I swore I was going to sleep in this year

I have been taking Lily to see the launching of the hot air balloons in Provo on the 4th of July for the past 3 (maybe 4?) years. They launch at sunrise and that's pretty early in the summer, so every year I swear that I'm going to sleep in the next year. And after last year's experience full of whining (see post below) I was for sure going to skip it this year.

That is, until Dan asked if we should ask Lily if she wanted to go. Dan had never been to see the balloons and every other year he's been like, "you guys have a lot of fun..." I figured this offer might not ever come again, so we asked Lily if she wanted to go and she said yes.

When the alarm went off at 5:30am, Dan and I were both like, "who's stupid idea was this?" We at least had enough sense this year to stop and get Daylight Donuts on the way, so there wasn't as much whining this year.

This is the "My mom is an annoying photographer" courtesy smile.

Amelia was pretty quiet, but fascinated with the giant balloons.

Peeking through the top of one of the balloons.

I love this picture of Lily and the piggie foot. The pig balloon was still inflating and just starting to turn upright, so the feet were dangling low to the ground.

Note to self: If you're going to ask your husband to take your picture at 6:45 in the morning, just to prove you were there, you should at least make some effort with your appearance.


Our girls really ended up with the coolest eye colors.

A much better approach to proving I was there: take a self portrait into your husband's sunglasses. See, Grammie was there, too!

It's always so fun to watch the sunrise over Y mountain with all the balloons filling the sky.

After coming home from the balloons and having a morning nap (I think that was just me) we had a picnic lunch at Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove. Lily, the social butterfly, made some friends in about 2.4 seconds and was off running around the park with other kids the minute we finished eating lunch. Dan just shook his head and said, "I used to think the whole 'I'd rather be with my friends and don't want anything to do with my parents' thing wouldn't start until 12 or 13, then I realized it was probably earlier, like 8 or 9. Well, apparently that starts at age 6."


That's OK Dan, Amelia still thinks playing with Daddy is the coolest thing since the invention of the popsicle.