4th of July!

I love the 4th of July.  I really do.  Growing up it was my very favorite holiday.  I lived in an extremely small town.  Population 2000.  My graduating class had 47 kids in it and we were the biggest graduating class.  And while I love living where I live, sometimes I yearn for the small town life again. Small towns have a knack for making holidays fun.  There was always a festival going on at "the park" and everyone knew where you were talking about because it's the only one.  We had tons of food, vendor booths, an enormous slip and slide, and my brother and I would sing the national anthem at the flag raising in the morning (a few times).  Then in the afternoon my family and I would load up, drive to the town over, and camp out in "our spot" to watch the fireworks.  We sat it the very front, as close as we possibly could, to watch the fireworks.  We'd lay on the hood of the car and watch as the fireworks flew literally right above our heads.  We'd get hit by the ash from the fireworks as it fell.  It was awesome, and I miss it a lot.

While our 4th may not have been as awesome as I remember it growing up, it sure was a blast!  On the Monday of last week, we got together with some neighbors of ours and had a pre-4th family home evening.  We ate watermelon and popsicles, played with bubbles, squirt guns and waterballoons, and lit some fireworks when it got dark.

On the 4th we started the evening off by going to our neighbors house for the yearly block party they host.  It was a very rare rainy day here in the valley so the weather couldn't have been better.  How often to you get a 80 degree 4th of July?  Never!  There was a chili cookoff (which Kate got all over her dress so I had to change her clothes), and they also grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.  Then we started lighting some fireworks and the kids started going crazy!

Then a little later in the evening Jaron and Beth's family came over.  We lit fireworks in our backyard!

Then we went upstairs and watch the Schnepf Farms fireworks from the best view in town. My bedroom window! If I can't be sitting right underneath the fireworks, watching them from the comfort of my air conditioned room is a pretty amazing alternative! 

God Bless America!