Cherry Days Parade!

Usually I am in the parade with the Fire department, but this year I sat with Christy and the kids. We set chairs out in front of Walgreens sunday night to save us a good spot. Our kids were super excited to be at the parade this year. The weather ended up being okay because the sky was overcast, and it was nice being in front of Walgreens, so our kids had a bathroom close by. I think my favorite part was watching the F-16 jets fly by at the start of the parade. What an amazing feeling to watch them fly over us and know that they are out there protecting our freedom every day. I'm so proud to be an American and grateful for our freedom and the men and women that help protect it for us.

 Addi

 free popsicles

I love this picture of our kids holding hands & watching the parade together

Camping and playing in the river.

Sunday, we spent the day camping, and playing in the river up at Weber Memorial. It was a super hot day, and the river was nice and cold so it was very relaxing. The river was still higher than it normally is this time of year, but we went down to the "pond" at South Fork and it was calm enough for the kids to swim. The kids had a blast and they were excited to be with their cousins.

 Carter and Eli

 Cambree and Owen

 Calee and Isabelle

Cambree and Kirina

The Hardee family Fireworks Extravaganza!

On Saturday night we were invited to eat, party, and watch fireworks with the Hardees. Bryce went on a fireworks shopping spree and spent three hundred dollars on fireworks so we had quite the show. Our kids had a blast with Jason and Jills kids. We had all kinds of fireworks from sparklers all the way up to the really fun big (and now legal in Utah) mortars. The grand finale was called corrupt and it was amazing. A big thanks to our best friends, the Hardees for such a fun night.

Bryce Canyon

Sunday we visited Bryce Canyon National Park. I forgot how amazing Bryce Canyon is. It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful and breath-taking places in the world. Kyle, Carter, and I decided to hike down to the bottom of the canyon. It was a really fun hike and the views from the bottom were stunning. I have never seen anything so awesome. There were two giant trees at the bottom that I was able to take some pretty neat pictures of. The hike out was tough. It almost killed Carter, but I was really proud of him for hiking down and all the way back up. It was definitely worth it.

bottom of the canyon

looking up out of the canyon

Christy waiting for us at the top of the trail

Carter "dying" after our hike

Where in the world is Tropic, Utah?

Ever heard of tropic Utah? We had not heard of it until Saturday night. Tropic is a tiny little town 10 miles outside of Bryce Canyon. We spent the night there in a little hotel on Saturday night. We decided to walk to the end of town and see what there is to see in Tropic. Well, there is a hotel, a restaraunt, a little grocery store, a tiny little post office, a school, and some houses. We were able to walk the entire town in about a half an hour. One of the coolest things we saw was a cabin built by Ebenezer Bryce, who was a Mormon Pioneer who discovered Bryce Canyon. For dinner we ate at a little pizza place there on main street and it was pretty good pizza. The next morning we ate a pancake breakfast at the little restaraunt next to our hotel. It was quite the "small town" experience.

Zion National Park

Saturday, we left St. George and drove to Zion National Park and spent the day there. I forgot just how beautiful and amazing it is there. We rode the tram and saw a lot of the sights. It was a super hot day, so we didn't do too much hiking, but our kids had a blast. Our kids loved seeing so many chipmunks, Squirrels, and lizards. We decided we want to go back when the weather turns a little bit cooler and do some more hikes.

 the bridge into the park

 Does this tell you how hot it is?

 on the tram

 Shandi and Cambree

 A squirrel that our kids kept watching go in and out of the plastic bottle recycle can

 Cambree and her Grandma

 Calee on the tram