Our amazing neighbor and friend Ashley McGavin had been preparing for her half marathon for several months, so when we found out her run was on July 24th and on the parade route we decided we HAD to make some signs and go cheer her on.

 The kids had fun making the signs

 Ashley is in the green shirt (I couldn't get a close up apparently). We barely made it in time to come cheer her on. BJ dropped Kaylee and I off and we ran to the spot where we told her we would be and got there just 5 minutes before she came a running down the road. BJ and Connor came shortly after and were sad they missed cheering her on, but were glad Kaylee and I made it in time. 

Way to GO ASHLEY!

 After watching Ashley run we headed over to where all my nursing school friends had set up a place for us to sit for the parade. Ashley Green (from nursing school)'s dad usually stays the night and sets up a spot for the parade and was so kind to save a spot big enough for all of us to join them. This year he decided to just set up early the day of the parade instead of the night before which still worked out great. 

Kaylee finding a friend to color with while we waited for the parade.

 Nina was here from Milwaukee! We were so excited to see here for a bit while she was in Utah. Here is a picture of her adorable daughter Riley

 BJ hanging out reading a book in the shade

 Nina's two kids (Eric and Riley)

 Nina and Rachel

 Connor wanted to be in the front of the parade. We didn't have a spot up there because another family had already set their stuff there before we got there, but Connor didn't care. He just squeezed his way up there. Luckily the other family was so nice and didn't mind him sitting up there with his squirt gun watching the parade.

 This is what BJ did the whole parade......read. I gave him a hard time, but his reasoning was pretty good. He said he wanted to give me time to talk to all my friends and he was just there to help watch the kids. He is so good to me.

 Kaylee and Connor

 PRESIDENT MONSON! Best part of the parade, seeing the Prophet in the parade!

 A reporter came and wanted to talk to one of us about the parade. We so graciously volunteered BJ to share his thoughts. It was funny to have him do it since he had been reading the whole parade ha ha

 Missionary float

 Nina and her kids

 Connor loved the parade. This parade was a lot cooler than the one the night before which we were all so grateful for!

 Rachel and her daughter Grace

 One of the coolest floats...a dinosaur that moved its head up and down.

 Ashley and her sleeping Elliot

 I even got to hold sleeping baby Grace while Rachel took her little boy Gavin and Kaylee to the bathroom.

 Kaylee "holding" Grace

 She can't wait to have a baby in the house

 By the end all the 'little's' were sleeping

 Coming back from taking all the kiddos to the bathroom

 The whole gang! Love these girls!

For FHE daddy prepared a lesson on Pioneers. He had the kids dress up as pioneers from things we had at the house, and talked to them about the trials and hardships they went through in their lives. We also showed the kids pictures of handcarts and what pioneers dressed like.

The kids liked getting dressed up

(this is a random picture and has nothing to do with this post but somehow got in here..my sister made this amazing chicken/tomato mix that she put ontop of spaghetti noodles. I LOVED it and made it several times after I had tasted it from her. It became another one of my cravings with this pregnancy. Here is a picture of Connor eating some of this yummy food ha ha)

 BJ set up some blankets of ours as well as our neighbors the night before the parade. We don't usually set up before the parade, but decided to this year. The morning of the parade before he headed to work he decided to go check on our stuff. All our stuff and their neighbors stuff were all GONE. We called the police station and found that they had confiscated them. BJ got them and tried his best to find a spot which he did....but it was really stressful because everyone had already set their stuff out by the time he got our blankets back. He was frustrated because the police had hardly taken anything and we were the only ones in the area that he had set up that was taken. Oh well, we learned our lesson. Either we need to set up chairs with ropes tied together so it is more difficult for the police to take ;) or set up the morning of next time.

 The kids had a good time. Our stake had a float with kids walking in it dressed up in lady bug costumes. We figured our kids were still too young to have them walk in the heat.

 Connor loved holding his flag and getting all the candy. He would get soo excited with each piece of candy.

 Despite sitting in the shade and some sun coverage....it was over 100 degrees and HOT HOT HOT. I was sooo happy when one of the floats were handing out ice cream cones and they gave one to me! I gobbled that ice cream up!

 Kaylee dancing to the music

 Emmie Scott (neighbor friend) and Desiree (cousin)

 The kids each loved when they say people dressed up as pioneers in the parade. They would say "Look Mom! Look Dad! Pioneer's like we learned in family home evening"