The 4th.

It's kinda really sad when you have to look up posts from last year to remember what you did last year.

That is what a blog is good for.

Yesterday I asked Bill what we did in 2012 on the 4th.

"We were in Utah," was his response.

"Well, what did we do? Where in UT were we? Who were we with?"

Please, nobody get offended that I can't remember. I am not shy about the fact that my memory is a whole lotta hormonal ("Old Timers"?) mush.

I loved remembering as I reread the events of last year. 

Oh yes. That's right. How could I forget?

This year we were in CO. 

Parker, to be exact. 

Stage 2 fire ban = NO FIREWORKS. 

Period.

Since our ward shares our church building with two other wards (the only church building with a field and pavilion between the two Stakes it divides), and since 4th of July Ward Activities are a long-standing tradition for the wards sharing that particular building, all three rotate time-slots each year: 

8-11am, 11am-2pm, and 2-5pm. This year our ward had the late slot.

I didn't think I would like it, but in the end, it worked to our favor.

For one, Bill, Mar and I (Shi's at EFY this week) got to sleep in. That has become such a rarity around here.

We had attended a late(r) showing of The Lone Ranger Wednesday evening (we were worried it might get sold out - HA! there were maybe 50 people in the theater - loved the show, by the way), and had gone to bed quite late.

The other benefit was that it became cloudy and a-bit-overcast-with-a-pleasant-breeze halfway through the activity (the ward with the 11-2 slot said it was just plain hot for them). That was nice.

Although Mar is a YW now, she still wanted to do the bike parade (she missed it last year, you know).
This year they had all the kids name their bikes so they could announce them as they paraded around the parking lot. Mar chose Red, White, and Blue for YOU.

Bill, the biggest kid of all, rode his bike, The Black Fuse.
I was just grateful that he didn't fall off or crash while attempting some dynamic bike poses to impress the onlooking crowd (and he was too quick for me to nab a picture... bummer).

Then the traditional water fight began timidly with a few water balloons.

Bill was the recipient of the first BIG dump of the day (thank you, Bro. Braegger)...

I thought the bigger boys were funny, walking around with their buckets waiting for their ideal victim.

I also love how the little boys {love} playing with the bigger boys.

Mar and Bill both got drenched.

 I stayed in the designated "NO WATER ZONE" and still had a cup or two of water thrown at me, one smack dab at the camera I was holding. Luckily, my trusty old point-and-shoot still works. I just had to manually open and close the lens cover for a good 30 minutes, because the water made it stick a bit.

After the ward activity, we headed over the the Leaks for dinner and the itty bitty fireworks we could see from their deck of other towns and cities in the distance. We talked about how it was the perfect evening for fireworks, and thought our town should have gone ahead with their display (Colorado Springs even had fireworks, for goodness sake).

Watermelon and apple pie, hamburgers, dogs, and homemade ice cream.
That's it. 4 July 2013. Documented.