Love a 4th of July in Provo

We got off early to get to Provo and see the hot air balloons 

as well as pick up Aubrey and her BFF, Aly from their week at EFY.  

We were a little disappointed to see that the balloons weren't going to

 take off because of some uncertain weather.  

After quite the wait, they did fill them which was still a pretty sight.

But the best sight of the day was seeing AUBREY!!  Boy did we miss her:)

But we are so glad to hear ALL about the fun and uplifting time she had at EFY!

We also almost walked into Merilee Boyack, one of my favorite authors ever.

(I may have told her I loved her!)

Also it was fun to see my friend, Koni from the Power of Moms board.  She is a gem.

After the balloons we slowly made our way to the parade route where David and my Dad had been saving seats all night for us.  We enjoyed the parade, although Cosmo and the BYU football truck came in the first five minutes we were there so for the kids it was all downhill from there:)

 After we got back to Draper we cooled off in Grandpa and Grandma's community pool which is conveniently across the street from their house.  The squealing and giggling with the chicken fights makes me smile every time I look at these photos.

That evening we went to Aunt Ginny's for a barbeque with the Backman family.  It's always wonderful to see Bonnie's family.  The kids had a great time playing together too. Six of the seven sisters were there, Becky, Judy, Bonnie, Barbara, Ginny and Pat.

After missing Grandpa and Janet earlier in the week, Aubrey was happy to catch up with this great man.  Also, I absolutely adore Tyler's cousin's wife, Michelle.  We needed an updated photo and it was great to catch up in person.

Afterwards we went to the fireworks at a new park in Riverton.  A guy that lived across the street kindly let us park in his driveway (which made me a little nervous since it had scary dogs and was locked up) which gave us front row seating.  I've never seen 45 minutes of fireworks - they went on so long a few of the kids fell asleep!  It was a great way to end the night!

God bless America!