July 4th - Colonial Days and JONAS BROTHERS!!!

Jen found this fun activity for us to do on Saturday the the FOURTH to celebrate the independence of our WONDERFUL country!

We went to the Colonial Days and Freedom Festival in downtown Provo

There was a chalk artist that did this awesome picture of Benjamin Franklin

This colonial juggler was great and used all different props

We really got into this stick and ring tossing game. It was pretty easy to do once you got the hang of it and was addicting!

You hold the ring on the sticks which are in your hands and then you spread the sticks apart real fast and lift your arms as you fling the hoop. Then the other person catches it on their sticks.

Steve catching a hoop or two. Rustin to his left.

Livvy catching one over her head then it would slide down her arms and over her body and hit the ground.

Pretty funny!

This lady taught us how to clean, card and spin wool into yarn

Chloe carding the wool. It gets the fibers all going in the same direction so she can start spinning it.

A calligraphy artist wrote the kids names out and they were like little pieces of art

Here she goes

Heading off to our next and final destination of the day...

The STADIUM OF FIRE!!!

On our way Steve ran out of gas right in front of the Purple Turtle

But the real excitement of the night and the main event was the

JONAS BROTHERS!!!

Tess is beside herself with excitement!

Koskis and Crawfords ready to rock with Jonases

Blue Angel fly over to start things off

My favorite radio, tv and everything guy is GLENN BECK and the MC of the event!

Nice Converse!

This GIANT flag was flown for the last time during the concert and was laid to rest near the end. It had been flying for 13 years and was getting too tattered and torn to continue.

Shedaisy opened for the Jonas Brothers. The lead singer is an Osmond. They were pretty good.

But NOT as good as the Jonas Bro's.

That's Nick on the left, Joe in the middle and Kevin on the right

The cutest was Joe if you ask any of the women but the girls love Nick the most. Sorry Kevin.

Olivia dreaming about kissing Nick as she watches him sing

Joe up close and personal- sorta

Can you tell who was taking the pictures?

Having fun! Hailey videoed the whole thing

Soldiers carried the 5o x 90 foot flag into the stadium, all rolled up, and then laid it in this giant cauldron and then ceremoniously lit it on fire.

It lit this torch in turn. It was pretty cool and somber at the same time.

I had to explain to the little girls why they were burning the flag

Of course the fireworks were AMAZING!!

They SHOOK the whole stadium and the sound bounced off the bleachers and made a cool echo!

July 3rd- Hikes and Fireworks

Some of the rest of us wanted to hike the mountain too so Steve took Olivia, Chloe, Ryan, Kjerstin, Russ and I the morning of the 3rd.

Olivia loves her Uncle Steve

KJ got squirted with water to cool her off

Heading up the hill

Almost there-

OK. we didn't hike to the top of the mountain but this ridge was good enough for now.

Liv not ready to go up yet

Daddy to the rescue

Ahhh, victory

Chloe relaxing on top of the world

Steve's neighborhood

The moon is out and though it's still light,

it's firework time!

Smoke bomb writing

Light her up!

One of their favorite things was riding the skateboard over the fireworks while they were going off.

Cool firework pic's

As if one, or two, or three isn't enough!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Partying with Koskis in Utah

The rest of the Crawford family drove up to Utah and picked Tess and Hailey up from BYU and headed to the Koski's house where we all stayed for the next 3 days (July 2-5)

The Winters came over too and the guys headed out for a hike on this mountain which is right outside their front door. A few mintures later we get a call on the phone. It is my older brother, Steve, asking his wife, Jen..."Can you see us?"

When they moved around we could!!!

They are the little white specks in the middle of this picture which is about 3/4 up the mountain! Russ, Steve and Kole are all there but Kole was wearing a grey shirt and blends in with the rocks. Jen says Steve calls all the time from the mountain and asks if she can see him, see his light, hear his gun etc. Pretty funny!

My little sister, Dorothy just had her third darling baby, Jake Tiger. What a doll!

Tess is loving him!

Tess in the front yard practicing her newly aquired LAX skills

Most of us headed to the Pleasant Grove pool for a day of fun and diving!

Thanks Hailey for ALL these pictures! She was so fun to have as part of our family for the week and was a great photographer and substitute Daddy!

Rustin threw a DOUBLE front flip for the first time ever!!!!

Here he is coming around fast.

Here goes Kjerstin into the water

Showing my best side.

I did get one of my old dives back, an inward flip!!

This guy was just home from his mission and seeing if he still had his diving skills.

He DID!!!!!

Olivia trying a 1 and 1/2

"Stay tucked" was what she heard me yelling all day!

Karriane trying out some front and back flips for the first time!

Ryan bustin' a move

Alex also did a DOUBLE for the first time!

What brave boys!

Coming open too early

Liv having fun diving without being judged!

Tess's kind of diving

Russ's kind of diving!

Best picture of the day!

Go CHLOE!