The 4th (and 3rd)

After a smashingly epic Rasmussen Reunion (more to follow on that) everyone drove home on the third to my parents house in Hyrum. Due to illnesses, several of the people who had bought tickets to Logan's Freedom Fire event--featuring Abba-- were unable to go. So Sterling and I waffled a bit (we were extremely tired due to the aforementioned reunion) but decided to take some extra tickets and go! I am so glad we did, if only for the fireworks, they were AMAZING! It was the best firework show I have ever seen in my life, and I loved every minute of it!

Will during the pre-show. When Abba actually started playing it was a bit loud, so we stuffed his ears with wipe strips. (I'm a bad momma and didn't think to bring cotton balls.) 

We left Ruthie at home to sleep, thanks Brooke for watching out for her!, and Will did pretty well. It was really hot at the beginning and I was a bit worried. Sterling was worried about me and nursing, so because of his diligence I went through 3.5 water bottles before the actual show even started! But then the sun went behind the stadium and Will was just fine.

My bro-in-law Brett. I took this pic for my sister Kayli who stayed home due to sick kids. His uncle played in the pre-show! 

Beautiful Hazel.

My camera is lame and wouldn't focus on both of us, but we had fun!!!!

Hazel was the coolest and got up and danced!

Stylin' Devaney.

More of the kids getting up to dance.

Abba!

More dancing.

 I was going to delete some of these firework pictures, and they don't even come close to doing justice to the real thing, but I just love them all!!! I LOVE fireworks!!!

For the actual fireworks I was a little concerned about our little guy Will, so we left the stadium, walked across the parking lot, and hung out at my brother Wyatt's apartment. Perfect location! Not to mention we got free snacks! It was still pretty loud, but since Will fell asleep in the middle of them, I wasn't too concerned, and we got as great of seats as we would have at the stadium. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear the music too well, but oh well. 

My sister Kami and her family didn't go to the concert, but they came to hang out for the firework show at Wyatt's too.

 All of that happened the night of July 3rd. On July 4th we hit up the Hyrum parade and had a great time. It was hot. Much too hot. Who came up with the idea of doing the parade at NOON anyway? But there was still lots of candy and the kids enjoyed themselves. It was fun to watch Sterling with Ruthie and see how excited she got about waving and clapping and all the noises.

Yes, all those kids lined up are Rasmussen's. The ones who weren't at home puking.

My little 4th of July girl. 

Picking up the candy. See the girl with the bow in her hair? Brynne? She was quite the little scrapper, I was surprised!

Peering to see what will come next.

Mountain Crest band! My school! At least, the school I graduated from. They are known for their amazing band.

The Mendon float. Almost all of my high school friends were from Mendon. 

After the parade we all came home, watched more kids puke as we ate our grilled hamburgers and drank dad's homemade rootbeer (a July 4th tradition...and its my favorite part). 

THEN we had the awesome opportunity to steal away for a bit (thanks Amy for watching my kids) and ride my little brother Ethan's motorcycle. It felt like we were young and kidless again (we got lots of comments when we came home that they thought either we had crashed, or we had stopped for a make-out session, neither of which actually happened. Although, next time we should plan better...:) We drove all around Mount Stirling, through Hyrum, and out to Paradise. There are 15 acres for sale in Paradise...if only we were ten years further and finished with medical school! Actually, we liked the scenery from the top of Mount Stirling better. It was absolutely gorgeous. Cache Valley is one of the prettiest places on earth, (even if I would never admit it to a resident, haha) and we love being able to visit my parents there!

After all that excitement, and extreme lack of sleep at the reunion, we decided to head home so we could get Ruth to bed at a reasonable hour. We stopped at Maddox for a shared chicken basket (my absolute fav-I used to crave them all the time when I was pregnant with Will, but we only got them twice) and came home. 

The big exciting news since then is that my wonderful dad picked up our fixed washing machine today, and since its been up and running I have already done six loads, with many more to go because that is what happens when your washer breaks and you leave for a week! So thankful that it is working again, and thank you to Marlowe for helping us get it up the stairs. After he left, Ruthie went around saying "Mill-OH, Mill-OH, Mill-OH!!!!" Too cute.