Weekend in Cedar

So for the 24th of July we decided to get out of town and head down to Cedar City. When my dad heard we were coming down he asked if we would be interested in being in the parade again. About three or four years ago all my brothers and sister and all our children decided it would be fun to be in the parade that Cedar City holds on the 24th. We had a blast that time and I thought the kids would enjoy it again this year. Well, it wasn't until I arrived in Cedar that I found out we weren't going to be in the Cedar City parade but we were going to be in the Enoch parade. Enoch is the very small town just North of Cedar. Oh well, it still would be fun for the kids and that was why we were doing it in the first place.
Anyways, we will get to the parade in a moment, first we had to celebrate Luke's birthday.
Luke was so excited to be able to spend his birthday with his cousins and Nana and Papa. We had everyone over for dinner including my Aunt JoAnne and Uncle Kenny (my mother's brother) and my Nana Ora, who is 98 years old. We had a great time catching up and spending time with each other. But, Luke was getting impatient with us and just wanted his cake and presents.

We lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday to him and let him dig into his cake!

Next, Luke tore into all his presents. My Aunt was so impressed because after opening each present Luke would pick up all the wrapping paper and throw it into the trash bag. What can I say, I have trained him right!

After the night of wild partying, Clay decided he wanted to take the kids to Enterprise Reservoir for some fishing and 4 wheeling. I had just had surgery on Monday and wasn't feeling up for the trip so Clay took the 4 younger kids and they were gone for most of the day. Jessica and I stayed home and went and saw the Harry Potter movie.
This is so Brittany. She really isn't the outdoors kind of girl, but she finds something to keep her busy. This time it was a good book.

Cody enjoyed chasing all the cattle around while on the 4 wheeler.

Savannah and Luke really wanted to catch a fish. But it wasn't meant to be this time. Sorry kids!

The next morning was the 24th and the day of the big parade. My dad and I spent the morning getting everything ready for the parade. Here are all the grand kids that were going to be in the parade.

Jessica opted out of riding in the trailer and decided it would be more fun to drive the 4 wheeler herself.

Brittany and Savannah were on water gun duty.

The rest of the grand kids either threw candy or had water guns of their own.

After the parade we ended at the park in downtown Enoch where there were exciting activities for all the kids. We even got to watch Tom's band play and entertain us while we ate dinner at the park.

Jack and Luke fought their way to the front of the line so that they could get on the "Polaris express". Yes, they totally cut through the long line and even pushed a teenage girl out of the way in order to get on the train!

My girls enjoyed dancing to Tom's fabulous music!

I don't know if I should be proud or disgusted that Cody won the pie eating contest!

Luke was a little obsessed with the face painting station. He ended up getting paintings on both sides of his face and on both arms. Should I be worried about tattoos in his future?

Cody and his cousin Issac spent most of their time at the dunking station. I can't blame them, it was hot and even I thought it looked like a good way to stay cool!

So on our last day in Cedar my dad suggest we take the 4 wheelers to Kolob reservoir, which is about a 60 mile ride. I knew my kids would love it so we packed them all up and took off for the day.

This was our first pit stop. We stopped for snacks and to check out our new dusty bodies.

I thought I was dusty then, but just wait until the ride home!

When we finally arrived at the lake we ate our lunches and then headed down to fish.

Luke told me he really wanted to catch a fish. I asked him why, he said "so I can keep it as my pet. All you have to do is buy a fish bowl and I could keep it".

Cody trying to teach Luke how to throw out the line.

Savannah could of spent the entire day fishing. She was actually mad when we told her it was time to head home and she still hadn't caught a fish.

Brittany, Jessica and Clay were content with sitting on the edge of the lake and talking.

So here is all of us after the drive back. My dad took us home a different way and it was so much more dusty on the ride home, we were completely covered in dirt and dust from head to toe and every where in between!

This was our final stop of the trip. It's the look out from the "C" mountain, over looking the entire city of Cedar City.
We had such a fun weekend with my parents. My dad is already talking about anything 4 wheeling trip he wants to take us on. If it is half as fun as the last one we would do it again in a heart beat.