Grandma and Grandpa Mecham Come to Visit

Love Lock Gate

I found this gate while I was walking one day. It's a gate where people can profess their love, engagement, triumph, friendship, or whatever you want.

This is my favorite lock. It's got a huge ring hanging around it. This couple got engaged in front of the the Love Lock Gate.
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We woke up to an overcast morning. It was actually cool outside! So we went on a quick trip to the Dixie Rock to hike around. It was great fun!
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We got to go to The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn! It was absolutely amazing! It has been so long since I have had a cultural experience and I was in heaven. There was a pre-show performance outside the main theater. Afterwards Lily had a great time performing her own dance on the stage.

Of course I was the crab...

Lily was SO excited to see The Little Mermaid! She was intent through the whole play. She had never seen anything like it!

Afterwards we waited in line

And Lily got to meet Eric and Ariel! She was over the top excited and she said that was her the best part of the whole play. Next time we won't spend money on the play...we'll just show up at the end so she can get her picture! Just kidding. She loved it all and meeting the characters was just the icing on the cake.

Fun With the Neighbors

I Am Me

I struggle with my body shape. It's not perfect like I would like it to be (whose body is). Dan always tells me that I am beautiful and that I need to get over it. It's just hard when the weight doesn't come off after the babies are born!!

Today I happened upon a blog called Cardigan Empire. They have a thing called Beauty-Full Tuesdays. I love it and I'm completely inspired. I'm going to put "I Am Me" where I can read it while I do my dishes.

Anyways, any of you suffering from body image problems, enjoy!

Tieka of Selective Potential
Melissa of Write it in Lipstick
Nina of Momma Go Round
Sam of Young People in Love
Angela Hardison of Seesaw

Our Cute Little House

When I first went to look at this house I wasn't too impressed. On the outside it's just a shabby little cinder block house! But I fell in love with it as soon as I went inside! It's so cute and it has tons of personality! We are so lucky to have it!

We have our own driveway which we haven't had in over 2 years. We LOVE it!

We were talking to some friends the other day and realized that we have never lived in our own free-standing home. Even when we owned our home in CA we owned a half of a duplex so we shared a wall. In Logan we had people living below us. I love not worrying that we're going to wake the neighbors up when the kids cry at night!

I think we could stay here for many, many years. Hopefully the Lord agrees that this is where we belong!

Happy 4th!

Lots and lots of pictures! I won't blame you if you don't read it all!

Parade and Festivities
Dan had the camera for most of the day but here is one picture of him.

Lily with her cute friend from church.

A cool car in the parade. Read the side...

After the parade we enjoyed some of the festivities. Lily got to choose one ride. She loves swings so this was an easy choice.

There was a 12 foot albino python at the park. The guy who owns it said he keeps it at his dad's house in the living room....it keeps the home teachers away apparently. The snake was very calm and is by nature.

Lily and I doing Zumba. I look a bit chubby here! Maybe it was the outfit =0)

And of course I'm all about taking advantage of the free karaoke!

I thought this picture was completely hilarious! It's almost like a joke: What do you get when Uncle Sam, a punk clown, and a hot dog hang out. Anyone have an answer?

Waiting for the Fireworks
Playing dress up with neighbor Ruby

Chalking and Jump Roping

Kara loves the flag!!

Kara ate the chalk more than she colored.

Trying to keep Lily busy...Dan had to work so I tried to keep the festivities going.

Our own little parade. Lily waved and waved as she rode by our house.

The bubbles didn't last long. Kara found them and dumped 'em out. Fun while they lasted!

And of course, what's the 4th without watermelon and poppers?

The Fireworks

By about 6:30pm I couldn't believe we still had 3.5 more hours until the fireworks! Lily was so tired because she hadn't had a nap but Dan really wanted us all to go so the town fireworks so I had to think of something to keep us all sane until it was dark enough for fireworks. (For those who don't know, the more tired Lily gets the faster she goes until we all want to tie her in bed until she can go to sleep!)
Enter my good friend! She had invited us to a barbecue but we had initially declined because I though we would have the kids in bed before they started the party. Luckily she said we could still come =0) so we headed over. The above picture is of all the kids sitting by the side of the road and waiting for the purchased fireworks that people brought.
Kara was so scared of the fireworks. She cried every time one went off. I gave her my cell phone and when a firework would go off she would tearfully jabber into the phone and hold on to the vaseline I found in my purse. I took a couple of pictures of her doing this....
and she didn't appreciate the flash.

Around 10pm we heavily loaded up the stroller and headed over to the stadium to see the fireworks. We found Dan and found a nice place on the grass.

I love the 4th of July! I love what it stands for and who we get to honor. Thanks for all of you who have served our country!

Thanks for making it to the end of the post!