4th of July in Grantsville

We had a tough choice to make this year. My great aunt Rachel (the girls great great aunt) was invited to be the grand marshal of the parade in Grantsville.  In addition, Grandma and Grandpa invited us to their home in Heber for the 4th of July. We were very torn!! We love spending time with Grandma, Grandpa, and the rest of the Palmer relatives.  However, Aunt Rachel is 99 years old and very frail. If she made it from Price, Utah to Grantsville, Utah we felt we better be there. Especially since she is the only relative of that generation left. It also worked out that Aunt Amber gave birth via c-section and so Grandma was going to be in Texas a while longer. So, we loaded up the car again and headed to Utah. 

Our day started off with the traditional pancake breakfast at the firehouse and was followed by the flag raising ceremony. I always love the flag raising ceremony. This year they had speakers from surviving relative of brae men killed in action in all war. The first was WWII, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was extremely emotional. Our thoughts turned to our hero. 

After the flag raising ceremony, we went to Uncle Cory's momentarily to finish getting ready - since our tent did not have running water. 

Then, it was a short walk to Main street to wait for the parade to start. The girls waiting for the parade and all the candy . . . 

 Miss Grantsville - we just happen to be related - 2nd Cousins!! Congrats Tori!!

 Our beautiful and talented cousin Tori - Miss Grantsville 2014

 Getting candy in the parade - Sharing with Sailor

 My LITTLE LOVES

 It is not every day that you see a CAMEL in a parade

 Telling Madison which horse is her horse. 

 Burr Cousins with their buckets of candy. 

 Dancing in Uncle Cory's living room. 

After the parade, we went back to Uncle Cory's house to have a little time out of the sun. Then, off to the park to meet up with all the cousins for our traditional BBQ and the carnival for the kids. Mom had come prepared with money and was delightfully surprised to find they have made the carnival free. 

Kaelani played and played! Then, fell asleep as we waited in line to buy a snow cone. Silly girl. Kaiya took off and we did not see much of her till the end. 

 Sometimes all you need are a friend and a bag of chips!!

Sailor (2nd cousin) and Kaelani

Cousin Alex was super nice and let everyone drive the quad! Kaelani was super excited to ride it and only wanted "sis" to drive her. 

 Mom's friend Shalon came to meet us at the park and spend the rest of the 4th of July with us.

 Momentarily the skit was red, white, and blue

 Flirting with Landon

 Meriden, Kaiya, and Madison enjoying sparklers. 

 Kya and Madison - Grammy got stumped a few times with two Kaiya's!! 

 We had a firework mishap! One of the fountains tipped over and then spun. This resulted in it shooting directly at all of use sitting in chairs. Kaiya was dead center, and Kaelani and I were on the end. As soon as it shot toward us, I turned Gizzy around to protect her face and then ran as fast as I could to the side and then behind all the tents. When I looked back, Kaiya was still in her seat, unable to move because no matter where she went the fountain was firing in her way. I handed Kaelani off to Shalon, and took off to get Kaiya. As I started in that direction, I noticed my dad huddled over her, which terrified me. We got very lucky - she had a small burn on her leg and a few scratches. She was very shaken up and did not want to watch the City firework show. 

Gizzy was extremely concerned about Kaiya and kept asking if she was okay. She gave her big sister lots and lots of hugs!! These two are cute little sisters!!