July 24th

Lucky for Utahans we get to have another firework day in July to celebrate Pioneer Day. Clint was bound and determined to get Bode not to be scared of fireworks. We decided to take a family walk down to the firework tent while we were getting snow cones by there anyway.  Clint was browsing around the fireworks and I wandered on over to get the snow cones. Owen and I were enjoying a coconut snow cone (I’m a huge fan of anything white when it comes to sharing with Owen.. less mess) while we waited for Clint and Bode to be done with the fireworks.

Clint spent $150!!! I seriously thought in my head it would probably be around $50 so I was pretty shocked that the pyro in him won over this time. We had just talked the night before about how we need to buckle down and save more money. I recently bought a new camera and Clint got a motorcycle. (More on that later.)  We haven’t bought fireworks since we have been married except for a few sparklers and bottle rockets here and there – but boy we made up for that. They were having a sale of spend any amount of money and get it back in other fireworks. SO we basically had $300 worth of stuff. Clint filled the stroller with aerials, kiddy fireworks, and everything in between. Bode even had his very own backpack filled with some of them and he thought that was super cool. So much for saving money, right?

We walked back home and all the neighborhood kids were out so we thought it would be fun to let them do the sparklers. Bode held them all by himself. This is HUGE for him. I was so proud of him and he had so much fun! Next we did the little army men ones. The kids thought it was so fun to watch for them to fly down and run and try and catch them. Bode did plug his ears but did not whine or cry and was the first one to run and find the men. We had about 3 or 4 of the army ones and our neighbors also had a few and the kids loved them all. We waited around for it to get more dark while the kids did a few more sparklers.

We were originally going to wait for the 24th to light them all – but we ended up lighting off every single one of them this night! (The Saturday before.) It was such a blast!!! Bode loved them and even stopped plugging his ears towards the end! He would jump up and down and say more more more. I couldn’t believe his fears were completely gone. He even started begging for the “big ones in the sky” as opposed to the kid ones Clint was lighting off in the street. After the kid ones were done, we walked over to our local park and set off all the aerial ones. Our neighbors had a few as well and so it was a real show. I swear it was just as good as any city show, and even cooler because we were so close. I was having major camera problems this week and so I didn’t have a workable camera, but I did take tons of pictures with my cell phone. It was actually really nice to be without my camera (I can’t believe I’m saying that!) because I was able to lay down on the blanket with my favorite 3 year old and really enjoy my time with him watching the show. Owen slept through most of it, but it’s better for everyone when he goes to bed at a decent time. :)

What a fun night and we will remember it forever. The first night Bode started loving fireworks… wooo hoo!