Happy 4th of July!

 We made the flight in the morning and it was a quick flight to SLC. We were glad to make it before the 4th.

Aunt Tiffani picked us up.

Me, Grammy, Tiffani

We spent the day mostly relaxing and got to see Erik, Shanelle and Asher. 

David was supposed to fly in that night, but he also had technical delays and missed his connection in Chicago by about 5 minutes. He flew to Denver and spent the night, catching a really early flight the next morning. I went and picked him up. We made it to Provo in time to catch the parade. We weren't sure we wanted to go, but in the end, we all went except Grammy and Grandad. And we were so glad we did! It was a great parade and it was fun to see Lauryn and Clara in it. Jalen and Baylie had never seen a parade that big.

Clara at left, Lauryn at right - both waving flags.

Uncle Dave bought everyone giant corn dogs. They were delicious!

Provo, Utah, missionaries

Gorgeous draft horses

That night we went to the Stadium of Fire. I had never been because I never wanted to pay for it. It was AMAZING! I regret never going earlier. We hadn't known David was going to go, so he didn't have a ticket. He ended up hanging out with his sister Casey at Grammy & Grandad's. 

We got there early. It was so hot!

Zion's Youth performed a few numbers, including the National Anthem. They were very impressive.

They had some fireworks misfire and go into the stands and some people were injured. Six went to the hospital. It happened not far in front of us.

The Jonas Brothers put on a great concert. 

Jalen knew every word! I had no idea he even listened to them.

We had some glow stick glasses.

The drone show was incredible. I think at some point, drones will probably replace fireworks.

Although when they added the fireworks, it was even more impressive. Provo really puts on an incredible show.

We had planned to stay Friday for a family barbecue and fly home Saturday, but the flights were full so we decided to head home Friday morning. It was a good call, but no standbys got out on Sunday.

The kids had to get ready for FSY, so we were all glad to make it home and sleep in our own beds.

The Streets of San Francisco

The kids and I flew back to Utah for the 4th of July. The twins were playing with Zion's Youth Symphony and opening for the Jonas Brothers at Stadium of Fire. We got to the airport bright and early Tuesday morning. And we got bumped.

We decided to fly to Washington, DC since we got bumped to Chicago. 

We then got bumped in DC.

So we decided to fly through San Francisco to SLC. Even though it meant an extra connection, it still looked like a good plan. That is, until we got to SFO and found out our flight had been delayed over 15 hours!!

We got a hotel near the airport and decided to explore the city. San Francisco is such a fun city and the kids had never been there. We ended up with a fantastic Uber driver who gave us a tour of extra stops. (We didn't have time to take a shuttle back to the airport and the BART into the city because we wanted to be back at the hotel before dark.)

Chinatown

San Francisco has such unique architecture. The kids said it made them think of the TV show Monk.

Our Uber driver even took us down Lombard Street. 

View of Telegraph Hill.

Baylie fell in love with the bougainvillea.

We had the driver drop us off at the piers and we explored a bit on foot. You can see Alcatraz in the background.

We walked down Pier 39. There weren't many sea lions at this time of night, but it was still cool to see them.

Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

View of the city. The ferris wheel is new since the last time I was here.

Love this shot.

We then went back to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner at Boudin's. I convinced the kids to try clam chowder and they discovered that they like it. Go figure!

So much sour dough! So yummy! We took a loaf home to Grandad.

Nothing quite like clam chowder in a sourdough bowl!

We couldn't believe these electric cars without drivers! Crazy!

There were stunt bikers going back and forth. Also crazy!

We headed back to the hotel and had a good night's sleep before heading to Utah the next day. It was an unexpected visit, but in the end, was really fun.