July 4th Photos — Only Ten Days Late!

I’ve finally uploaded our pictures from the 4th of July.  Wanna see?

We enjoy going up to my parents’ town, West Point, for the festivities.  They have a cute town picnic on the 3rd, which lead to what I think is the best photo of the holiday, William With Watermelon:

The town picnic’s entree that year was sloppy joes.  It wasn’t until we had sat down to eat that I noticed that Jeffrey had rejected the meat in favor of his own original creation:

Mmmmm!  Delicious cookieburger!  Now that’s nutrition!  Actually, in truth, Jeffrey could only stomach about one bite of this.  Too sweet, even for him. 

There was  a stage near our picnic site wherein you could see the winners of the West Point Beauty Pageant perform their talents (the runner-up sang “The Greatest Love of All” and wore sparkly earrings so gigantic that they could be seen by us in the nosebleed section).  However, Eleanor and Jeffrey preferred climbing this really cool tree to listening:

The next morning we trotted out to see the West Point parade.  My dad usually drives a truck in the parade, and this is the second year in a row that Jeffrey has been allowed to ride with him.  Check out the glee:

William’s favorite part of the parade was Miss Utah Rodeo . . . or rather, her horse. 

The local LDS missionaries also walked and rode bikes in the parade, which was something new this year.  They looked overwhelmingly happy to be there:

Brian, however, considers the quintessential parade photo to be this one:

A toddler sucking down an Otter Pop while giant tractors stroll by in the background.  That’s Americana, baby!

The rest of the day was spent cooking by myself — and I found it rather blissful.  The kids were entertained by Brian and Uncle Alex while I made cherry pies and baked beans in my mother’s peaceful quiet kitchen while watching The Devil’s Disciple and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on television (the movie that celebrates congressional inertia!).  While the pies baked, I got to read The Namesake.  And a good time was had by all.