Festivities.

This year's Fourth of July celebrations began on Friday with a night out on the town (downtown Provo, to be exact) with a couple of good friends. Keri, Jessie and I checked out the Freedom Festival carnival then sipped mocktails at Spark. We may have also had a few awkward encounters with Provo's single scene. It was definitely a night to remember.

On Saturday, I watched Ell-Bell and her cute cousin Kater-Bater while some of my fam went to the Stadium of Fire. I took the munchkins to the BYU soccer game then strolled around the stadium with them, listening to Carrie Underwood and watching her on the big screens. Living within earshot of everything that happens in the stadium definitely has its perks.

Clay and I (and the babies) watched our next door neighbors' firework show, then watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks.The babies were mezmerized, and Clay and I wondered why we haven't watched the fireworks from our lawn before because the view is incredible! We now dub the tradition Cul de Sac of Fire.

{Happy Ellie with her pale, pukey mama}

On Monday morning, I woke up with a knot of nausea in my stomach and had some serious flashbacks of morning sickness (just flashbacks. Not real morning sickness, people.) I wasn't about to let that stop me from going to the parade, so Clay and I walked over with Jessie and Danny to a sweet spot on University Avenue. Luckily we happened to be right accross from a friend's home, so I could run into his bathroom when I felt like I was going to throw up.

Ellie thought the whole parade thing was a bit of a snoozer. I, on the other hand, loved the bagpipes, the soldiers and all the creative floats.

El woke up to one of her boyfriends, Max, who was very excited to see her. As you can see, he even had to be held back a little. The feelings are mutual, Maximus.

On our walk home from the parade, I had to stop a few times to lie on the grass, but we made it home and I spent the day between the bed and the bathroom dealing with a random spell of the stomach flu. I would seriously rather give birth.

Despite the sickness, I would chalk this up as my best Fourth of July to date. I love how holidays bring people and communities together. And I have to say nothing beats Fourth of July in Provo —everyone comes out to celebrate and there is so much to see and do.

Next year, I'll get out of bed to watch the balloon launch and run the Freedom Run 10K — barring any illnesses. Or morning sickness. (Which I'm not planning on having anytime soon, by the way.)  

Our next celebrations: Draper Days and the Ute Stampede in Nephi, Utah (which promises to be breathtaking —  right Jessie?) 

Do you know of any other fun summer events in Utah? I'll add them to my list!