To celebrate the 4th of July, we headed down to Provo for the hot air balloon festival. This picture was taken at 6:30 a.m.--an early morning, but definitely worth it.

There's just something magical about hot air balloons. And it's doubly fun when you get to see them take off from the ground just feet in front of you.

Some guys from Belgium even graced the festival with this awesome Darth Vadar balloon. Pretty cool. Wonder how much it costs to ship a hot air balloon from Belgium to Utah...

We also went to the Freedom Festival parade down in Provo. Bryce ran the 10k race with Brad, Brock, and Kathleen (she ran the 5k) and then we all sat and enjoyed the parade.

Oh, and we just inherited this awesome bunk bed. Thank you Mark and Brenda! The kids adore it and it's so much fun to play on. And see that cute boy on the bottom bunk? He's potty trained! Hurray!

Life gave us figs and we made fig newtons. They were delicious--very very tasty!

This past Saturday I ran my first 5k! I have never considered myself a runner, so this was a pretty big deal for me. I came in at 32 minutes and 32 seconds. My goal was 34 minutes, so I was very pleased! Thank you, Bryce, for inspiring me!

At my 5k, they had a kids race, too. Hilarious to watch.

Apparently, hot air balloons have been a big part of our month. This is me with Amelie and Calder up in a tethered balloon just after my 5k. I'll admit that I got a little nervous up there, but the kids had no fear. It was pretty cool!