July

I love the 4th of July. I love mostly being with family, but I do love celebrating the freedoms of our country.  Every year we go to the parade--it is the best 4th of July parade out there--they throw out a ton of candy.  Aliyah didn't quite catch on to the fact that they were throwing candy. She just enjoyed sitting in her little chair, watching people pass by and clapping for each of them! I'm afraid of what she will realize next year!! 

We had a BBQ at my parents house and were able to stay for most of the day before heading to Salt Lake to be with Dave's family. We did a few of our own fireworks and then watched the Sugar House Fireworks. 

The other eventful thing in July was our big family reunion to San Diego. We got to have two of our nieces drive in the car with us.  It went really quite well..and Aliyah loved it.

As soon as we got there we took a break at the pool.  Here's Aliyah playing with her cousin.

One night the hotel had smores--they were a hit with Aliyah and with all of us.

Our days consisted of swimming in the morning...

quick lunch in our room...

and out to the beach in the afternoon.

Here's our cousin teaching Aliyah to play the Ukelele.

Playing on the beach

 And sitting and enjoying the sun.

Another night we left all the kids at the hotel and did sealings at the San Diego Temple.  It was pretty neat to have us all together in the temple again.  The last time was when Dave and I got married over 5 years ago.

And another night we did family pictures.  I love this big family of mine!

 All of the cousins...

It was a wonderful vacation. I'm pretty sure that we annoyed a number of people there as we went everywhere in a huge group!  We sure did have fun though.

The drive home was a little bit harder, needing a few more breaks, but fun never the less. Grateful for the stickers we got at an In-N-Out to keep Aliyah entertained!