Thursday began the Independence day celebrations! We did our traditional rise at the crack of dawn trip to see the hot air balloons take off with the Tongs. This is always so much fun. I can't wait for the day when I get to actually go up in one of those balloons. It'd be so cool! The kids were even more excited when we got to see the life flight helicopter take off from the emergency room across the street from the balloon field. Afterwards, Adrianne and I decided to start a new and very yummy tradition of going to Magelby's Fresh for the all-you-can-eat French Toast. We all shared our plates and didn't even make it back for seconds. It was so delicious but we were sooo full!!
Later that night, after some long naps, we went to the Owlz game-once again with the Tongs. We had a fun time and even ran into some old friends, the Sumners, that we hadn't seen in a long time. It was great to see them! The Owlz, unfortunately, did not play so well and lost the game but there was a great fireworks show afterwards so it was all good.
On Friday morning we got up way early again so we could hit the 4th of July parade. This year they had changed all the rules and you couldn't put stuff out to reserve your spot unless it was attended and since I had no interest in camping out this year we just hoped for the best.
We got down there about 7 am and lucked out on finding a pretty good spot on the street. Even though Ben swore he wouldn't go to the parade, he was a good sport and said he'd at least drop me off so I wouldn't have to lug all the gear and kids myself. He ended up sticking around though for the whole parade which was so nice!!!
My parents also joined us which was fun. The weather was actually great too. It was supposed to be like 101 degrees but there was an awesome cloud cover so it wasn't nearly that hot. The kids definitely had a blast and I'm glad we did something patriotic to celebrate this great country we live in! 
We all took some major naps the rest of the day and just took it easy. The Hanamaikais came by for a bit and Ben and Quinn played some tennis. Later, we had a bar-b-que, did some fireworks, and then hopped in the car and headed down to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks.
As exhausted as we all were on Saturday, the kids still were awake by 7:30 so I decided to go ahead with my crazy plan of having a yard sale. I had abandoned the idea the night before since we were so wasted but I figured we were up, we had the stuff ready, and we mine as well do it and see if we can make any moola. We were actually hoping to get rid of our bedroom set and couch that was recently redesigned by Kade and a marker, but the big stuff didn't go. However, the rest of our piddly junk did and we made about $60. Not a great amount, but enough to get us into Yellowstone Bear World in a few weeks!
Saturday afternoon we spent some time test driving mini-vans since it is something we really need to get doing.
I'm still a little resistant on the whole idea but I know I must accept defeat and get one!! We did some more fireworks on Saturday night. Despite my wise husband's wishes, I insisted on letting the kids have sparklers (which they absolutely loved!!) and poor little McKade burned his hand after watching our menacing next door neighbor kid stick his hand on one and thinking it looked like a good idea. Luckily, it wasn't horrible but I think we'll be skipping the crazy sticks with fire on them for a few more years.
We had a great weekend celebrating our country's birthday. Lately it seems as if the media has been concentrating on all of the problems as our country has. However, I know that we are truly blessed to live in such a wonderful country. Sometimes I think about how it would be to live in some other country and all of the little freedoms I take for granted everyday and I am overwhelmed with thankfulness to Heavenly Father for blessing me so much. I am so thankful for those who have fought in the past and continue to fight every day for the freedoms we have. Isn't it great that we have the 4th of July to remember all of this? Happy Birthday America!!!
1 comment:
Cyndi, looks like you guys had tons of fun on the holiday! I just have to tell you that my sister and sister-in law are using your "schedule" and I LOVE it. Thank you!
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