Cousin reunions, glasses, ducklings and a space cowboy

July 25th, my brother, Devin, single handedly planned and put on a reunion for all of our cousins.  He is awesome!  We had a lot of fun.  

 Devin couldn't stay off of all the water features...slipping down the inflatable water slide and then down the slip'n'slide to show my girls how to actually do it!

 It was fun to catch up with all of my cousins that I haven't seen for so long.  They are all so awesome!!  I feel so very lucky to be related to so many talented and wonderful people.  I could only hope to be as awesome when I grow up.

Here's Sofie loving Great Grandma's cane...everyone does!  Just like Grandma, every one loves Grandma.

 As I was trying to capture Sofie with the cane, I captured this lovely moment with Grandma and her great grandson Rustin.  So sweet.  Family is the best thing ever.

 The inflatable was a hit.

 I played some good old volleyball and it was so fun!!!  I haven't played for so long and I forgot how much I enjoyed it!  It was great!

 So the next day, I had another cousin reunion of sorts.  The missionaries were marching in the Pioneer Day parade and my cousin Dallin is currently serving as a missionary in Logan right now!  So when the missionaries marched past us, I ran around trying to find Elder Wrathall.  I found him and got his number and invited him over for dinner.  It was fun to have him and his comp over for dinner.  I haven't seen my cousin Dallin since 2011.  So it was fun.  He is a very good missionary and his parents should be very proud.

I asked Dallin's comp to take a picture of us...I got more than I bargained for.

 Here's the picture I actually asked for.

 I took Lily in to the doctor for a yearly wellness check up and it turns out, she needed glasses.  Lily was so happy. So we headed in to the eye doctor.  The kids were having fun trying on the glasses there.

 What a crack up Will is!!!  He will be one handsome guy in glasses one day.  It's pretty inevitable.

 The kids loved the eye doctors.

 We've had so many duck families come through our backyard this summer.

 It has been fun to see the tiny ducklings grow into adults...over and over again!  Seriously, there have probably been 7 or 8 different sets of ducklings.

 The girls made Will this space ship.  So he put on his Buzz costume and his cowboy hat and became the space cowboy.  Ava's eyes in this photo!!!  That is some face!

 That's one cute space cowboy!

Pioneer Day

 Sofie is dreaming of the day when she can do the monkey bars herself.

 These kids were having so much fun taking turns hiding Woody and finding him.  This swing was the waiting spot.  

 After almost nearly a year after moving back to the states, I finally got the sewing machine from my grandma out and used it.  And it worked great!  I'm glad my grandma left her sewing machine for me.  Thank you, Grandma.  Anyways, I finally made this pillow I've been planning to make.  And we made some bonnets and bean bags for Pioneer day.

 Endless fun in the backyard!  We love it!

 Pioneer day, I woke up and left to go on just a usual run and it just so happened that they were starting a 5k fun run right behind my house, that I just jumped into and ran with the crowd.  It was fun!!  Definitely put some kick in my stride!  And I got a free admission to the pool pass...which I didn't need since we have a season pass, so I gave it to my neighbor who had just ran the fun run mile with her son.

Here's cute Sofie in the morning, I squeezed her into her newborn nightgown.  Cory made us some delicious biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  It felt really pioneery and it was so tasty!

 Lily sporting her bonnet feeling in the pioneer day spirit.

 Sofie pushing Lily in the swing.

 The kids put on an amazing production, reenacting the trek west.  My favorite part is when they were all hiding in the tent pretending like the mob was chasing them.  And Will said, shh, I think I hear the blob! Hahaha!

 This was their destination, the Salt Lake Valley in their log cabin.

 They look so pioneery here!  I love it!

 After the great play, we went across the river for the parade which took place right behind our house!

 The parade was pretty awesome!  I could not believe how much candy these kids collected!

 Even Cory was getting into it!  hehe

 Will is such an enthusiastic and positive guy, he was even excited about the princesses!

 These cars and the candy were pretty exciting too!

 Can you believe this perfect shot for Pioneer Day!

 There were a lot of small town royalty.

 After the parade, there were a bunch of free activities at the pavilion behind our house.  It was great!!!

 There was also candy cannon.  Here's Ava and Will waiting for it to go off.

 They even got their hair colored.

 This was the perfect drink for Pioneer Day.

 This little cutie enjoyed some Brigham Brew also.

 And she liked it!

 We threw out a blanket across our bridge to watch the fireworks later...even though we could have watched them from our yard.  But the kids liked playing in the park with all the other families waiting for the fireworks.

 We came back around front to set off our fireworks.

 We had fun.  One firework left a smoke ring...can you see it.

 Then we roasted marshmellows in our fire pit.

 It was great fun!

 We sparklered it up while waiting for the real show to start.  Then we watched the fireworks at the park.  The best part about the fireworks was that we didn't have to get in a car and sit in traffic and drive home!  We just walked inside and the kids went to bed! It was fabulous!!  I think the 24th of July is my new favorite holiday!