pioneer day celebrations

remember last year when we went to the parade in santa monica an hour and a half early and were so stressed we wouldn't find a spot since LA is 10 times more crowded than SLC but discovered on our arrival that apparently no one in LA even cares about parades because we were the ooonly people around? well yesterday reminded me where we got the idea that people go crazy over parades and also told me that maybe it's a utah thing? who knows but we got to the pioneer day parade one hour before it started and i think everyone else in the world slept there overnight to save their spots.

tan's obviously taking care of bizniss. but also calling his mom to check up on her since she was running the marathon which was what brought us out to the parade in the first place.

it was the happiest surprise to run into one of meg's friends from boston and one of our friends from LA at the finish line and even happier when they passed the word along to meg who was there so she came and hung out with us for a while. if only that girl could be around more often, amiright?

also - this is the only photo evidence that our son was at the parade with us. it wasn't the best thing for a newborn to attend since all the police officers loved their sirens and it was terribly muggy aaand he had a blowout in the middle of all of that. 

this cutie pie rider and his awesome flag. he rode in the '57 parade with the very same flag and i appreciated the fact that someone next to us called out to ask him that and that he took the time to respond.

mandi and her cutie family decided to join us for the fun and we're so glad she was brave enough to do so! we loved playing with these cute boys.

dieter was a huge crowd favorite (along with the BYU float - more cheers than the U! whoop whoop! take that, tan! ;-))

the boys were looving waving to everyone. it was so cute.

our complaint about the race in behalf of liisa is that the marathon route was a joke. instead of having the marathoners finish through a crowd of people, they ran right through berk's street where there were honestly 10 people along the entire stretch to cheer them on the final part of the course. worst ever. but we were so proud of liis for finishing her 3rd race this summer and glad little morris got to cheer her on even!

after the race we went to lunch so the photo on the right is out of sequence but that's fine because let's talk about how badly i wish the aroma from that photo could carry through the computer screen! i was in charge of drinks for our family BBQ and was so excited to try out the recipe i found for a watermelon mint lemonade. easiest recipe and most delicious drink. i can't wait for morris' blessing next weekend to try out some other flavors!

back to lunch because it is definitely worth talking about - we finally made it to the flatbread pizza restaurant in sugarhouse and loved every second of it. i got the chopped veggie pizza with asparagus and goat cheese (wedge salad on the side thanks to their lunch special). it made all of my pizza dreams come true and filled me to the brim since i couldn't stop eating because i loved it so much.

 the rest of the evening was spent BBQing in my parents backyard which is always a treat. we hung out on the new patio and had so much fun being able to watch the kids play on the tramp and had so much delicious food. bk brought j dawgs sauce, annie made a delicious homemade raspberry ice cream to compliment my mom's yummy homemade cherry chocolate chip ice cream and it was just a dreamy night.

 kaela is sooo good to these little babies and they obviously cannot get enough of her.