We Made Lemonade

We had a FANTASTIC Fourth of July (weekend), in spite of our original plans not working out.

An awesome Hoffman family reunion has been in the works for over a year for this last weekend, but Elena's counts were too low and so we weren't able to go. We were really bummed when we realized it wasn't going to work. But, I decided that since we couldn't go have fun with our family, we were going to have a rockin' awesome time here. When life gives you lemons...

And after all, Provo is the best place to spend the Fourth of July :) Have you been? If not, you really should try it.

We couldn't do the obvious Fourth of July celebration stuff (like parades and carnivals) because Elena's counts were down. But with a little thought, we came up with a pretty fun couple of days. Friday we got a nice little surprise from the Strong's- a goody basket full of fun stuff to occupy our weekend. Eric and I kicked the weekend off by watching one of our new movies, eating way too many treats, and trying out Sorry Revenge (fun, by the way, except I can never win!). Saturday we went up Payson Canyon and hiked the Grotto Trail. It is a pretty little hike with a waterfall at the end.

Eric and the girls at the waterfall:

What they were looking at :)

We came home and had a barbecue - hot dogs, per Elena's request. For some reason, one of Elena's deeply held beliefs is that you have to eat hot dogs if you are going to watch fireworks. :) Then we headed out to go watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. After a quick pit stop to get licorice, we got to Provo and scouted out a spot. Usually, we sit up on campus by the administration building. This year, Eric wanted to try something new. So, we found a spot right across from the stadium (by the Chevron).

Elena hanging out before the show began. She was so excited to celebrate "Mer-ca's Birthday!", as she called it.

Eric and Lily

Lily was fascinated by the glow sticks we brought along.

We thought this picture was funny. It looks like she has a light sabre.

We weren't aware at the time, but our spot turned out to be right across from where they actually set off the fireworks. It was an AWESOME show! Although I think Elena wasn't really sure about it at first. She kept doing this really loud forced laugh at the beginning - I think to keep from crying. :)

The fireworks were amazing! Way better than we remember them ever being. Our spot actually turned out to be perfect - it was very exciting to be that close and to see and hear when the fireworks got shot off. Everything looked so big! And we got to see a lot of the fireworks in the stadium as well. It was very, very cool.

Two pictures of the fireworks that I took:

Two pictures of the fireworks that Eric took:

We were a little nervous about how Lily would do (when Elena was little like her, she hated fireworks) - especially being so close to all the action. However, I think the glow sticks and other people setting off little fireworks nearby were good warm-ups because she did great! She kept reaching up to the sky to try and touch them :) Silly, sweet baby.
On Sunday, we spent some time together as a family and played lots of games, had another yummy barbecue, showed Elena how to use snap-its and sparklers, and polished things off with delicious Blackberry Cobbler and Vanilla Ice Cream (look up the Pioneer Woman's Blackberry Cobbler Recipe - you won't be disappointed).

Monday was a fun day spent hanging out together- we all sat down and watched our other new movie, went and fed the ducks, made some headway in the Hunt For Red October, and Elena and Lily got in lots of good Daddy time. I love watching Eric with our girls- that alone made my day.

Happy Fourth! It was a great weekend!