The 4th of July Weekend {Days 17 - 21}

On the 17th day (of Gordon’s life, Thursday July 1st) my sister came back to Provo and my mom and little siblings, Joseph, Katie and Melissa came up to Provo, too. They all spent the night in my little two bedroom apartment (that’s 4 adults, 8 kids and 1 newborn). It was a little crowded but a lot of fun. We tried a new ice cream place called Sub Zero. You pick out what kind of milk you want (rice, skim, whole, etc.) what flavoring you want (I got butterscotch) and any add-ins (I got cheesecake pieces) then they blast it with liquid nitrogen to freeze it, pretty cool, and pretty tasty.

The 18th day was the beginning of the 4th of July festivities in Provo. My mom and sister took all the kids to Colonial Days, a free festival all about America during the Colonial times; I’ve been the last two years and stayed home with Gordon.

Then we went to Ellis Island event in Orem, Joseph and I went here last year. First we saw a free musical that told the story of the beginning of America. Everybody got free flags afterwards.

Jarom, Jackson and Davey

Afterwards there was a free concert by David Osmond and finally, the main event we saw real immigrants get sworn in as American citizens. This was such a great experience, very memorable. It was the best thing I did to celebrate the 4th of July, I think I'll always remember it.

The soon-to-be American citizens

The weather was absolutely perfect. We were sitting under some trees in the shade the whole time. Also there was a nice breeze; it was one of the coolest 4ths of July I can remember.

I love this picture of Davey and Jordyn. It looks like he is being a nice cousin with his arm around her, but really he had a death grip on her. I saw her try to pull away, but Davey just held on to her and made her stay.

My mom and her three younger kids went home later that night.

The 19th day was pretty lazy. I can’t even remember what we really did. I think we just stayed in my apartment, believe it or not, and just hung out. Davey was just thrilled to have older kids to play with and had so much fun. In the morning, Joseph took all my sister’s kids and Davey to the park and later Joseph took my oldest nephew, Jacob, to see a movie: The Clash of the Titans.

Jacob and Gordon

Davey and Cousins being silly

All the cousins (on my side)!

The 20th day was Sunday, and we hung out in my apartment again.

The 21st day was the big parade. Davey loved it! He loved clapping every time a float or band would go by. We had plans to go to the Freedom Festival that afternoon but none of the kids wanted to. I was pretty disappointed that we didn’t give the kids the full Provo 4th of July experience but they didn’t seem to care.

Tuesday (the 22nd day) my sister left to go back to California.