birthday holiday week

The first week of July we spent at my parent's house. 
I drove up there with the kids, and despite stopping at IKEA mainly to give them a potty break,
Ellie still couldn't make it the two hours in the car without having to use a bathroom.

I pulled over at a rest stop, and after much persuasion, got her to use the restroom. And then, for reasons I will never figure out,
she decided she was NOT going to get back in the car. She wanted to stay right here forever.

 Aiy.

But we made it, and what a fun week we had!
Sunday night we celebrated my little brother Nate with a Court of Honor for his Eagle Scout award.

Way to go, Nathan!

The next morning was Kent's birthday! (oh, and the fourth of july...)

 Ellie gave him water balloons and Nicholas gave him foam swords and shields so they can battle. Christian gave him poptarts, because my husband hasn't gotten the memo that he's in his 30's now. He still requests poptarts for his birthday breakfasts.

That morning we went to a huge parade way out in the country to see Jonah in the marching band. 

 The parade lasted about two hours. There were all sorts of tractors,
horses, carriages,
floats,
cars, 
the university mascot on a teeny tiny motorbike,
missionaries (!),

And more candy than we could possibly consume.

 Also, how cute is Christian's waiting pose??
Oh I could just eat this kid up!

When we got back, Christian thought he'd give the tenors a try.

 That night we did some fireworks for the kids.
We thought they'd only like these little "snakes," 

because we have a history of them freaking out and being absolutely terrified of any real fireworks, no matter how tame,
but they totally surprised us this year and loved the fountains we did. Nick did watch some of them through the window from inside the house, but Ellie stayed outside and squealed and laughed at everything. 
Maybe fireworks can be a fun family event for us someday!

My brother and his family came up to visit for the week from Vegas, and Christian and Avery made the funniest pair. 

Avery is much more enthusiastic about being friends than Christian is. 

She's excited and loud and all about the love. Christian was more.....indifferent/hesitant/"stay back crazy lady!"

The two of them toddled around the house, and Avery tried her very best to keep up with Christian.

He's a lot faster than she is,

but her determination had no end.

So they spent the week playing a hilarious, winner-less game of Avery-Christian tag.

 Along with our day at Tony Grove,
we spent a day at Bear Lake. It was windy and cold most of the day, but we still had a fantastic time!

My own cousins came with their kids, and we had quite the group there.

Look at all those cousins! (and only four of them--that came--are girls!)

It really was just the best, busy, summer-filled week with everyone!