Happy Freedom Day!

This year we decided not to brave the enormous crowds and hot temperatures at the annual 4th of July Parade in Kaysville. We've attempted watching the Kaysville parade twice and both times were epic fails. First of all, we didn't know you had to set up chairs 24 hrs in advance at exactly midnight the day before if you even hoped to get a glimpse of a float. The chairs line main street of Kaysville and they're at least four or five rows deep.  The most coveted spots are where there will be shade of course, so there is some logic to the chair placement. You forget to set up chairs and sorry, but your SOL. You will see nothing but the backs of peoples heads and the tops of canvas shade canopies. We know because that's what happened to us.
Second of all, there are so many people there that your kids don't have a prayer of obtaining even one piece of that nasty salt water taffy or a tootsie roll. You even try to get close to the road and you have to fight off three rows of kids, not to mention the super staunch parade police that rain down their fury on any child that steps over the line to grab a dum-dum.
ANYWAY, this year we decided we actually wanted our kids to be able to see a parade AND to get some candy too, so we headed north to Plain City, a small town that reminds me of home. We knew we were in the right spot when all we had to do was follow the crowd to the main drag in town only 30 minutes pre-parade and easily find a spot to set up camp.  This is such a neat little community and it reminded us so much of home. There was a nice family across the street giving away free scones, fresh fruit, and ice-cold bottled water before the parade began. I was extremely grateful because I had to skip breakfast so we could make it to the parade in time. We tried to offer them payment and they of course refused. People are different here, definitely small town, and it was good to feel like we fit in. The kids loved the parade which mostly consisted of horses, bikes, tractors, trucks, four wheelers, and a smattering of floats. It was just like a parade you would see in any small town in Utah, totally reminded us of Monticello. I'm pretty sure we will be going back for the 24th and next year for sure! All you other city folk stay put though--Plain City is ours now. Go find your own small town to celebrate in!

 Haiven was definitely into the free candy part of the parade. She actually picked up most of the candy. I practically had to dump Taj out of his chair to get him to pick up a piece of candy--it was okay though because Haiv had them both covered.

 It's pretty obvious what Taj loved most about the parade. We are still talking about the tractors we saw that day.

 Probably one of my favorite pics!

 The kids especially loved the dog on the four-wheeler. Poor kids, they would kill to have a dog, but I just CANNOT even fathom cleaning up after a dog right now, especially now that I will have THREE monkeys to take care of instead of two. I can barely handle my kids poop and puke--there is no way I can handle a dog's! Yuck! Someday when the kids get older and can deal with the fun realities of owning a pet, THEN they can have one!

Haiv was not loving the fire trucks and police cars blaring their sirens and horns. She was absolutely terrified and I think her daddy was loving every minute of it.