The Fourth of July

 Happy Fourth of July!! What a day, what a day! We started it off early with the traditional Murray Parade with the Kirk Fam.  Uncle Ben photo bombed the picture of the kids.  I thought it was some random person being funny that jumped in just as I took the picture, and I laughed to see it was Ben joining us after finishing an EFY session.

Lauren did not like the smell of the exhaust all the fancy cars from the car show gave off.  They were pretty smelly!

Ashlyn really enjoyed the parade.  She loved all the animals (horses, dogs, etc), the floats, (especially ones with animals), and the candy. She kept trying to get some candy and most the time all her cousins and siblings were too quick for her.  Luckily they shared.

Devon, Jon, and Stephen all competed in the juggling contest.  They all did great!  Jon was the winner of their age group.

As we were getting ready to go we saw the fireman squirt and Dylan and Jayden had fun getting soaked.



At the end the firemen were letting kids hold the hose and spray some water.  We were about one or two people too far back in line.  By the time we got up there the tanks were out of water.  Austin still got to hold the hose, but not spray it.



After all our fun in Murray we headed home for naps and food.  Then we headed to the Gibsons.  It was the first time in 7 years Devon's parents were home. They had spent 6 summers in a row at Philmont. We decided to keep the Philmont tradition of the children's parade.  It was so much fun. Devon's dad was so excited about the whole idea of being home with everyone he bought a bunch of fireworks.   Really, a bunch.  He told us it would compete with Stadium of Fire.  Then, Karli and Andrew's friend wanted to join us and he brought a bunch with him as well.  I think we had fireworks for over an hour constant.  That's not counting the ones we did during the daylight. It was a lot of fun.  Lauren was tuckered out and had me put her to sleep in the car near the beginning of the firework display.  She didn't like all the sound either.  As it began she climbed in my arms with Ashlyn and cried.  Ashlyn kept rubbing her back and head to comfort her.  It was so cute.  We also had a big barbecue and swimming fun.  Ashlyn became a fish on the 4th.  To say she loved the water is an understatement.  We had taken her swimming two times in about the last week before, and she hadn't really gotten comfortable yet.  But this day she got the hang of things and really had a lot of fun. She even got comfortable enough to eventually jump off the diving board herself.  She was so mad when I took her out.  She also cried when we walked past the pool later to go see the fireworks.  Well, first she actually giggled because she thought I was taking her to the pool, then she was so upset when she realized I wasn't.