Happy 4th of July!!! (WARNING: Long Post!)

There's no better country in the world. I love the United States of America so much and I am so grateful we were able to spend the holiday in the States. It was a wonderful day. God bless America!

Fireworks on the 3rd

On the night of the 3rd we set off fireworks at the Connellys. Jay was pretty nervous at first but he ended up enjoying himself. He especially loved the little poppers. We were keeping the poppers on a chair next to him and when Jill thought they were all gone she decided to wipe all the sawdust that comes with the poppers off the chair. Little did she know that there were actually 5 poppers left. It was too dark to see them. When she wiped them off the chair they popped and sparkled on the ground and Jay was so angry. He immediately started crying and when he could catch his breath he vehemently turned to Grandma and shouted, "No, no, NO Grandma!" Well, did Grandma ever learn her lesson! After fireworks we all ate ice cream sandwiches, which cheered Jay up immensely.

The Morning

Mike woke up on the morning of the 4th to run a 10k with Cody and Reed. Way to go guys! Jay and I woke up 4th of July morning to hot air balloons and raspberry filled powdered doughnuts. A 4th tradition that we love in the Connelly home. Jay was pretty funny eating his doughnuts. Here's a video...
lol. Silly boy :) After doughnuts we went to the Provo parade. People seriously come from all over Utah for it. It is so crowded, but a lot of fun. Luckily Megs had saved us a spot the night before so we had somewhere to watch from. It actually rained for a few minutes during the parade but it ended up being kind of nice because it cooled things down. Jay loved all the fire engines and police cars and motercycles. They started the parade off with all their sirens blaring. We also saw Allie and Dane marching in the parade with the Timpview marching band and color guard. Seeing Captain America was also a highlight. Check out that gut! We had a great time at the parade.


The BBQ

After the parade we had the annual 4th of Taylor party. It was held at Keri and Jeff's house this year which meant... Swimming! We had a lot of fun in the pool. Jay of course had a blast.

The Stadium of Fire


After a nap we headed down to Cougar Stadium for the Stadium of Fire! - doo, doo doo. It was pretty awesome. The Jonas Brothers were there this year, which we had never heard before, but half the audience (pre-teens and their mothers) sure did. We could barely hear the Jonas Brothers over all the girly singing-along. Jay pretty much just played with his cars on the benches while they performed.The fire dancers were really cool though. One really touching part of the show was when they retired a huge old flag that they have been using for the past 10 years or so. It was seriously as big as the football field. They laid it to rest by burning it (apparently you're supposed to do that). Singing the National Anthem with 50,000 other people was pretty incredible too. The whole show was broadcast to the troops. I definitely feel a new gratitude for those who serve our country now and couldn't stop the tears from flowing a few times. Jay enjoyed the show too ...until the fire works started.He was terrified. He crawled underneath a blanket and clung to me crying hysterically until they were over. The funny thing was right after they were over we asked him, "Jay, did you like that?" and with tears still in his eyes he said, "Yeah!" hmmm... not exactly what we got from the distraught crying. We enjoyed the fireworks though. They were beautiful as usual.