4th of July in Orem!

the 4th of july was MAGICAL this year! it was soooo fun to see our cute girl love the fireworks and the parade. and, it's always magical just spending time with our Wilkinson family. we love you guys! we definitely missed the hatches this year though! :(

i can't believe what a studly mountain biker austin was! he was the 1st grandkid to join in on an adult activity and he did GREAT!!

van loves hiking with grandma!


austin definitely showed me up. see my ankle? imagine it 3x bigger and black and blue. that's what happens when you put me on a mountain bike ride called "the bone yard" apparently. whoops. it's too bad, too. i was having so much fun until i biffed. it made for a super exciting mountain search and rescue though. ha.

sundance where we biked. can you see why i was so sad i crashed? GORGEOUS!

just found this picture of aaron having some fun at my expense. thanks, love.

part of the crew that DIDN'T crash

i know it's blurry, but it's so cute. she was having soooo much fun being silly with the cousins while watching the fireworks.

fireworks spectators. yes, i'm in a blanket. i almost didn't come back to vegas. crazy good weather, that orem. nice face em girl.

happy parade watcher.

emery watching the big cousins and figuring out how to get the big trucks to "honk the horn, honk the horn"

our newest nephew, rowan. oh my gosh i love this kid. and i love his mom, too.

uncle josh working his magic on van at the parade.

my FAVORITE 4th of July picture. railay's pants fell off. so he just sat down on the curb and watched the parade with them around his ankles. LOVE. THIS. KID. holy cow.

emery really....

really....

really loved the ice cream at seven peaks.

and van really....

really......

really loved grandmama's baked beans over rice.

the great dalmuti (just like scum) - complete with hats.

aaron won my award for "cutest great peon"

cute van dancing in the parade and loving his baked beans.

and on top of it all we got to have lunch with 2 of our favorite people on the planet and aaron got to ride 50 miles with that old guy on the right. we love these two. they are two of the very few people i NEED. we don't get to hang out often enough.

and yes, i chopped off my hair. and it's blonder. we'll work on blonde, but for now its blonder. it's been 3 years. i'm happy to be back with LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of encouragement from the hubby. i've become more tight fisted than he is. that was a shock to us both.