celebrate: family festival at Cedar Hills, UT

Our weekend was crazy. Crazy fun. Not only was it Father's Day, but our little city has the Family Festival every year and both happened to fall on the same weekend. The Family Festival has a carnival, movie and dinner in the park, band night, a fun run, a baking contest, parade and great fireworks. The fire department also shoots off their hoses for the kids to play in--always a favorite--but we didn't make it this year. (Don't tell the girls.) It's small town fun. Here's a little peek at our festivities. (*Heads up: lots of photos.)

Heading out for the parade.

About half way down the block, Madi decided she didn't want to walk/ride her scooter, so we went back home for the wagon. :)

This is the main street through our city. We love living here.

I look forward to this sight each year.

The parade starts with our local law enforcement, then the military and veterans from the area. I love this part. I'm so grateful for our men and women who serve in the armed forces, for the sacrifices they make. Many times I've seen one of them or a group and wanted to just walk up and say "thank you so much." But I get so emotional thinking about it, I never do. I know, I need to get over it.

I heard Ella and Madi working on a project in the office all morning. Made me smile when they came out with decorated bags for collecting candy at the parade. :)

The girl's favorite floats--princesses, of course. 

We laughed when Madi pulled her arm down fast when the Owlz mascot walked by. No waves for you. (He is pretty scary looking.)

Get ready...

 GO!

 Victory!

After the tears, Mads said, "Grandma, take a picture of my owie." :)

But sometimes you pay a pretty heavy price for getting' the goods.

And the crowd goes wild. We love Cosmo, the BYU mascot.

I was pretty pleased with how my parade photos turned out, considering the conditions (bright, bright sun). I picked up a little tip from Rebecca Cooper's new e-book, Real. Life. Photography., and decided to give it a try. (Here's the tip. Scroll down to the page that reads, "Shooting in AV mode.") Yep, I'm heading over to purchase the entire e-book. It's even on sale. 

Ella was in charge of the decorations for the bar-b-que/fireworks show. She and Madi made paper chains.

We bought the kids a bunch of water toys, so I asked Lynn to go buy a pool they could fill them up in instead of making a mess with the hose. I don't know why Kate and I thought it was so funny to see him rolling a pool down the street. I guess it's just not something you see every day.

The food was scrumptious. I made pork sandwiches with bar-b-que sauce and cole slaw, and everyone else brought the rest of the goodness. The sandwiches and bar-b-que sauce were wonderful! I think we still like my cole slaw best though. I need to post it soon. I have to admit, it's nice when the kids get older and can contribute to family meals.

O-live you, Madi. :)

At three years old, this little cutie will eat (or at least try) anything. Not sure how Kate lucked out, she was a pretty picky eater.

This little guy is adorable and was all over the place. We stuck him on the trampoline and it was the biggest and best play pen ever. Warner belongs to Tyler and Andrea. Tyler and Patrick have been best friends since high school. They both served missions at the same time which was fun. Now their wives are great friends too.

My niece, Jessica, brought all sorts of fun things for the girls to play with. Loved these popsicle shaped chalks.

The girls love their Uncle Patrick. He's fun and crazy and loves to play. He's pretty much just a big kid. :)

We finished off the night with an amazing fireworks show. The entire neighborhood was packed with cars and people. The fireworks are shot off from a hill just above the golf course. Just as exciting as the fireworks were the fires they set off. One got pretty big, fast, but the fire department got it out quick.

Good times and a great community we live in.

Hope you're having a delightful summer.

Kim