Aaaaand we're back!

We decided to make a road trip over to Utah for the 4th of July this year. Two of my awesome cousins were both blessing their brand new babies in church, and I've been hearing all over blog-land how awesome Provo is for the holiday so we decided to make the trek over.

On Friday, July 2nd we loaded up the truck and set out. Our first stop was a gas station in green river, Utah where the ear doctor spied some quality reading material.

I was SOOOO tempted to buy it when I saw this beauty of a recipe...

Saturday morning my aunt made us a big family breakfast, to which my cousin Tyler decided to dress like Colombian drug lord. Yes, those are linen pants...

We all sat around oohing and ahhhing over the absolute perfection of my cousins little adorable baby, Finn. Pretty sure this is the best picture I've ever taken of a new baby. Look how perfect his little lips are!

Next we headed down to the freedom festival in downtown Provo. I love me some vendors and fair food, but my allergies were driving me nuts so I didn't have that much fun. Our basement dweller spotted Belle here and just had to get in the shot. She's never been to Disneyland, but given her obvious character-posing-picture skillz you could have fooled me!

Another thing our friend hadn't done is see Temple square or the LDS conference center in Salt Lake, so we reluctantly boarded the truck again and drove up to check it out. Here is our obligatory self-portrait taken on top of the conference center...it wouldn't be a trip-recap without a self-portrait, right?

This photo was taken in the exact spot where the ear doctor asked me to marry him. I'd still say yes in a heartbeat!

On Sunday, the 4th of July we attended two different churches where my two of my cousins babies were blessed. Afterward there was a big family picnic where everyone who wanted to got a chance to hold the tiny, perfect little Finn-baby. Here is my mom taking her turn.

My man is hottttttt!

That night a few of us went up to Park City to see the fireworks. It was really a beautiful place to lay down a blanket, but it got surprisingly cold and there were rocks all over the ground. By the end of the night we were just a huddled clump of family trying to stay warm.

Monday morning we woke up bright and early, packed our lawn chairs and found a shady spot to watch the Provo grand parade. I may have walked down the majority of the parade route in hopes that I'd see cjane or nienie, but no such luck. Instead, we ended up getting PERFECT seats right on the corner of Center and University.

As you can see, it was a ton of fun: