Utah trip...day 1: Stadium of Fire and duckling snuggles

Technically, day 2 of our drive and day 1 of our visit are the same day. I told you we made good time!

We were greeted on the front lawn of mom's house by Jordan and his cute family.  Cheyanne has had a brutal year with surgeries and complications that have left her super skinny and generally feeling awful around the clock. I was amazed that they even had the oomph to make the 7 hour drive down from Weiser, Idaho. 

And they brought a duckling.

An honest to goodness duckling! 

And it slept in my hand...which would explain why I have no photos of my awesome brother and his family and have several of this cutie pie. 

Adorabeezle. 

Soon, Mom and Kaira returned from a quick trip to Costco and Heidi and Lara dropped by to give hugs and catch up for a few minutes.  Heidi's husband, Jay, scored us some tickets to the Stadium of Fire and so we all set out to Provo to brave the traffic and find a place to park somewhere near the stadium. Too bad I don't have an honorary spot at Stadium Terrace, my old BYU apartment building.

Anna and Megan were stung by bees minutes after getting out of the van.

Then Ethan decided to volunteer the fact that he had a large pocket knife in his backpack at the gate, so things got off to a bumpy start.

Nothing a huge tub of Philly Cheese fries can't resolve.

The pre-show was....lengthy.

There was an abundance of patriotic speeches, songs, dancing sparkly girls, and more speeches.

My bum was starting to hurt.

But they did a cool fighter jet fly over.

And then Tim McGraw came on to do a show.

Now...I am not a country music fan, and I couldn't name a single song he's written unless it happens to be on the radio and you inform me it is his. But it was fun! There were alot of youngins singing their hearts out and Ethan had a great time with his cousin, Johnny.

Megan thought it was WAY TOO LOUD! But Laney channeled her inner interpretive dancer and used her one red glow stick to amazing effect.

Mathew popped in his earbuds and watched "Captain America"...I guess he's not a country fan either. 

The girls went unconscious. 

And limp.

Then the fireworks started!!! And they were amazing. I mean, really beautiful. But the idea of standing in the swarms of people with sweaty heavy toddlers in our arms when all of it ended, made leaving early seem like a very attractive choice. 

So we did.