God Bless America

It has taken me a long time to blog about the 4th of July! The main reason being that my internet upload speeds are miniscule and it took FOREVER to upload all of these amazing pictures I wanted to add to my "journal!" Seriously, it took like all day. And then, of course, once it finishes I am busy with other things and it gets pushed back on the list of to do. Over and over. But here I am. 

We had an amazing 4th of July! Shauna and her family came to see us and it was heaven. We need to live next door to one another. Even 4 hours is way too far...

We started out our weekend with a trip to Rigby lake :) It was so fun to swim with the boys and build sand castles with the girls. My girls are getting super brave in the water too. They took their little floaties and swam to where it was far over my head! I was with them, don't worry :) 

This boy loves to sit in the sand and splash! It doesn't even bother him that it's cold. And he's super cute in his hat Grandma Carter made him. Seriously, I want to die and go to heaven every time he wears it!

We even got Jordan to nap...not in his bed...not in the dark...not in the quiet! That boy was TIRED!

Gracie girl loves her aunt Shauna. Every time the phone rings, she begs to talk to Shauna. And while she was here, Grace snuck every opportunity to snag her attention, and I'm fairly certain, her heart :)

You have to have Jello cheesecake decorated as a flag on the 4th of July. Or it isn't the 4th of July.

This boy loves his daddy, dang it. He's starting to pick him over me :(

What fun would a weekend be without a painting project?! Paper plate flags? Yes, please.

My girls all stick their tongues out to concentrate and it reminds me of my dad. I love it.

We also got to build some stuff with toothpicks and mallows...it's amazing the fun you can have when you're a kid!

And Scott certainly is a kid...

We also took some time to enjoy our new hot tub with everyone! Forgive it's open state...we had to fix some leaks and things and barely finished in time to share with Shauna and Wes...so the siding wasn't quite back on.

Monday night we headed to Menan for fireworks. We love the Menan show. It's plenty big, and it's not crowded. We didn't get there before 7 and we found a nice, roomy spot right up close and enjoyed some time doing some fun traditions.

Shauna brought some poppers for the girls to throw. It was seriously so funny watching them!

Their faces are so serious in all the pictures, but they giggled so much! Can't catch everything, I guess...they started trying to throw them around each other's feet to make each other dance. I made them stop, but it was hilarious.

Daddy and my beefy. They like each other a little.

We blew some bubbles...

And colored some pictures...

And took some selfies.

Ethan and JJ just didn't want to document their matching outfits...

But we got some anyway. Enjoy each of their faces in these. They were quite the pair. And I'm sure people were laughing at us trying to get a grin haha.

Addy and her daddy did this puzzle that we bought at DI. I made Wes count each piece...they're all there! lol

Shauna helped the girls make these flag graham crackers. They loved it! And Grace made quite the mess! I don't know why these pictures won't rotate...

We also got some cousin Haley time! She and her new husband, Josh, joined us and we had so much fun.

Grace kept making this face after watching us take our silly pictures lol

Ethan really loved Haley's hubby! It was so funny watching them together. Josh was a huge help to me! He held Ethan for over half an hour while I scrambled around like a chicken with my head cut off. Grace also flirted incessantly with him...

Smilin' to Josh.

Next came the sparklers. My girls' faces were hilarious! I couldn't get them to smile! They were so unsure about the fact that I was letting them play with fire! haha.

Addy got over it the quickest, go figure lol.

We were lucky to see a beautiful sunset too!

We all snuggled in and enjoyed the fireworks. Except JJ who screamed bloody murder until Shauna and Wes took him to the car. Once it wasn't deafening loud, he loved it haha. That poor boy! We ran him ragged! Ethan, on the other hand, loved the noise and craziness. He was mesmerized the whole time and cried when it stopped!

Yes...they were all quite worn out!

I am so thankful for the chance we have to celebrate our country every year. Sometimes with the election year, I get so depressed thinking about how downhill America has come and how nobody values freedom and commerce and the Constitution. But once a year, it's nice to let some of those things go and celebrate that, while America isn't perfect, it's still great. And to reflect on that instead of the awful fate that lies ahead with either presidential candidate...

I am so grateful that I can have as many kids as I want, that we can worship as we choose, and that we can make our own choices. God Bless America!