Happy Fourth!

Another fun filled magical fourth of July in the books! The girls were happy when we woke them up early in the morning, and excited to dress in red, white and blue. Lydia even brought her dog, Maxi (who appeared to be dressed for the fourth as well and is now known as her 4th of July dog) and set him to guard the car anytime we were out and about. Also, this happened the night before at Grandma and Grandpa Fraziers. Not sure it will become a new tradition, but it sure was fun this year! Thanks for the nail polish Grandma Blackhurst!

Starting it off with a devotional with Grandma and Grandpa Blackhurst in Bountiful was awesome. Hearing Brother Cottle talk about his experience being in NY on 9/11 watching the towers fall was memorable. He wanted to keep it from being graphic (I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be a witness during that tragic time), and his message about agency (watching these people, who were trapped at the top of these burning buildings, with no hope of survival still getting to make a choice in their final moments) was powerful. It was nice to be reminded of our freedom to choose and that we already chose Christ once before coming to earth. We're here to follow him. I love that! Breakfast afterward with Grandma and Grandpa Blackhurst was fun too. Lydia liked the chocolate milk, Sophie liked the eggs and Mia, the pancakes. Great start to the day!

 We headed over to Fruit Heights to walk from Grandma and Grandpa Frazier's house to the watch the Kaysville parade. Mia sat comfortably in the BOB and Lyds and Soph cruised around in the red wagon. They liked the princesses and cheer leaders at the parade. "And the musicals" says Soph. "And the Ariel truck with Eric and Flounder and Ursula?" "No Ursala," says Lyds, "but Sebastian was there too and Daddy saw Scuttle." They both liked the candy. Lydia liked the "water" pops, fireworks and glow sticks (when all was said and done).  I liked watching the girls eat their snacks during the parade. Jon and I took turns carrying Lydia and Sophie on our shoulders during the parade when they weren't up front taking it all in and trying to grab falling taffy before everybody else beat them to it. And when the parade was over Jon and I raced each other (or was it the rest of the family??) up the hill at Burton Elementary. I sure was tired when we reached the top!

We then got to enjoy lunch with Mom and Dad Frazier and the Pynes and Talbots. Such good food! And swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's "4th of July pool" was also a real treat. We couldn't find Lydia's flip flops for a minute and that set us back on our return trip to Bountiful where, for the first time ever, we were the only ones there to spend it with Mom and Dad. Crazy!

Soph fell asleep on the way over and was little miss Grumperella when we tried to wake her up. We opted to let her sleep as long as possible, knowing that we still had a fun-filled night ahead of us. When she finally did wake up she didn't want to enter the kitchen, "because of Grandpa. He's a boy." But she quickly warmed up to him and dinner was wonderful. The girls loved the Elsa and Anna towels that Grandma put in the downstairs bathroom. And they really enjoyed the ice cream for dessert.

We loaded up once again and returned to Kaysville to watch the fireworks. Jon brought the bean bag toss and everyone had a chance to take a turn playing before it got too dark. Then the girls realized they needed a potty stop just about the time we thought the fireworks were going to start. That was fun. We raced through the darkness and crowds of people and successfully did what we came to do. And we made it back in time to watch the entire show. Mia didn't want to wear her headphones. She did want to munch on garden strawberries and fish crackers though. I didn't realize that she was hungry until I found her sucking on the lid of our bug spray. Ugh. The firework display was awesome. The girls really seemed to enjoy it and it was the perfect ending to a day full of good food and great memories with family.