I have to just say that I LOVE the fourth of July. It is one of my favorite holidays, just behind Christmas and tied with Halloween.
We had such a fun day this year...we had great BBQ at my parents with family, food and fun. What could be better?
We then left Cooper at my parents and took the girls to Stadium of Fire. The girls were SO excited to see Miley Cyrus.
The girls loved the skydivers
Syd was standing on the seat when they did the fly-by and she ended up jumping down and grabbing me when the jets passed. It was hilarious!
The girls loved the dancers....there were 1300 of them!
Brook and MarkieOne of my favorite parts of the nights was when they had three young wives talk to their husbands that were deployed in Iraq. It was such a sweet moment and I was in tears. After they had done this they invited several military families come fill in the remainder of the field for the show. What a sacrifice these families and our troops make to help protect our beautiful country! And of course Miley...the girls loved this, but I was a little bummed because she played quite a few new songs that the girls didn't know and they just sat there for a few songs, they did love hearing their favorites and we were all rocking out (OK, Mark wasn't rocking out....but I was totally dancing and singing along!)And then there were the fireworks, oh the fireworks! It was an amazing show and after about 25 minutes the song ended and we thought it was over. We grabbed all our stuff and started down the stairs quick, only to find out that they were just starting a whole new batch! It was fantastic!
Well I was just going through my pictures and realized how many things I haven't blogged! Because I am kinda OCD about certain things, if something isn't done exactly how I pictured it or had worked out PERFECTLY in my head I sometimes will just not do it. Sad....I know!
In order to not feel so behind and in keeping with the whole OCD thing, I decided to get caught up in one big marathon post...I hope you don't mind! :)
The day after Brook's b-day we took off to go see the Manti Pageant. I was in major need to get away and even though we came home that night, it was such a fun little break! We got down there pretty early and had the "famous" turkey dinner that the Manti stake puts together. My favorite marinade is the marinade they use on the turkey and it is de-lish! We decided to sit on a blanket rather than try and keep the kids on a chair throughout the whole thing and so we got there pretty early to get a good spot. We were all in awe of the temple, I had no idea how beautiful it is! We sat and played games and enjoyed the evening outside. Cooper discovered grass and would roll over to the edge of the blanket and play in it. We even got to see my bro Bryan who was there with his youth conference! When it was time for the show to start it started getting really cold and luckily we had brought some blankets and sleeping bags...it was freezing! The show was really fun and although the girls fell asleep towards the end, they really liked it also! If you haven't been to the Manti Pageant I would totally recommend it!
The girls had their year end dance concert and did such a great job...or so I heard! It has gotten to the point that because the girls have so many costume changes (we had 7 this year) that I watched as much of the show as I could from backstage! It is so fun to watch them enjoy themselves and have fun!
The kids have been out in the pool to keep cool quite a bit this summer and it keeps them busy for HOURS! I made the mistake this day to set up the pool too close to the trampoline, so they thought it was so fun to jump from the tramp into the pool! After taking a few pictures (bad mom) we pushed the tramp away, but it was so funny to watch them fly through the air!
Coop even got in on this pool day and got to try his new swimming suit out. He looked too cute! I stuck his feet in the water but he wasn't really sure what to think about it.
I mentioned before that Brook has been SO into Wall-e, so we went and saw it the night it came out. Brook took 2 of her little buddies and we went and had a great time. I absolutely loved this movie! Wall-e is darling and the sweet love story between him and Eve is too cute! After the movie we took all the kids over to the food court for happy meals and Brook was in heaven there with her friends. She thought she was such a big girl!
The only downfall to our night was this.....
The girls thought this was the funniest thing ever. Mark was out getting popcorn during the previews, so I pulled this up to show him how dumb this looked and now the girls want to watch it over and over!
And last but not least, we celebrated Canada Day in our circle with some great friends. Two of our neighbors are Canucks, so they make all the Canadian treats and we had a big BBQ. The kids had a blast swimming in the kiddie pools and had a huge water fight! Those Canadians sure know how to party! ;)
We have been out enjoying the summer nights with walks over to Syd's school. There is something about summer nights that I love! It's so nice to be outside without feeling like we might melt and the girls being able to play without bright red cheeks. Plus, we have the most beautiful sunsets out here!
I decided to bring my camera one night to get pics of Coop on the swings and a few candid shots of the girls....it ended up being a photo shoot of sorts with the girls posing all over the playground and then yelling for me to take their pictures. They are too funny :)
Here are a few pictures of our make-shift photo shoot.....
We then left Cooper at my parents and took the girls to Stadium of Fire. The girls were SO excited to see Miley Cyrus. 
One of my favorite parts of the nights was when they had three young wives talk to their husbands that were deployed in Iraq. It was such a sweet moment and I was in tears. After they had done this they invited several military families come fill in the remainder of the field for the show. What a sacrifice these families and our troops make to help protect our beautiful country! 
And of course Miley...the girls loved this, but I was a little bummed because she played quite a few new songs that the girls didn't know and they just sat there for a few songs, they did love hearing their favorites and we were all rocking out (OK, Mark wasn't rocking out....but I was totally dancing and singing along!)
And then there were the fireworks, oh the fireworks! It was an amazing show and after about 25 minutes the song ended and we thought it was over. We grabbed all our stuff and started down the stairs quick, only to find out that they were just starting a whole new batch! It was fantastic!
