The LaMont Latest: Freedom Fun & Fresh Fish

Happy 4th of July! I love the 4th of July. We started out our weekend celebration with some baseball and fireworks on Friday night at the Owls game in Orem. Kira was afraid of the mascot Owls ("Why are the owls angry, Momma?") and the POPS (aka fireworks). She warmed up to the fireworks later. She even told me she wanted to see some more the next day. I felt like I wrestled kids most of the baseball game. I'm getting seats next year instead of lawn. I really like being able to enjoy some ball.

We worked on Kimberly's wedding invitations on Saturday, and did a little bit of shopping. We also took the kids to see Cars 2. Cute show. Saturday night we hit our favorite field for a view of the Freedom Festival Fireworks. TJ sold some glow sticks as a Scout Camp Fundraiser and did pretty well. He sold about 120 of them! We were a little delayed in leaving that night because another group of people put some burned out fireworks in a newspaper recycle bin nearby. That was quite the bonfire. The emergency crews were not thrilled.

Sunday we enjoyed church with my parents and then a bbq at Brady's. A highlight was playing dodgeball in Brady's backyard. Even some adults played. It was pretty fun except for chasing balls down the mountain and digging them out of brush when they went out of bounds.

We woke up bright and early on the 4th of July to do the Freedom Run with my dad. Troy and I last minute participated in the mile run. TJ ran a 5k in 23.5 minutes! My dad and Kimberly also ran a 5k, and Hillary (my brother Brady's wife) ran the 10k. I wish I had been ready to do the 5k. I've haven't been training like I did last summer. I'm back in the shoes again now, though, and am training to do a 5k in August.

Here are some links to some photos taken of us during the run:

TJ: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/438090196
Hot Momma (me): http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/438010142
Troy: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/438010137
Daddy: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/438770615
Kimmy Kat: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/438010812
Hillary: http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/438013142

After our race, we headed over to watch the parade for awhile. We enjoyed it until the sun came out. We were sweaty and uncomfortable from the race, so we left to shower and celebrate in other ways.

T.J. wasn't grumpy like this the whole day (thank goodness). Kira loved the parade, and was the only one who wanted to stick around.

The parade crew. Nobody looks happy except for my mom.

Douglas and Kira like to argue about who gets to hold Malleya. She is a highly prized cousin to have around. She is getting so grown up, too. I love how she says "Juice" when she is thirsty. If anyone leaves a cup, water bottle or sippy laying around, Malleya will be the first one to say "Juice" and claim it as her own. :)

We enjoyed heading up to Payson Lake on the night of the 4th. My dad taught the kids some fishing techniques, Troy cooked up some dutch oven goodies, and we tried to stay dry in the rainstorm.

Dutch oven chicken, potatoes and some cobbler. Deliciouso.

Nick didn't wait for the rainstorm to get wet. He is holding up his shorts that got soaked when he jumped in the lake. I was a little creeped out by the pink toga.

My mom makes the best of every situation, and helped set up a little dry hut under a picnic table for the kids to eat under. She was glad to help create some memories for the kids.

Gage caught a fish and Uncle Brady demonstrated how to gut it. The children were enthralled.

Brady got reprimanded by Hillary for using the term "butthole" when telling the children where to start cutting from. Douglas quoted this term for me later when explaining to me how Uncle Brady gutted the fish. Thank you, Brother.

Even Kira wanted to watch. She made some awesome "ewww" faces, but I didn't catch any on camera.