Pioneer Day 2010

When I was growing up I honestly thought that the entire nation celebrated two "fireworks" holidays in July...one of the 4th and one on the 24th. As I got older I realized that the 24th was a special day only celebrated by Utah to commemorate the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. Either way, I have ALWAYS loved sitting on a blanket in the warm night air, watching the flash of firework fountains, reveling in the smell of gunpowder and having an excuse to celebrate!

This year we all got together at my parent's house (Lisa's family, Heidi and Doron, and Ezra and I...poor Talin had to work!)Doron is an Ezra favorite...

Although, to be fair, ALL the babies adored his sweet Israeli accent and super fun games!

Aunt Heidi is secretly the baby whisperer. The kids are drawn to her! I think it's because they never get to play with her so when she comes around they are fascinated by her every move.

Zach had the day off! WOOO! It was fun to watch him wrastle with the three Vincent kids.

The cousins all played so well together. I LOVE that Ezra can say their names...and has a particular attachment to his beloved "Phia".

Aren't they so cute?

After dinner we played games, talked, and waited for the sun to go down.

When it finally got dark enough we spread our blankets and waited for the show (can you see Sophie and Jonah digging into their ice cream sundaes. They LOVED them!)

Dad, Heidi, and Doron were our official lighters. Zach got in there a few times too but he moves to fast to get a picture of. =)

Ohhhhhh.....aaaaahhhhhh.....

um...someone is NOT a fan! HA HA! Poor Ezra. I don't think he was afraid, just bothered by the brightness and closeness. If you look close you can see that he's peeking through his little clenched fists.

Jonah was ALL for the sparklers!

Heidi and Mom put on quite the sparkler dance show. HA!

Even though he watched everything through his hands, I think Ezra really liked being with everyone. I miss our family so much! I wish we lived closer so that we could have parties like this EVERY weekend. =)