24th of July (a bit late)

I'm quite behind in my blogging, so I've decided to work backwards. I'll document some highlights of our summer vacations starting with the 24th of July in Salt Lake City. We got tickets to The Days of '47 Parade and we all had a fantastic time. The kids loved the horses, the marching bands, the beautiful floats and the "pretty princesses".

Emi, James and Clara sportin' their shades as they watch the parade from the bleachers.

Dad, Mom and James....We LOVE visiting Utah and watching the parade!

This was our favorite float! We were a little partial simply because my Dad was in charge of building this float (that's my Dad walking in front of the float). It was a giant ship, and everything covering this float was donated to the church humanitarian center. It's covered with colorful quilts that people in my parents' stake made, and the waves are made of socks...that were also donated. Even the wooden ship frame was donated to a local park. Pretty cool! My Dad put forth a TON of work organizing and building this float, and it looked great! The kids loved seeing grandpa walk in the parade!

After the parade, we walked around temple square and took some pics. It was a beautiful, HOT, dry day.............ahhhhh! Summer in Utah!

The evening of the 24th, we drove up to 'This is the Place' monument to show the kids where the pioneers first entered the Salt Lake City Valley. It was fun celebrating a "Utah holiday". It's still strange living in CT when the 24th of July rolls around each year. I still think "Gee, how come no one's celebrating?" :) We had a wonderful trip to Utah, and thoroughly enjoyed visiting family and friends!