A Time to Celebrate!

The 4th of July has come and gone.  We have tried to have a Devotional and breakfast in years past with neighbors and friends.  Here is the beginning ...the kids are leading us in singing: America, the Beautiful.  They were very professional and focused. 

 We take turns having it in our back yards and never know what the weather will be.  It was beautiful this year. 
The menu was French toast with berries, hash browns, muffins, juice, fruit,  milk and eggs.  How American is French toast? 
It is always a challenge for me to keep hot food hot and cold food cold.  I am very grateful that I am not in the catering business ...I would fail miserably.  However...I am always up for having people over to eat.  I just can't guarantee what you will get!

Love this of Dallin

Launching the balloons

 Our engineer friend Ken has instigated a hot air balloon launch each year.  We light fuel in the bottom of a chimney  pipe and hold the balloons until they are filled with hot air and watch them rise and float away. 

The weather was calm and so the balloons were relatively close when they came down.  We have missed our youngest kids that would hop on their bikes or run in years past to retrieve the balloons but this year they were both back in action!!!  Hurray for Steven and Dallin.  They didn't even break a sweat. 

We were great spectators

Lighting sparklers...got to keep those kids occupied!

Splash pad...Spencer loved sitting in the puddles and letting the fountains of water fall. 

 We played some water games after breakfast with a patriotic Devotional, quiz on the Founding Fathers and a retelling of the some of the events leading up to the signing.    We had teams that tried to get ping pong balls out of the kleenex boxes on their backs, squirt ping pong balls off the tees and pass the sponge back to squeeze water out into a pitcher. 

Since it was hot, no one seemed to mind getting wet or targeted with the squirt guns. 
We always like adventures with the Beattys and hope that we have many more. 

 

 

 

 

 In the afternoon we just hung out with family. It was most unusual to have all our kids minus McKay and Loida. 

Tyler and Eli playing a duet

 This is a rare picture as Dallin consented to holding Edie.  It didn't last long as you can see how happy she was about that. 


In the late afternoon we headed to Salt Lake to spend dinner and the evening with my mom and sister's family.  They just completed a huge deck off the back of their house and they can see all over Salt Lake valley.  After a great dinner of grilled kabobs by Rey we settled in to watch fireworks.  We were AMAZED to sit for several hours and see neighboring displays everywhere. These were not fireworks let off from the cities but by people that just bought tons of big fireworks.  

I have never seen so many fireworks going off in all directions!

We were very happy to arrive home safely amongst so many others coming home from firework programs all over the valley.  I am so glad that we have days like these where we can remember what a wonderful place we live in and how blessed we are to be an American.  What better way to remember it than with family and friends. 
  If tomorrow all the things were gone
I’d worked for all my life
And I had to start again
with just my children and my wife

I’d thank my lucky stars
to be livin here today
‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom
and they can’t take that away

And I’m proud to be an American
where at least I know I’m free
And I wont forget the men who died
who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up
next to you and defend her still today
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA