July 4th - Grand Parade

Some of the fun floats and things at the parade

Slowly (but surely) I am getting through all the few hundred photos on my flashcard, I am not halfway thru! I know I need to get them out and blogged before school starts or I will not get to do it at all.

We drove to UT on July 3rd, made it up there in 10 1/2 hours. Our first stop was Brick Oven! I was so hungry for good ol' Brick Oven. The Brown Cow Freeze was oh so good! and Kevin of course got sausage pizza. Allie begged for cream of broccoli soup. The next morning, we headed to the parade with Grandma and Pop and our good friends the Pettit's (who was also in town) to watch the parade on University Ave.

Watching the parade

Pop and Grandma L and our family after the parade

From top: Collin trying to carry an unwilling Maddie to the right path - Maddie wanted to keep going the wrong way; Allie; Allie and Maddie; Collin and Nate, Carter? and Katie inspecting a broken bird egg; Maddie walking up the ramp.

We got there pretty early, and found a little clearing really close to the spot we had last year. Only this time there was a lady who was pretty possessive about the spots she saved for her family. She wasn't very nice, and stared at me (with a frown) from head to toe until I made eye contact with her, and pointedly told me there were people coming, to which I responded "I know." (irritated at this point, so I couldn't come up with something better to say). So the parade starts and she still has 5 big blankets sprawled out with NO people! They ended up moving 3 of them out of the way. After that more people came and we just all squished in to accommodate the latecomers. Next year, we will have to come out the night before and set out our big chairs or pay the $7 to sit on the packed bleachers (just kidding, but it sounds like a great idea!)

We got a little rain during the parade, which was exciting, and it cooled off the rest of the parade. Collin was upset half the time because he didn't get any candy, and was too hesitant to fight the kid crowd for candy on the street. We saw some great floats this year, and some awesome military vehicles and even a silver and copper car. The MTC had a big float for the first time, last year the missionaries just marched. Of course we also cheered for our alma mater BYU! and the kids loved Cosmo.

Allie with her buys at Nordstrom - we heard rumors the Jonas Bros shopped there earlier that day

After the parade, we bid the Pettits goodbye and ate lunch at The BYU Creamery! After that, Allie and I went for a quick shopping trip at the University Mall (she had some birthday money that was burning a hole in her pocket), then we went back to our hotel to chill before the Stadium of Fire.