Fireworks Galore!!!

The 4th of July is always so fun! I love that we make time to be together as a family and with our extended family.

Our Annual picture with our Old Navy Flag shirts!!

Saturday night we had a BBQ with some of my cousins that live close. Then Pat & I & kids met up with his family up at the Provo Temple Grounds to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire!

Then Monday night we had our own little 'Sidewalk of Fire' in front of our house. (We live in a cul-de-sac, so it's easy to do fireworks.) I have 2 aunts that live on our street and they came over with kids & grandkids :)
We did some fun Sparklers!

Here is Riley (my cousin Lindsay's husband) and Larissa (my cousin Joel's wife) helping the kids with more sparklers!

Then the boys lit the big ones!!

My cousin Jimmy decided to jump over the fireworks, but I didn't have the camera ready, so Pat jumped over for me!!

I just love how the picture turned out!

Then Jimmy jumped over again, just so I could get a picture!!

Pat tried eating the moon. After making Riley jump 4+ times, my camera finally worked and we got a cool picture out of it!

After all the fireworks were done, my uncle Jim got enough courage to jump too!

The weekend was a lot of fun and I am grateful to have such a wonderful family and to live so close to them too!

Surprise Party

Today is my mother-in-law's 60th Birthday! And we (the Tolman family) had a surprise party for her on Friday. The afternoon started out with us girls (daughters & daughter in-laws) surprising her at the Well's Fargo Building in Provo! She thought that she and Roger were meeting friends for the afternoon, but we were waiting for her. The biggest surprise was that Ben & Amber came from Boise to be there! She was almost speechless when she saw Amber standing with us!! We took her next door to Acaydia for some pampering!

Waiting to go in They had a room where all of us could get pedicures together! We treated Tammy to a Manicure & Pedicure! She was so surprised by everything that she cried :)
The final product!
My wonderful in-laws! I love them!

We headed back to Lana's house where the whole family was waiting for her (another surprise) and we had dinner from Cafe Rio :)

This is the 3rd year I have made a scrapbook calendar for her! They're fun to make and she loves them.

We even had the house decorated for her

Tammy & her children

Liza made this amazing cake! It had layers of strawberries inside too!

Lana has a trampoline in her yard and this was Mara's first time on one. Mara has always wanted to try, but would chicken out, but she finally got on and loved it.

Jumping with Grandma.

Lana's neighbors do a 'Sidewalk of Fire' every year and it was completely crazy!! They had face painting, food, glow sticks, games, and more! Here are me & Mara waiting for it to start. Tammy & Mara

(I love this picture)

They lined up fireworks in the street and lit them with blow torches! It was crazy!

It was such a fun day and I'm so privileged to be a part of the Tolman family! They are all so loving and always willing to do anything for each other. Even when Pat & I were dating, I felt like I belonged. I truly love my family :)

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Balloons

We got up early Thursday morning and met my family in Provo for the Balloon Festival!!! This is something we try to do every year. For me it always makes me think of my dad, because he loved doing this for the 4th of July weekend. There is a breakfast too, which is great!

The balloons getting ready:
Conli & Mara

Max & Xander

Tony The Tiger!!!

It was pretty when the sun finally peaked over the mountains! Apparently, there was wind at higher elevations, so the balloons didn't lift off. But it was still fun to see them all blown up!

Cabin Time

Tuesday night we went to our cabin with our friends JD & Stacy. When we got to Fairview we stopped off at our favorite place to eat: T-Cee's, and got some ice cream and shakes!

When we got to the cabin, we got right down to business. We put Star Wars: The Clone Wars on for the boys and the adults played this:

And the girls were occupied with these:

After we put the kids to bed, JD & Stacy taught us a new dice game called Farkle! Even though neither of us won, we still had fun! I love new games :)

In the morning after eating breakfast we took a little walk up the road (which wasn't very far because our cabin is almost at the top of the road) The kids had nets, but didn't catch much.

When we got back to the cabin, we packed up some lunch and headed to the base and took advantage of the pool! Too bad it was cloudy, so it made the water pretty cold. At least the boys were brave and used the water slide and diving board.

Here is Pat doing a sweet dive:

Xander wouldn't go down the slide by himself, but loved to do it. I think they went down the slide at least 15 times!

Pat even got Mara to go down with him :) She did it twice!!!

Once we got a jacket for Xander he was able to go down the slide alone!

A quick picture of everyone before we headed home.

It was so fun to go with friends, and even better that it was mid-week!! Thanks for coming with us Hanks, we had a great time :)