was spangled with fabulous friends, delicious food, and lots of fun!
We bbq’d and had the YUMMIEST beef tenderloin…
Sela/KJ/Jane/Daphne/Eva –
the Howell boys
We pulled out a couple new games at this party.
1, we played PING-PONG…
Michael/Brianna/RoxAnna/Dub
and 2, badminton – 
Bethani & Lauren
Ashlynn/Aubree/Daphne/Madi/Troy/Tegan
the Rhodes “Children’s Pool”
Lauren/Tegan/KJ/Sam
Trevan 
Kaden
Momma & Sela
KJ/Madi-Aubree-Myla/Tegan
Loydie/RoxAnna/Troy/Dana/Daphne/Sela/Dusty/Bailey/Eva/Eli/Michael
Matt & Sara – Trevan/Daynen/Kaden
Kiana has been at “Stadium of Fire” dancer rehearsals for the past 3 days. The previous day, because of high temperatures, Kiana said 40 girls were dehydrated and 10 had gone to the Emergency Room. On the 4th, she had practice at 6am-noon, then she came home and CRASHED poolside…
Gordy/Sam/Eva
Over the ramparts, we had a HOT day of volleyball…
{purple mountains, majesty.} 
Eva/Bethani/Jane/hot pregnant mama Sara –
future Staker baby showing his stars-n-stripes pride
/RoxAnna/Daphne
After our all-American barbeque, we headed over to “Stadium of Fire” at BYU.
My favorite part of this show, every year, is the patriotic tribute in the beginning, I love the jets that fly overhead. The powerful trembling that shakes the stadium, moves me, I cry everytime. Thank God for the courageous men & women who fight for our country. I pray their families are blessed with a heart of peace & comfort.
There were 1300 stadium of fire dancers this year, the largest group of dancers EVER. Because we had terrible seats, we used binoculars to find Kiana on the field. I couldn’t see the choreography very well, but I was very impressed with the perfect formations. At one point, we were trying to find Kiana and after Dusty had spotted her, he actually said…without thinking…
“she’s down there, in the 2nd row, with a basketball.”
hehe, is that hilarious or what? I mean, there were only like 500 dancers with basketballs!!!
The Blue Man Group was cool, I had no idea what they did, and their percussions are totally funky. Good entertainment. Kiana said she got to meet a couple of them during rehearsals and that they were very nice and funny.
Miley Cyrus, the SPOTLIGHT of the show this year. Fortunately, we went to the Hannah Montana concert earlier this year, because the sound system was terrible and our kids lost interest by this point, so to sneak out of traffic early we bailed after a couple of her songs and headed to the neighborhood fireworks.
rockets red glare…We had a street of fire at the Blanchards at the end of our evening, Myla & KJ enjoyed lighting/doing the fireworks the most. KJ would light the fuse, run and get his 3D firworks glasses, and then jump around with excitement as they went off –
KJ/Jane/Myla/Dusty/Kiana, Sela was napping…
Thank you to everyone who made our day extra fun and eventful. Without all of you, our wonderful & loyal friends, our holidays would be very dull!
We sincerely pay tribute to and love our
land of the free and the home of the brave.
Warmly, The Rhodes
xoxo
you guys have a fantastic backyard, city living is awesome but i miss yards!
Ahhh… what a fun post with fun pix! So cool to see what we missed at the Stadium… we watched from the comfort of our neighbors’ back yard, while Dayne slept soundly through the action, worn out from the morning hoopla and a napless afternoon of partying at your house! Thanks again! Always such a fun time!
You guys are such an athletic bunch! I love it! Looks like a great day:)
FUN FUN FUN!! You guys are always having so much fun.I love it! I also loved the flag in all the pictures very cool.
looks like you had a great 4th. We saw Kianna at the practices. I could not believe my girls didn’t even get tired till the last day. It was a great show.
WHEW! You guys know how to have fun!
WOW! What a packed, fun filled day for your fam! I want to know how you do it all woman! You are AMAZING!
i love the 4th of july! You guys look like you had another super fun party that we missed out on! UGH!!
That is so cool that Kiana was dancing at the Stadium of fire. Way to go Kiana!
Looks like another sweet party! We miss you guys! I love seeing Roxy getting in on the action and Sara playing vball totally prego! Stadium of Fire looks crazy but a great opportunity for Kiana.