Happy Fourth of July

It was a great weekend in Parawon. We didn't do anything different than weekends in the past, but my grandmother came which made it really special. Nini (as we call her) has the most loudest infectious laugh, which gets my mom and I both going (as much as Byron despises!). Friday was the fourth of July. We headed to Main street for the annual parade. The main focus of the parade is to collect as much saltwater taffy as possible. Wyatt loved the parade. There was so much to see, the horses and the firetrucks were his favorite. After the parade, it is tradition to head to the Dairy Freeze for an ice cream cone. Wyatt experienced his first bounce house at the Fireman's 4th of July Celebration at the park. I kept running into people and old friends that I knew. Parawon seems to be Las Vegas locals' getaway. As if we didn't do enough, Mom and I took Wyatt to the city swimming pool to keep giving him experiences swimming so he would keep practicing. After a nap, we had a BBQ of steak, corn on the cob, baked beans, and red, white, and blue cookies. By law, we couldn't do fireworks at the house, so after searching forever for the lighter, we piled into the truck to head to the park to light our own fireworks, only to discover my parents mistakenly bought "poppers" (you pull the string and it goes "pop!") and not actual fireworks. So we piled back into the truck and rushed home so we could be in the backyard in time for the big fireworks set off by the local firemen. I think its one of the best shows around, and to be in our own yard, just us, makes it that much better. Wyatt began to get sleepy and he just wanted to cuddle. He'd cuddle with Pappa then move onto Grammy, then Nini, then Daddy, and eventually me. Wyatt is all about equal opportunity!

Saturday morning, Gramma Jeri was driving through town on her way to visit family near SLC, so Byron, Wyatt and I took her to breakfast at the Parawon cafe for pancakes and omelets. During the very long wait, we ran into more old friends. After we sent Jeri on her way we rushed to get ready for a long four wheeler ride with neighbors across the street. I felt terrible because we made the neighbor wait for us, when all of her family went on a head of us. But we caught up and traveled up to Red Creek Reservoir. It was about a 2 hour ride and it was a lot of fun. Wyatt fell asleep during the last 30 minutes. We wrapped him in a shirt and used his hat to cover his face. We were filthy by the end of the trip. My poor mom's face was gray with a line across her forehead where her hat sat.

The rest of the trip was a lot of just hanging out and eating way too much. Wyatt starts his 2nd session of swim lessons tomorrow and 3 duffel bags of laundry await me, not to mention some major exercising and dieting. Which I need to say, I've really got to work on. I seem to be addicted to food these days, which a few years back, is how I gained a bunch of weight before. So I'm a little freaked out. I'm not obese by any means, but I have got to stop snacking and eating ALL THE TIME, and exercise more. Not that I'm making any excuses, but it is so dang hot, that jogging with a jogging stroller and 2 dogs (one of which is becoming an old fart) is downright impossible. But, if I'm going to go, then we're ALL going to go, so I've been trying to make time to just speed walk longer and hopefully burn some more calories that way. OK, that's the end of that rant!

Have a great week!