4th of July in Delta

One of my favorite child hood memories is spending the 4th of July in the small town of Delta. Their are just some things that small towns do great at and this holiday is one of them. We always start the great holiday off with the bike parade the night before. My boys are about the only ones that still get really excited about this, because most of the grand kids are getting all grown up, but they are still really good sports about it and are very willing to help out my boys. 

We start of the morning of the 4th attending are fun small town parade. It is mostly just local businesses but still the funnest little parade ever and the best part of it all is that THEY STILL THROW CANDY. It has been outlawed almost every where else in the state so we love that about our little town and the boys love it even more. Im not sure that they would like going to one of the big city parades where there is no gas. 

And of course there is the annual fish catching. The boys think this is the funniest thing ever. They are still not super brave yet and don't really dare to do it to much on their own, but with dads help, they love to catch their fish. 

Later that night we did a pinata in carols backyard. Yep, we know how to have some fun.

This is Eli and Elise. These two are bestest buddies. Even though there is quiet an age difference, Eli always looks forward to any opportunity that he gets to hang out with his favorite cousin.

Fire Safety

I know that most libraries do this at least once throughout the year, but I just have to say, I think that American Fork library is the most amazing library ever. They are so good to have such awesome activities for the kids. And they do so many different things. My boys LOVE going to story time because they make reading so much fun, and Eli has learned so much from the different activities they have done. I just love it. So a few weeks ago they had the fire department come and give a little lesson on fire safety and how to Stop, Drop, and roll, as well as just being smart about a few things. Plus, they had a fireman put on all of his gear and then come around to the kids so that hopefully if they are ever in the situation that they wouldn't be afraid of them. It was awesome and Eli loved it. Ethan was not so loving it, he was a bit scared, but he is still young and hopefully in a year or so he will get the same experience. 

The firefighters are teaching the kids the basics about fire safety.

The fireman in his full fireman suit, mask and all, which is actually a bit scary and makes him sound like Darth Vadar.

Eli was so proud of himself because he was brave enough to give the fireman a high five.

And then afterwards, of course the kids were given the opportunity to play in the water from the fire truck. Eli loved this, he is the cute little boy in the flag swimsuit. Ethan was starting to get tired about this time and was not so willing to go play, but Eli had enough fun for the both of them.

Eli really wanted a picture with the fireman and I was happy to oblige. I am glad that he feels he can trust these guys, just in case we ever do need their help. You never know. Honestly, there are fires out around our house ever month it seems like. More so this year, then in years past.

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They also have an ambulance there that the kids can get up and tour and ask questions about so that they are more familiar with an ambulance, just in case you know. I think it is great concept because I know at least with Eli that he is much more willing to do something if he has an understanding of it.

And last, but not least, they got to look inside of a firetruck cab. They are way bigger then even I ever thought. I guess I dont know what I was expecting. But much larger then I would have guessed. And here are all the cute boys sitting on the front of the truck. Zander, Eli, Ethan and Corbin.

Hogle Zoo with Cousins

Fishing in Provo River

The joys of fishing. I have to say, I am not a huge fisherwoman and I really don't know much about it. But I do remember a time or two from my past when I have been with my brothers, or more importantly my Grandpa. Fishing, I always thought was such a mellow sport and you sit and wait for a very long time, and if you are lucky, MAYBE you will catch something. Well, with all this said. My boys love it. And again, still dont really know much about it, and honestly Matt does not either, but we did our best to have some fun with it. There is a spot on the Provo river where you can see the fish swimming around. LOTS and LOTS of them. This makes it twice as fun when you can see them actually swimming right around your hook and then BAM, you snagged yourself a fish. Well this is how our story goes.

You sit on the beach and you wait patiently until you catch a fish.

You try and try your hardest, but you still have no luck. 

Then you get dad in on the action and see if he can help you catch a fish. 

Smile for the camera, we have to pretend that we are not bored and that we are not tired of WAITING to catch a fish.

Not sure what Ethan was thinking in this picture, but it sure is a cute one.

Finally after much patience and casting out like a thousand times, we catch our selves a fish. A wopper of a fish, had to be about 6 inches.

Then we have to check out our fish because we are really not sure what to think about it, and we definitely don't dare touch it because that would be crazy. So we look at it with complete disbelief that we actually caught it.

Then as dad asks us to touch it, we have to look up at him as if to say "Dad, you gotta be joking me... right? You really want me to touch that thing? You crazy"

But then after much talking, and begging and pleading and convincing that the fish was no longer alive and that it was all done flopping around. Then he decided to touch him. Look at that smile.

But it didn't just end with touching......

No, No, we soon decided that this fish was our new best friend and that anywhere I went, he was going with me.

And just touching the fish was not enough, soon I was encouraged to give him kisses. If only a fish/ princess thing worked that same way as the frog/ prince thing.....

And then if kissing it was not enough, then we decided that he needed to be worn as a hat, because like I said, this was my new best friend and he was now going EVERYWHERE that I went. 

I wish that I could say the story ended with this, but no... it continues. Ethan was very much in love with his new found friend. His dad tied a string to him and a stick to the other end and Ethan continued to run around with him, carry him like a football, lay him down and sing him good night songs, and yes...... carry him on his lap in a ziplock ALL the way home. And if you thought he was going to bed without his new friend.... well.. that was a whole other ballgame. Needless to say, he was in love and it made for and interesting night and figuring out how to get fish to go to bed in the freezer (and very shortly there after, the garbage can) and have  Ethan be okay with it. Eli never did decide he was okay with having a fish for a friend, in fact, it soon became a game of chase brother around the park with my fish friend, just to get him to scream, because Eli was still a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing.

It was a great day fishing with the boys, and a fishing trip I will not soon forget. We made a great friend that day and he is now swimming with all of his cute fish friends in the sky.