The Terrific Twenty-Fourth

We had a really great 24th of July, Pioneer Day.  We began the day with a Primary parade.  For the past several years, we have had a small, short parade around the condos.  This year, however, at Heidi's suggestion, we decided to expand the parade in both size and distance.  We made it a Primary event and paraded around the whole ward, not just the condos.  And we decided to have a pancake breakfast afterwards.

In the morning, as we were getting ready, Brandt said, "I don't want to go."  We said that was fine, he could stay home by himself and we would see him later.  He quickly changed his mind and joined us.  We had lots of people join us.

Brandt is in the red t-shirt all the way on the right.

Blythe wouldn't be in the picture.

The parading was fun.  

We had far more marchers than spectators, but I'm not sure any of the children noticed.  

We walked and talked and sang a bit too.

Breakfast was good too, but I didn't get any pictures of that.

We also had sprinklers for the children to run through and Brandt got soaked.

He wouldn't let me take his picture.

Together, Kent and I worked in the garage tiding up.  I love being able to organize and get things looking great.  We hung a storage rack from the ceiling and put camping stuff up there, and we hung lots of hooks for my bike, hoses, and spare bike wheels.  I swept up birdseed and Kent sprayed out the garage floor.  So happy!

In the late afternoon, we all went over to my mom's house to swim, have dinner, and watch fireworks.  The swimming has been fantastic for the children.  Brandt jumped off the tramp into the pool, and rather than reaching for me (I was standing close by), he swam off across the pool over to Kent.  So fantastic!

The really super fantastic part came at the end of the evening with The Cul-de-sac of Fire.  We have only done little fireworks with the kids.  They haven't seen big fireworks because they are always shot off after bedtime, and we don't mess with bedtime.  But because we were at my mom's house, the fireworks were starting much earlier, and so we stayed.  Christopher had a purchased a garage full of fireworks, enough for five fantastic barrages.  To say Brandt was thrilled is a huge understatement.  He was keyed up, energized, running around wildly.  He wanted to be right in on the action, lighting stuff and rushing in as soon as the spark went out.  

Kent was not thrilled to be there, wanting to go home before the big stuff was even brought out of the garage.  He was the only one, however.  After the first salvo, Kent turned to me and said, "Do we get to go home now?"  Nope.  We had to stay until the end.  After the second round, Brandt turned to us and said, "I LOVE THIS!!!"  And that is exactly why we stayed.  Although we got to bed very late, it was totally worth it because the kids had such a good time.

Luke and Brandt intently watching the action.

The beginnings of a crowd that spilled out of the cul-de-sac,

into the church parking lot, and around the corner.

Christopher with his propane canister. 

He is the pyro who lit everything off.

 

The goods lined up in the garage.

My boys.

Karen Johnsen (Guy's sister), Mikayla, Grandma Sue, Blythe

The initial set-up; fireworks lined up along the road.

 

 

The carnage at the end.