The 4th of July, Independence Day, is probably my favorite holiday. It always has been. Maybe it's because my birthday is the next day, maybe because of the fireworks, maybe it's the family time, maybe because it's what summer is all about, or maybe it's because we are celebrating our freedom. Whatever it is, it's the best!
This year we spent the Fourth at home and the Farnsworth's came up to stay with us for a few days. For our first fun activity we headed to the CCC camp to go wading in the Blacksmith Fork river. The water was cold as usual but it felt really nice on this hot day. Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth joined us as well as Tyler, Ashley, and Mavis. We had a good time.
On Saturday we headed to the Cache Valley Cruise-In to see all of the awesome cars in the car show.
Apparently we like red cars! These were some of our favorites.
There were so many more cars at this Car Show than at the Hyrum one because this is a bigger venue and a more popular show. Of course the Corvettes were still my favorite. Another cool car was this old truck motor home like vehicle. It was restored so nicely and the camper portion was really nice too. Russell and I decided that we needed this vehicle when we retire so we can just cruise the country.
That night we drove into town to watch the Cruise-In cars drive up and down Main Street. Watching these cool cars drive up the road was so awesome. We loved seeing the vintage vehicles cruising like in their heyday. These were some of our favorite cars:
The red Lightning McQueen car was painted just like the car in the movies. There was also a Pizza Planet truck like in the Toy Story movies. The pink Cadillac was pretty awesome as well. The boys' favorite car of the whole show was the Lamborghini! We had to watch this car drive by a few times because it was so amazing.
On Sunday we all went to church. Brooklyn was being really restless so I wondered if she would like going to Nursery to play with the toys. I have never taken her to the Nursery before because she is not yet 18 months old so I planned on staying to see how she would do. As Brooklyn ran down the hallway I guided her to the Nursery room. As soon as she walked in, her eyes just lit right up! The look on her face just told me "Why have I never been here before? The church must be true if it has a room full of toys!" Brooklyn was so happy to go to Nursery. She walked straight in and started playing. Like I said before, I was planning on staying but Brooklyn was so happy to be there, she didn't need me and didn't even notice that I left. I was so surprised. I walked to the Sunday School room for class and didn't look back. When class was over, I went back to the Nursery to get Brooklyn and she was happy to see me then. The leaders said she did amazingly and didn't even cry once. I hope this happens every week!
That night we attended the Hyrum Patriotic Program at the City Square. Emily and Charlotte took part in the program with the City Royalty. They were announced and got to set in front of the audience. The program was very appropriate and honored all of the veterans in Hyrum. The children's choir sang a few patriotic songs and we listened to a really good speaker talk about her husband who had died in Afghanistan.
Monday was July 4th! We started the day with the Hyrum City Parade. We had a whole group of us at the parade. Jen and Rick came up with their family as well.
These three are always funny around each other. Russell and Tyler were comparing pocket knifes like usual when Jen walked over with Rick's pocket "machete" to compare. Needless to say, she won the knife battle.
Before the parade started, Colby got a nice surprise from a bird. As we were hanging out, we saw this bird fly over our heads when all of a sudden we see something drop out of the sky and land right on Colby's head. Yes, you guessed it, he got a direct hit from a poop bomb. The bird poop landed right in his hair. It was so gross. We could not stop laughing but Colby didn't think it was that funny. When we stopped laughing, we wiped the poop out of his hair and told him to make sure to take a shower tonight.
Finally the parade began and the candy started to fly.
The kids spent the whole parade chasing the candy, Otter Pops, and string cheese that were thrown from the parade floats. We were so busy gathering goodies that I don't think we even watched the parade!
We did pay attention when the Hyrum City Royalty float came by though. This was the most important float of the parade because it was the one Emily and Charlotte were on!
This parade was more enjoyable for the girls because they had music playing and the little girls were able to blow bubbles while the bigger girls threw candy. They all had a good time. I was even able to pick them up on time so they were not the last girls to be picked up. Parade #2 was a success!
After the parade, it was time to party with all the family.
All the girls loved playing with Mavis. She has gotten so much bigger since we say her last. Mavis enjoyed all of the attention and she is such a chill baby.
With so many people at our house, we shoved the kids outside and told them to stay out there. We gave them about 100 water balloons and told them to have at it.
The water balloons did not last as long as I hoped but they had a great time anyway. Soon they were just throwing water from the cooler at each other.
Next Jen set up a blow up Slip-N-Slide and that was a hit with all of the kids. We even invited the neighbor kids, Everett and Maverick, to come play.
The Slip-N-Slide was the best thing. All of the kids had a blast sliding through the water and getting soaked. Even Brooklyn liked sitting on the edge and splashing in the water. The boys had competitions to see who could slide the farthest.
Sadly the Slip-N-Slide didn't last very long either because it got a giant rip and won't hold or spray water anymore. The kids were bummed. Instead they used the Slip-N-Slide tarp as a sun bathing area. Then they moved on to the kiddie pool.
The kids did like splashing in the kiddie pool but soon got bored of that too. Brooklyn and Charlotte on the other hand did not want to get out of the Kiddie pool. They loved lounging and splashing in there.
Finally it was time for dinner. We had a whole group of people over to eat. We had the Phillips clan, Paul, Charlene, Calen, Rochelle, Kristy and her family, Stacey and her family, and Bryson and his family. We also had all of the Farnsworths, Grandma and Grandpa, Tyler's family and Jen's family. Sadly, the only one missing was Traci. It was a good little get together. We made BBQ Pulled Pork sandwiches and everyone else brought sides, salads, and desserts to share. We worried that we wouldn't have enough food but we actually had a ton of leftovers!
After dinner Paul and Calen put together a really special program in honor of Independence Day. We did a flag retirement ceremony.
We all gathered around our fire pit in the back yard and listened as Paul told us the significance of the flag and the importance of honoring it and retiring it the proper way.
As he was explaining, Calen and Bryson unfolded the flag. I thought this program was so good and so appropriate for the day.
As they held up the flag, the ceremony turned a little spiritual in that you just feel the importance of this ceremony.
While Calen and Bryson lowered the flag into the fire, you could hear sniffling and you knew this was such an important thing we were doing. The respect for the flag and the proper way to retire it was made clear. I was so grateful Paul brought up the idea of doing this ceremony. It really put a cherry on top of this day and made us remember the true meaning of freedom. All of the kids were also enthralled in the ceremony and you could tell they knew it was important too.
As it got dark, we settled into the back yard to watch the fireworks of the 4th of July.
We are lucky because the Hyrum Fireworks are shot off right behind our house so we have the perfect view. I love watching fireworks and this was a great show as always. This was a perfect ending to a great day.
Happy Fourth of July everyone!!
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