A Fabulous 4th!

Let Freedom Ring! Look at all those gorgeous flags!



I repeat myself, Holidays are much more fun when you have kids. This is true and becomes more and more true (not the more kids you have ;) the more holidays you spend sharing it with them and repeating traditions.

I truly treasure these pictures of my kids with their hands over their little hearts....... I'm so proud of them (even if they don't get it yet).



Carter looks a little grumpy because of a balloon mishap, but behind those angry stubborn eyes, he's happy to support his country's freedom.

We had a great weekend. The late nights started Thursday July 2, when we took the kids to the Drive In for the first time. It was really fun (but a really late night). The weather was perfect, we saw Ice Age (1 2 or 3?? I have no idea, I haven't seen any Ice Ages before and I mostly slept through this one). Trevor totally made us a cushy spot in the back of the truck, I popped popcorn, grabbed some pretzels, cookies & drinks and we were off. Tannon stayed wide awake the whole time & loved it, he thought it was sooo cool to be outside watching a movie. Next time I'll just stick the laptop on the deck and he can sit on his trike......same thing right? That way he can go to bed at a decent hour. Carter mostly wanted to jump on the air mattress and go from lap to lap- which was totally fine since we had nearly 30 minutes to kill before the movie started. He finally fell asleep on me about 25 minutes into it; I was in heaven, I snuggled with him and fell fast asleep myself.

July 3- Friday night (no pics!), we had a yummy dinner at my Mom's house with Joseph (my youngest bro) & Lindsay (they are engaged to be married on Aug 15) and finished with banana splits at my house. Then off to the awesome neighborhood fireworks. A super cool neighbor rented a cotton candy maker and made TONS of bags of cotton candy to pass out to all the kids and many adults; that was really 'sweet' of him. Yes, Mr. S. is now officially the coolest dad on the block!

July 4- Saturday was awesome, I got up and ran the little Firecracker 5k with my fabulous girlfriends & their families (no way was I waking mine up ;). It was a fresh morning and a good little run, a great way to start the day. That is me in the flowery top w/the totally crazy bug-eyed sunglasses, I have a really narrow head okay!



Then I booked home on my bike to get my family for the parade!! I have to say that I LOVE the Idaho Falls parade. Not too long or short. We always get a great spot (without staking out our area the month before!) at the beginning and they still throw candy just like when I was a kid. It's so much fun, and my favorite part is the hazardous shriner cars that drive crazy the whole time. The kids loved it too. Here are a few shots of some parade favorites:

A few of my favorite floats


We all loved the horses with the glittery stars on their bums

The kids loved the fireman & getting hats!


I put Carter in the cutest baby contest, (yes, since I don't have a girl, I feel I have to subject my sons to these things- Trevor just loves it!). Carter didn't win, but his little friend (Noah) took second place and got $50 cash! It was awesome!

BBQ & birthday celebration for Joseph (no pics either, sorry!) later that night. Hope your birthday was fabulous Joseph, the chocolate mint cake was my favorite part! My kids love having Uncle Joseph & (soon to be Aunt) Lindsay visit, they have such a ball playing with them.

No pics of the fireworks, but the deserve a very honorable mention. Unbelievably, they just get better & better every year. Melaleuca does not appear to be in a recession....

As the finale to our LONG celebration of Independence Day, we took the kids to see the Title of Liberty 1776 flag display for Family Night. Wow, I thought it was pretty impressive.

Trevor gave a brief history lesson about the Declaration of Independence and the freedom of our Country. Tannon seemed to grasp the concept when the analogy about a dog being set free from his master's control of a leash was used.......maybe not the best description, but it seemed to help put a picture in his mind.

The kids loved seeing all the flags and it was breezy so all the flags were waving, it was beautiful! If you haven't been out to see it, go take your family. The flags will be up until the 13th of July!

That pretty much sums up our celebration, it was a fun Holiday and I can't believe it's past already. Get out the snow boots, time for summer to wind down I'm afraid.......:)

Hope you & your family had as much fun celebrating as we did!

God Bless America!