CulDeSac of Fire (39 days later)

When we moved into our neighborhood, the first thing we heard about was the streets annual "Cul-de-sac of Fire" on the Fourth of July.

Growing up, The Fourth of July was always a HUGE deal since it is my mom's birthday so I was very excited to hear that the folks around here think so to!

We had my sister Aubrey and her husband Daniel, along with Kevin's sister Marianne over to celebrate the holiday.

We started the evening with some fun water time with the neighborhood kids.

Followed by an adorable bike parade.

Hunters ADORABLE bike he didn't even ride.  

Hunters Buddy Timmy.

Some delicious food.

Great conversation with lots of fun friends.

And ended the night with a Cul-de-sac of fire show! 

It was an amazing Fourth of July. 

We are so grateful to live in this country.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from The Fords.

Hope you all had a lovely Halloween. Hope your kids looked adorable, everyone was safe and that you have a plan for all that candy you now have in your homes.

Kev and I decided we wanted to do something special for our neighborhood trick or treaters. We wanted it to be creative and fun; so instead of candy we had hot chocolate, cupcakes and rice krispie treats along with huge marshmallow's for everyone to roast. 

(You will notice we gave each treat a Halloween name to be festive of course) 

It was a huge success. Next year we are going to  need WAY more hot chocolate and maybe a scarier set up. Lots of idea's to think about and only 365 days to plan it! So exciting.

Does your family do anything fun for trick or treaters?

We had this Giant guy greeting the trick or treaters a few streets over! 

Sweet Summertime. (Lots of Photos)

Summer is here! 

I am one happy California Girl. The sun is shinning, the rivers are flowing, the lakes are full and the shorts are on.

Finally.. Its the end of June and it feels like summer is JUST starting.

What a great start to summer we have had so far.

Last Thursday marked the Year Anniversary of my brothers passing. I struggled a few days before as I remembered the last days I spent with my sweet brother and how just a year ago we were still laughing and talking. Now he is gone and its been a whole year. A year full of so many firsts for our family and new adventures (and new family members). 

On Thursday I went to work in the morning then Kevin and I met up with Aubrey and Daniel for lunch. 

Later that evening the four of us met up again and headed up to Bridal Veil Falls, where the previous year we spent one of our last days with our brother playing baseball. We all had written letters to Hunter and tied them to some balloons and let them up into the sky. We watched as the bouquet of balloons dodged tree after tree and floated down the canyon.

We ate dinner, played some catch and roasted smores. It was a lovely evening to remember Hunter and I felt so blessed to spend it with family. 

On Saturday we headed down to Manti with our neighbors Kyle and Carly. It was the last weekend for the Manti Pageant and it was such a blast. We set up camp in this cayon right behind Manti and it was so great. Our tent was right next to this little stream that made the most beautiful sound all day and even into the night. 

After setting up camp we headed up to the little lake where we did some fishing! It was my first time and like the champ rookie I am on my first cast I caught a FISH! It was so fun.

We set up out our blankets around 3 at the pageant to save seats and got back around 6:30. The crowd was starting to grow so we were glad we had saved our seats. We got funnel cakes, pulled pork sandwich meals and Italian gelati (custard + gelati + more custard.. yum) We sat out on the lawn talking and observing the anti-Mormon protestors for three hours before the pageant finally started. The pageant was so wonderful. Totally worth seeing (Apparently since it was Kevin's 4th time) 

We headed back to the camp site where we roasted smores and then headed to bed. I'll admit it was a little chilly and we slept on the ground in our sleeping bag, but falling asleep to the sound of the flowing stream was awesome. Such a fun little day get away and we made it back just in time for church this morning.

We posted our apartment online today so after a whole week of neglect we finally cleaned to show the apartment this evening to the first people already interested. 

We are so excited to be moving next door next month. A bigger place where we hope to be for some time. We are so excited for Kyle and Carly as they start this new adventure in their life and wish them all the success in the world but we will miss them terribly! They have been great neighbors! 

Well Sunday is coming to a close. We leave Wednesday night for Sacramento. We are so excited to be going home.Endowment sessions, birthdays, pool side and 4th of July. It is sure to be a lovely weekend! 

Goodnight bloggers!