Fireworks!

We got a chance to celebrate the 24th of July while we were visiting Salt Lake City. The 24th of July is Pioneer day in Utah, which recognizes the settling of Utah by the Mormon Pioneers. We celebrate in style - with fireworks!

We lit off some sparklers and small fountains at Grandma Julene's house. Here's Craig waiving around a sparkler.

Here is Craig with Grandma Julene lighting some more sparklers!

We also lit some fireworks at Grandma Jessop's house with Craig's cousins. Here is Craig with his cowboy hat.

Here is little Joshua with his sparklers.

Here is James with is shiny new magic wand!

Here is Nathan, casually showing how cool he is standing with a hot burning stick in his hand.

Here is Ben, the oldest. Ben figured out how to make really cool exposures with his sparklers!

We had a great time with fireworks!!

Gone Fishin'

As many of you know, we spent the last few weeks visiting a very exotic place. That's right, we were in Salt Lake City, Utah. While we were there we had tons of fun visiting family and catching up with everyone. One of the best ways to catch up with family is to go fishing, which is just what Craig and I did.

This is Craig fishing on the banks of Strawberry Reservoir. Strawberry is about one and a half hours east of Salt Lake. It's the family fishing hole. My great-grandpa Christiansen used to fish there, my grandpa Glen fishes there, my dad fishes there, I fish there, and now Craig fishes there. It's loaded with rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, and kokanee salmon.

Our fishing party included (from right to left) me, Grandpa Glen, Craig, my dad (who Craig calls Dadpa), Craig's cousin Deuce, and Craig's Auntie Em. Craig's Uncle Jason was also there and took this picture. Jennifer didn't make it with us because she was rehearsing for a performance of Mozart's Requiem.

We stayed overnight right near the dock at the Strawberry Bay Marina. This helped us the next morning when we got up at 5:30 in the morning so that we could be on the water by 6:00.

Here is Craig, bright eyed and ready to fish!

Here is Deuce, a.k.a. Jason, Craig's cousin. He designed his own haircut. He's also bright eyed and ready to fish!

Here is Dadpa reeling in a fish!

Craig caught a fish, too! He was holding the fishing pole, and noticed some small jerks on the end. He said "Daddy, I think I have a fish". Of course, we all thought he had caught the bottom, but as it turns out, he did have a fish on! He reeled it in (with a little help from me) and Dadpa netted it. It was a nice little rainbow trout! He was so excited!

In total we caught a few fish. Some big ones got away (as they always do). And we had a great time!