I can never decide which is my favorite holiday, but the 4th of July has been climbing closer and closer to the top these last few years.

The weather (in Utah at least) is pretty much perfect. The 80 degree weather means we can swim, bbq, and camp, which just happen to be 3 of my favorite things. Add to that some Hawaiian Shaved Ice, Freedom Festival, fireworks, hiking, and friends, and you’ve got a pretty good holiday.

This year we decided to go camping up at Payson Lakes. On our way to our campground we did our favorite hike here in Utah, The Grotto.

It did not disappoint, and we were happy to show CJ and Shaunna one of our favorite places before they leave for Washington. Sadly though, I discovered my camera battery was ready to die, so I didn’t get many pictures from the rest of our trip.

When we got to our campground we went swimming, explored the area, made hobo bags, fished, played cards, and Macey anxiously waited for it to get dark so she could make s’mores.

Paul took Macey fishing for the 1st time and even though she didn’t catch a single fish, she loved it and has been asking to go back ever since. Macey can’t wait to catch a fish, “talk to him and then put him back”. Hopefully they’ll be able to catch one later this summer.

We got a bit of a preview of what Miles will be like at Pearrygin: extremely happy, dirty, and everywhere. It’s going to be an exhausting week, but at least he’ll be happy.

I felt like I was in Bellingham on the 4th because for the the first time in 8 years, we had rain! Being from Washington though, we didn’t let that phase us. We huddled on the porch and watched from there and then we when we broke out the, now legal, ariels, we huddled under umbrellas.


Our neighbor gave us some illegal fire crackers from Wyoming, so we had lots of fun blowing things up with those while we waited for it to get dark.

I of course had to snatch a 4th of July picture of Macey and Miles in their festive attire.

Miles sadly didn’t get to stay up too late, maybe next year. Macey though loved watching all the fireworks and getting in on as much as action as I would allow.

For now I think the 4th of July is holiday #2, perhaps it will be able to snatch the #1 position next year.