Catch Up

This will definitely be my longest post yet. We had an extremely long weekend starting clear back on Wednesday, the 3rd and ending last night at Hillary's (real) birthday celebration. There are a whole lot of pictures and hopefully as little commentary as possible. Here we go!

July 2nd - Wednesday night we had a get together with Keith's best friends from high school (Adam Hughes and Pat Felt) and their families. All together we had 10 kids ages 7 and under running around the yard. We had fun catching up while eating ice cream and cookies. It's nice for me when we get together because I also was at Lehi High School and know Adam and Pat too. Thanks for coming over, you guys!

July 3rd - Thursday night we had a joint birthday party for Hillary and her cousin, Darci. Most everyone was there from Keith's side of the family. We had humongous patriotic cupcakes and more ice cream.

All of the Braithwaite cousins (minus the Buck's....we miss you guys)

July 4th - Friday was the longest day we've had in a long time. Bright and early we were up and at 'em. Our first destination was the Oakley City Festivities. It's a tradition in Keith's family to attend the parade. Thanks to Mary and Janette we got a really good spot right across from "Polar King" which means bathroom facilities and access to drinks and ice cream. The kids had a great time filling their candy bags (it was like Halloween in July) and seeing the floats. Claire really enjoyed all the "horsies". There was also a great cloud cover which made it all the more enjoyable.

Those macho boys (Josh, Dustin and Davy)!!!


The girls waiting for the parade to start.
(Rach, Darci, Elisabeth and Hilly)


Mom and Dad (in his Chips sunglasses).

Hillary with her candy bag.

Claire, keeping cool in the stroller.


Beka Boo and Claire Bear.

After the parade we headed off to the Kamas pool for a little swimming. What a great place! The kids enjoyed the play area and the big slide. We had the pool to ourselves for the first hour. This activity must be added on to the tradition each year.

Dustin, having a ball.

Hillary with Aunt Mary (she really did have fun despite the look on her face.)

Claire's first time in a swimming pool.

After visiting the pool we headed back to Grandma True's house in Peoa for a picnic lunch. Keith's aunt and uncle made some great dutch oven chicken and everyone else had brought salads and treats galore. If there's one thing I've learned, at a Braithwaite party you will never go hungry.

Next on our list of destinations was my sister, Jobie's house up in Hooper. The city sets fireworks off right behind her house so it's a prime spot to catch the light show in the sky. Again, there was lots and lots of good food, more cake and ice cream (homemade this time) as we celebrated Hillary and Aunt Miquelle's birthdays. We thought to bring some sparklers and both Claire and Hillary burned their little fingers. Guess you have to learn some how! Finally at midnight we reached home and our beds. The kids were zonked and so were Mom and Dad. I can only imagine what the next 4th of July will bring...

So, over the weekend we were all lazy bums. It takes awhile to recover from so much fun, family and fireworks. Luckily we had nothing planned and took it easy. We had a brief scare on Sunday night when Dustin dropped the treadmill track on Hillary. She was smashed underneath and we were wondering if she'd have to spend another birthday in a cast. However, she's only really sore and has a few bumps and bruises.

July 7th - I know I already posted about Hillary's birthday. Here's a brief wrap up and some pics on how it went. We had both sets of grandparents over for more ice cream and more cake (I'm never eating cake again)! She had fun opening up gifts and blowing out the yellow candles on her yellow cake.

Hillary and her princess scooter.

Mom and Hilly under her new umbrella.

Yummy, more cake!

This is just a cute shot of Keith and the kids.

Well, that's the story our six days worth of partying hard. I'm exhausted and if you made it through this post, you probably are too. I hope there's nothing new to blog about for awhile. :P