Red White and Blue in Cedar City!

Last year I spent the 4th of July on an airplane with my two kids flying to Las Vegas to meet Jon and see our new home for the first time. There was only an empty, dirty house awaiting me then-- with no ice cream, no fireworks, and no extended family. This 4th of July we decided to do things right!

We headed to St. George first thing Saturday morning and met Jon's parents, Jeremy, Kylene, and baby Sophie for lunch with Grandma Del Toro, before heading on to Cedar City. It was Jon's Grandma Cardon's 80th birthday celebration as well so there was lots of fun things planned-- starting that night with a stop at the Shakespeare Festival Green Show at SUU and then a family get together and birthday cake afterwards!



Sunday we headed to church with everybody, and then made Zachy's dream come true when we went to a nearby playground and there were all these trucks just sitting around, and then introduced him to the magic of fireworks. Trucks and fireworks in the same day?!? Hello!

Hey-O!! Firework time!! Helping Grandpa Cardon set up the goods. This kid is a little pyro in the making...

Wohoo!! Good show!! As soon as it got dark that night we watched "Tangled" out on the lawn with a movie projector and the whole extended family. The kids LOVED being up late and outside after dark!


Monday morning we hurried over to the 4th of July parade on Main Street, and then over to games and activities at the park (which yes, included bounce houses!). Jeremy and Kylene had hooked up with the Marsh family (friends from dental school) who have a practice in Parowan, so we all headed to lunch at Cafe Rio to catch up.


That afternoon Lucy's dream came true when Jon's cousin Crystal who is a cheer leader at SUU and super girly and fun (so obviously automatically Lucy idolized her,) found Lucy a spare cheer outfit and pom-poms to practice with!! Although this family unquestionably bleeds blue, it was cute to see Lucy dressed up and super excited about her new duds.

As you may recall, Jon's mom had broken her leg the week before on a dreaded bounce house, so she was basically laid up all weekend during the festivities. In order to lift her spirits, Crystal and some other cousins bejeweled her crutches as a surprise. Ta-da!!

Lucy playing "Shoe the Old Horsie, Shoe the Old Mare" with Great Grandma Cardon and baby Sophie.

Cheese!! These Cardon Frousins sure love each other-- and we'll get to see the Sophster again in a little over a week when we drive through Albequerque to NC.


After the 4th of July festivities had wound down a bit, the kids and I loaded up, said our farewells, and headed to Provo to stay with Whitney before continuing on to Boise the next day. We decided we needed a little treat before bed and got some yummy ice cream at the Creamery on 9th. It was a GREAT holiday weekend!