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After our busy trip it was great to get back to Utah fun. Uncle Brady and treats are always a nice combination - even if they are messy.

We headed to the South Town Expo Center to check out the Pioneer Day parade floats. They were fantastic and it was really fun to see all the detail up close.

We took the moose picture for Justin since we never can spot one in the wild.

This clown made Rachel a fun crown and Ian a balloon puppy.

Balloons on head+sucker+floats+grandparents=ecstatic girl

Yay!

This was Ian's favorite float - the boy is already a little obsessed with collecting money (and every other little thing he can get his hands on).

Suzy then did a little photo shoot with the kids and pinwheels for her work. They are doing a "Pinwheels for Prevention" theme this year and needed some pictures with kids (Suzy works for Child Abuse Prevention Services). Some turned out really fun...

Check out Ian's favorite "crazy eyes". Suzy's colleagues loved this one!

For our 24th celebration Brady pulled out the huge slip and slide and we played in the water.

Parker and Kelli brought some great fireworks and the kids had a blast (excuse the pun). As we said before Ian loves to collect everything these days. He still has some of these prize boxes squirreled away in his treasures.

The smoke bombs were their favorite.

Cute kids watching the big ones.

Rachel and Ian love Kassia's sisters and Kanela spent the day with us.

Rachel's imagination cracks us up and one day she insisted she was a pioneer and was going on a trek. She put together her necessities in this wagon (binoculars, map, food, water, etc.), put a kerchief on her head and headed outside in the heat of July for her pioneer experience.

Our first year of swimming lessons were a huge success. Farmington City has a great program and good schedules so we were able to get the same time for both kids in their respective levels. Both kids loved their teachers and had a ton of fun.

Rachel only had one other little girl in her class and the teacher did a great job with them. She loved the kick boards.

Probably one of the cutest things Ian has done to date was a little monkey dance they have the kids do on the side of the pool before they jump in. He would get some major hip motion and it was so adorable.

It is funny to see their different personalities at something like swimming. On the last day they got to do the slide and when the teacher said they could go Ian was the first one up and went right down while the other little kids were pretty nervous.

Rachel, on the other hand, was pretty scared and probably only went down because her classmate had no fear. She said she had fun after, though.

She did it!

Ian and his cute class.

Josie has decided that she needs to assist Rachel when she practices. She can barely reach up to the keys when she is on her tip toes, but when she does she loves to play along with gusto.

We have had some great rainstorms this summer and one time Kassia's sister Keriel went out and played with the kids in the rain.

They are joining the circus soon.

Josie can now get pretty much anywhere she wants these days. She can climb up on both of the kids' beds and gets pretty pleased with herself. We're not sure if Ian is quite so pleased with this development.