Fourth of July with the Johnsons

We had a great time with the Johnsons on the Fourth of July.  Joel's brother-in-law has a great neighborhood to visit during this particular holiday.  A lot of the neighbors pool their money for an extremely impressive (and extremely loud) show of aerial fireworks.  Sitting right underneath enormous fireworks definitely beats a long-distance view of a city show.

Besides the fireworks, the cousins are a huge draw for my kids.  They love their cousins.

There are lots of girls for Ashley to play with.  Since Ashley lives with only brothers, she soaks up every bit of girl time she can.

It is easy to like spending time with such fun girls.

There is always someone around to hold the babies.  There are so many eager hands, the babies could easily spend all day never touching the ground.  Charlie mostly liked it, as long as he couldn't see me.

The boy cousins are all older than Everett but he deals with it pretty well.

They teach him lots of cool stuff and Everett really looks up to them.

It was a great night, almost the best Fourth of July we've had except that Joel was stuck working back in Iowa.

Almost all the cousins sat one one bench at church on Sunday.  They were a busy bunch.  My kids were wholly entertained so it was one of the easiest Sundays I've had in a while.

And no trip to Utah is complete without an overnight party at Aunt Rebekah's house.  She has all the toys any child could possibly want, including a cotton candy machine.  

My kids love going to her house.

Lots of girly things for Ashley to do--like get a makeover.

Ashley also has never forgotten last summer when Aunt Rebekah told her she could kick Joel's butt.  Ashley brings it up regularly as a hail mary to top any of Joel's antics.

And Grandma Johnson's house is tons of fun as well.  She has just the right toys for my kids and they love the relaxed atmosphere.

When all the cousins are there, the legos always come out.

And more and more kids come over to play.

On this particular day, the Lego Movie was on and I think it inspired some creativity.

Lots of luggage is necessary when traveling!