July 24th Weekend

We had a full few days of fun this weekend to celebrate the 24th here in Utah. Every year, we go up to Kamas to enjoy the festivities up there with Marty's family. Marty went up Thursday afternoon with the girls and I joined up with them later after I enjoyed a fun dinner with my friend, Jess, who was in town. It was so much fun chatting and catching up with her.
Friday we had planned on going fishing, but decided instead to go hiking. We decided to hike Bald Mountain, which is a 4 mile hike round trip. It took us a few hours with the little kid pace.
Brooklyn hiked the whole way up with only a few minutes of rest thanks to her Uncle Gerald. We were very impressed!
Here is Uncle Gerald with Brooklyn. He is one of Brooklyn's favorite Uncles. They have a lot of fun together!! He is one of Marty's older brothers.
Eliza rode in the backpack for most of the way. Then suddenly she was done and wanted out! So we let her out for a bit and she didn't want back in. Next thing we know, she wants to hike too and off she goes.
We guessed she hiked about a half a mile and all while wearing sandals. She was a little trooper. We were so proud!
We made it too the top and enjoyed a little rest.
Here's our group at the top with the rock tower to show we made it to the summit!
The way down was a completely different experience. Eliza still wouldn't get in the backpack, but really couldn't hike down with all the rocks so I carried her most of the way with a little help from Marty who was also carrying Brooklyn in the backpack all the way down. We were both pretty sore the next day!
We picked a wild flower on the way down. Eliza about had it destroyed before we could get this picture.
That night, we went to the parade in Kamas. We forgot our camera but we came away with this big bag full of candy and goodies!
Then Marty, Brooklyn, Grandma, Grandpa and Gerald went to the rodeo. Eliza was too tired to stay up that late so I stayed home and relaxed while she slept.
On Saturday, we participated in the Kid Races. Eliza enjoyed running with her dad and playing some of the games.
Brooklyn had fun running and pretending to be in her own rodeo.
She also tried the potato sack race. She had to have help from Grandma though. Those bags were huge!
Then they had a Chicken Race for each age group. They said you would have to keep the chicken if you caught it so not to catch it if you didn't want it. I told Brooklyn she could run, but to not catch the chicken. Then Grandma told her to catch the chicken and give it to her since she has other chickens. From then on, Brooklyn was on a mission to catch that chicken for her Grandma!
I let her run in the 5-7 age group because I wasn't sure if they would let the 2-4 year old group try to catch a chicken. So I ran with her and she was determined, but we didn't catch any of the 3 chickens they set loose. Brooklyn broke down crying about how sad she was that she didn't catch the chicken.
Next thing we know, they announce that they have 3 more chickens for the 2-4 year old group and that they have 1 minute to catch the chicken and then they will let the 8-10 year old group out to help. This time, I sent Marty out with her because I knew he could catch it if nothing else. There was a lot of running by these scared chickens and then suddenly Marty practically dives and comes up with the tail of a chicken!
Brooklyn was SO excited, but yet scared to death. She did not want to touch the chicken at all (though she later finally did).
Eliza wanted to touch it though. A little boy came up to us and said he had $5 to give to someone for the chicken because he really wanted a chicken. We offered Brooklyn the $5 and told her she could buy a toy, but she wouldn't break. She really wanted her Grandma to have that chicken! Grandpa, Marty and Brooklyn drove the chicken back to the house to meet it's new home.
Then we enjoyed the rest of the festivities with a little train ride.
I bought myself a hat and Eliza immediately took it over.
Marty drooled over the cars at the car show. Especially this one. He told me that when he has his mid-life crisis, he would like to come out of it with this beauty, a Shelby Cobra. I told him as long as it has a spot for me I won't mind. We can dream, right?
Later that night, it was time to go watch the demolition derby! One of the highlights of the weekend!
Notice the car on it's side? Three cars were flipped completely over this derby. That is a record! It makes for a great derby too.
Eliza enjoyed the sugar and snow cone.
She thought it was great fun to clap at everything too.
Brooklyn sat with her cousins most of the time, but she did sit with us and Grandma for a little bit toward the end. Eliza was happy there, but not when this picture was taken!
The derby lasted a few hours, but it's always great fun!
Then we enjoyed the fireworks! You can kind of see Eliza's little profile in this picture on the bottom right. We had so much fun that it was really hard to come back to reality.