Independence Day

We had a very long, very exciting 4th of July. We started bright and early with a trip to Home Depot for the kids' workshop, and then we went straight to the Layton parade. 

 It was pretty hot, but they passed out popsicles. 

After we left the parade, we drove down to Provo for a family bbq. Homemade root beer and ice cream- yummy! 

We had a few hours to kill after that, so we drove up to Bridal Veil Falls to cool down a little. It felt great to splash around in the water. 

Then we decided to hang out on campus for a while. We got Reagan to take a picture of us where this whole crazy journey started. 

Reagan loved walking around the Wilk and seeing where we went to "grown up school".

Don't miss these stairs at all. 

The duck pond is such a great place now.

After walking around campus, we were trying to grab dinner when Daryn's colostomy bag exploded and we had a messy change in a bathroom. Always an adventure :).

We got things under control and walked up to the stadium for the Stadium of Fire! We were so excited for this. Reagan insisted on wearing her ear protection the entire time so the fireworks didn't catch her off guard. 

We were on the very top row, which was pretty nice because there was room for the girls to run around 

 The girls were enthralled by the parachuters dropping in.

 It was such a great show! One of my favorite parts was the giant mento/coke explosion. 

 But of course, nothing beat Journey. So cool to see them in person. 

 And naturally, the fireworks were spectacular. The girls had a great time, until the very end when they were literally begging to go to bed. 

 What a great way to celebrate our freedom with the cutest Miss America's around!

Family Reunion

We had a Larsen family reunion the week of the 4th. Since we had just had a baby for the last two reunions, this was our first time staying for the whole thing! What a wonderful time we had. 

Reagan loved the archery- there was a little bow she could practically shoot herself. 

Daryn needed a little more help. 

I stuck these two tomahawks on my first try, and lucky me, Reagan was there to take the picture. She's getting so good at that!

So much fun cousin time. 

Daryn was a big fan of the rocket launching. 

Lance spent tons of time pushing kids on the swings- often not even his own. What a great guy!

Battle faces on for the Olympics. 

It was a fun 3.5 days full of delicious food, tons of tubing, river play, and fishing (but no pictures of those), and little to no sleep. Oh well. Party all day and night! It was great to spend time with family. 

Reagan turns 4, Fathers Day

We had a double holiday this year! Father's Day fell on June 21st, Reagan's birthday. We had Reagan's friend party on Friday to spread things out. She wanted a garden-themed party, so that's what we had! 

The kids all got to paint pots and plant flowers in them.

 And make fruit pizzas.

 

 And play Pin the Bee on the Flower.

 And have a watering can relay.

 And spend lots of time playing on the trampoline and in the sandbox.

Overall, a smashing success. I survived 11 4&5 year olds by myself, but when everyone left I turned my back for 5 minutes and found the girls like this  in the sandbox. Completely covered in wet sand. 

 After cleaning up, we had Reagan's requested birthday dinner of hot dogs. 

Saturday we went swimming and then out to Outback to eat with Meagan and Grace. 

Sunday morning, there was a big surprise waiting for this girl.

Best. Dad. Ever. And so nice of him to share his day!

Spend most of Sunday afternoon making pink birthday cake with chocolate frosting and lemon meringue pie from scratch. So yummy. 

That evening, it was time for presents. Reagan got a new blanket and toys and Lance got tickets to the Stadium of Fire to see Journey!

And of course we had to test drive it. It's a little big, but hopefully she'll learn. And Daryn graduated to the balance bike. 

Reagan is such an amazing kid. What a blessing she has been to us for 4 years! She loves to try new things and she is very brave. She is so smart and is learning to read. She likes to make new friends and try to control her sister. She's a bit of a wild child and struggles with impulse control. Once she has an idea in her head, it's impossible to dissuade her until she follows through with it. She loves being outside and gardening and looking at her books. She likes the strangest things like going to the doctor's office and the store and behaves very well. Speaking of which, at her 4 year appointment she was 30 lbs and 40 inches- almost exactly average in both. We're so grateful to have such a healthy, happy girl :)