Old Glory Days

Here's how the 4th of July, or "Old Glory Days" (OGD)  goes in my hometown. First, there's a cannon blast at 6am that wakes the whole town up. (Except me. I slept through it this year. I know. I have skillz.)

Then, you have two options. You can either go to the park for the sunrise service and then pitch in a few bucks at the Lion's Club pancake breakfast (This is what I did every 4th as a teenager, because the Youth City Council was in charge of the Sunrise Service.) OR, you can go walk/run/crawl the annual 5K (which starts and ends at my church building, of course, because that's just how we roll). A few years ago, we started a tradition of running the 5K with my brother (and originally with whatever bf I had at the time). The OGD 5K is actually the only 5K I've ever run.

I am sad to report that due to the above-referenced skillz, we slept through the whole 5K this year. We were lucky we made it to the parade! My whole town gathers along 4400 South (And yes, we all fit on the one street.) to watch the parade. Now should you ever find yourself in a smalltown parade in northern Utah, here are a few clues that might give away it's in my hometown. You might see:

• Baby royalty
• Pioneer wagons and handcarts
• the Chick-fil-A cow is a celebrity (and a very big deal!)
• the local plumbing company throwing toilet paper rolls (instead of candy) into the crowd 
• and -- my favorite one -- a Mitt Romney float with a stuffed dog strapped to the roof!

After a parade, there's a carnival in the park (complete with food, games, and entertainment) that goes all day, and a great fireworks show at night. Alas, I have no parade photos for you. But I DO have pictures of this:

And after all, isn't the PEOPLE (family and friends) part of the holidays the most important part? (Followed closely by the food and fireworks, of course). I hope you all had a lovely 4th wherever you were. :)