4th of July

This 4th of July was a great as ever. It's really my favorite holiday...almost more than Christmas. Almost. This year we wanted to go and do something, but camping with a newborn isn't my idea of fun, so we loaded up the Tahoe and went and stayed at a hotel.....in Salt Lake. haha!! It really was fun to get away as a family though. We went to Hogle Zoo, Gateway and swam at the hotel pool(my kids favorite part). We made it back to enjoy good 'ol BC fireworks-my favorite place to be on the night of 4th of July! (Laugh all you want!)
We entered Olivia into the 4th of July baby contest. They gave each baby an award and guess what award Olivia won?.....

Yep, chubby cheeks!! They wanted all the babies in red, white & blue, so I pulled out this outfit that is 3-6 mos. thinking she would totally fit into it and it drowned her! I thought she was getting really big, but her 0-3 stuff still fits perfectly. I didn't have anything else that would work SO-I had to pin her skirt for the contest. I also bought these cute silver sandals and I was so excited for her feet to finally fit into them and the little stink wouldn't keep them on for five seconds. She hated having something between her toes! She is so stubborn already.....

Waiting for the names to be drawn....

We aren't sure why they gave her the chubby cheek award-are you???.....haha ;)

HOGLE ZOO

Yeah. We're that family that actually uses the maps. Allie likes to navigate.

My monkey watching the monkeys

Stopping for a drink. Did I mention that we were there on the hottest day ever? The whole place smelled-and I'm not talking about the animals! People need to remember their deodorant!

ME & MY THREE

The boys

The giraffes are my favorite. I think they have such pretty eyes and they hands down win for having the cutest outfits. :)

This place smelled like death. It was in the same place as the snakes and I nearly dry-heaved when we walked in. Again-I don't think it was the animals. (Did I mention that I think the Zoo is kinda inhumane? I mean, I think it's nice to look at the animals, but I can't help but think they would rather be somewhere else. I'm just saying....)

FOUNTAINS AT GATEWAY

Who doesn't love the fountains. Every time we go down there I always think, "I should have brought my suit. I don't care if I'm the only adult! I wanna play!!"


Swimming pool at the hotel. I had to sit out with Olivia, but they had a sauna that I sat in (sans Olivia) until my skin felt like fire. I want one of those at my house! I love being warm like that. yummy!

My gang just before heading down for fireworks. We are so,so proud to be mommy and daddy to these three. Isn't Olivia's chubbiness delicious? And look!! Smiles from all.......

We look tired....and we were!! It had been a long but fun weekend. We were waiting for the fireworks to begin. I figured out that this was my 15th year watching fire-works with Paul in the same town in almost the exact same spot! I'm a creature of habit....I like what I know and I know what I like. It drives my family crazy that I'm so set on being here for the 4th. What can I say? I'm a small-town girl in every way :) Hope you all had a happy 4th!! God bless the USA!!