It doesn't start until the sun goes down so it is a late night but I thought it was really good.  Rachel liked it too.  Rebecca and Adam got a little bored at times but it was quite a production with a flaming volcano and an angel standing on the top of the temple.  We wish David could've come with us but he was fulfilling his new stake calling (Stake Young Men's President) and Tanner was working.  Hopefully, they'll get to go another time.

We got there pretty early to get good seats.  Most of those seats behind us did fill up.