4th of July (and Nostalgia!)

We always like to go up to Logan for the 4th of July festivities (which are usually on the 3rd of July! Ha!)  We stay in a hotel and eat at a local restaurant and reminisce about college and our first homes when we were married.  Aaah, nostalgia.

Instead of paying to go inside the stadium for the concert this year we decided to lay out on the grass. (The concert was nobody we had heard of...)  Logan always seems to have the prettiest sunsets--here was our view while we waited and played card games on the lawn:

The fireworks show does not disappoint!  The city always does an awesome job and the fireworks seem to go on forever.

Traffic after the show was c-c-crazy!  We sat and sat in the van without moving, so Bryan decided to walk/jog back to the hotel and try to beat us.  He and Miles hopped out and jogged back to the hotel.  I got this text of Miles standing in the hotel room while the girls and I were still waiting to get out of the original church parking lot where we were parked!

The next day we decided to hike up Green Canyon.  As we were hiking we told the children the story of when we got engaged--in Green Canyon!

We went over all the details of how Bryan and his friends had gotten things prepared and stashed away up in the canyon earlier in the day, and how the friends went ahead and got everything set up so that when Bryan and I approached the beautiful grassy field, it was all ready for him to get down on one knee and propose.  Such a wonderful memory!

(This is a picture of a picture, so not super great quality, but this was taken by Bryan's friend who was hiding up in the trees.  This was right after Bryan asked me to marry him and we are hugging.  So happy!)

And, after the friends came back down out of hiding, they snapped this picture of us.  Still one of my very favorite pictures of us.

Here's the magical spot where this little family officially began.  (Much greener in July than in October...)

When we got home to Hooper that night we joined some friends and neighbors for fireworks in the neighborhood.  I love where we live!  We are so lucky to have good friends here.

Every year the neighbors have lots of glowsticks for the kids to play with and every year I don't buy any so my kids mooch off of everyone. So last year, I decided I didn't want to do that and ordered a big pack of 100 glowsticks to use and share this year....well, what do you know, I have absolutely no idea where I stashed them!  I couldn't find them so my kids mooched off all the neighbors again!  I've gotta be better next year!  Here is a cool hair decoration Tess made with hers: