24th celebration in cokeville!

i love this panoramic picture james took of my grandparents' home in cokeville.

the 24th of july parade in cokeville = tons of candy and a chance to see the parade twice!

adi ate candy through the whole parade. she was in sugar heaven.

all of the great granchildren! (there's a couple you can't see in the picture darn it!)

soooo tired!

this year everyone brought canopies and we set up our chatting and eating here all weekend. it was so nice.

the guys are always doing something...

another fun slip and slide this year!

a few weeks before the 24th, my cousin sent out a mass text to all of us asking us if we wanted in on some awesome fireworks. we all chipped in and we ended up with the biggest backyard firework show you'll ever see. most of them were illegal in utah but when in wyoming...

everyone did sparklers before the big firework show and it's honestly one of my favorite summer memories to date. watching everyone together, the light of the fireworks, the warm summer night...it was so good!

then while the men (like 12 of them) lit off the fireworks, the women and children snuggled up together and enjoyed such a great show!

we stayed up late chatting as always and lucked out that our girls slept in the next morning.

church with cousins is the best!

my amazing grandparents. if you know them, you love them!

we got to stay an extra night in cokeville and we were so lucky to have my grandparents and aunt barb all to ourselves. brooklyn made homemade waffles with my grandma and even helped with the cream and we all got to have a delicious breakfast together.

then we were off to bear lake! with kayla and her cute kiddos in tow. it was definitely a busy day but it didn't stop us. we had a great little set up. we hauled our huge floating unicorn out to the water and the kids had a blast just playing in the sand and water all day. i love bear lake so darn much!

and we couldn't head home without a raspberry shake and fries + fry sauce = the best post lake treat!

Pioneer Day Weekend/Handcart Days

our celebrations this year started on thursday. bountiful does handcart days right along with pioneer day which is really fun. chels and i started the day by setting up chairs for the parade. we had no idea how everything was going to go down, but we figured we'd use this year as our trial year. it worked out. we already have a game plan for next year.

we had a simple little bbq at jeremy and chelsea's. delicious by the way. then we walked down to the parade and had a great, yet sweaty hot, time. brooklyn loved loved the parade. it was quite a site to be seen. sooo many people. so fun though!

then we packed up our things and headed up to set up for the fireworks. again, we just tried what we thought would be good, it worked out, and now we know what to do next year. the fireworks were awesome too. luckily, the girls love them. it was another late summer night but totally worth it.

the next day, we packed up and headed towards cokeville for the weekend, but not without a stop at beautiful bear lake. the old stomping grounds. i knew kendall and brooklyn would both love the sand and i was right. they were in heaven. haley, and whit/chandler's little family joined us and that made it even better. next year hopefully kayla/judd's little family can come too. we played in the sun, then brushed off the sand, loaded the kids and headed for cokeville. but not before we stopped for shakes. because peanut butter brownie... for life!

we arrived in cokeville with just enough time to get cleaned up and showered up and head over to grandma's for dinner. we've been staying at aunt julie's the last couple years and we've loved it. we get special time with just her family and it's been nice to get to have them "kind of" all to ourselves.

it was a late night, like always. full of visiting and so many people that i love. they really are worth the loss of sleep. the next morning always comes really early. we all hurry to get ready for the parade and head down to our 'spot'. it's been so fun to have kids to add to the mix. they get soooo much candy! the most of any parade we ever go to. 

this year, we all wore blue ribbons in memory of uncle tom (elder l. tom perry). aunt barbara rode in the parade and spoke at the program afterwards. she did a wonderful job and it was such a great tribute to uncle tom.

saltwater sandals at the program. not pictured are many more that have slowly joined the family this past year.

after the program is always lunch, naps, and more visiting. we were so happy to have baby judson there this year!

that evening the guys played flag football and all the women went to watch and cheer on our men. we enjoyed another wonderful meal and then another late late night. gosh i love it! the next morning was brooklyn's birthday. she's been asking and asking when it was finally going to be july twenty-sixth. i was so happy to wake her up and tell her it was finally here! she loved spending it with cousins and being surrounded by family, 

she got to open her presents from grandma diane and grandpa jerre and she could hardly contain her excitement! 

sunday worked out to be a cousin's homecoming and a cousin's farewell all in one. so after the meeting, we all headed over to the elementary school for a delicious meal of cafe rio burritos and tons of desserts. again, more visiting and the kids even convinced the dads to take them outside to play on the playground. keni and brooklyn were in heaven! 

before we headed home, we sang happy birthday to brooklyn (with a 3 day old cupcake that the frosting had completely solidified. don't worry, she ate another one later on.) 

leaving cokeville after the 24th weekend is always so sad. i hate leaving all those people behind that i love so dang much. luckily though, i was excited to get home and let brooklyn open up some more of her presents and do sparklers before bed. sparklers on her birthday are a tradition and she loves them.