Finally the Fourth :)

Didn't you love the three day weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July? The 4th is one of my favorite holidays, so I really enjoyed having three days to celebrate it!

We started our celebrations on Saturday the 3rd by going to a small town about an hour from here for a parade. I tell you, there is nothing quite like small town celebrations! :)

Another family from our ward was up there too, so we met up with them for the parade.

I kept looking for a parade route so we would know where to sit, and all I could find was "Parade, 10:00, Courthouse lawn." Well, it turns out that this parade went completely around one block, the Courthouse block ....and that was it! But, it lasted almost and hour! I was so surprised because here in town our parades usually last about 10 minutes...so you'd better not be late or you miss it {yes, I'm speaking from experience! :)}

Anyway, it was a fun parade and afterwards we even got to witness our first turtle races in the courthouse parking lot.

The kids LOVED waving to everyone in the parade, so I had to go
across the street and snap a pic!

A quick family picture on our favorite picture-taking bridge:

{it's always an adventure with the self timer!}

Then Sunday evening we went and parked on the side of the road to watch the fireworks show. Turns out that is the thing to do around here. Everyone lines up on the overpass of the highway loop - - you get a nice high view that way. :)

The kids had a BLAST at the fireworks. To quote them exactly,

Grace said, "This is the BEST DAY EVER!!"

Joshua kept saying "Wow, Awesome" over and over

and then all the sudden he says "Guys! I'm really enjoying this!"

Cute kids!

We had great seats,

and this was our view:

Then Monday morning our ward had a flag raising ceremony, bike parade, and brunch.

The scouts put up the flag

and then the primary kids {that were in town, we were few in numbers!} sang America the Beautiful:

Then we had the bike parade....

Grace and Daddy

Joshua

The kids loved decorating their bikes.

It was so fun to see them so excited about the Fourth!

I am grateful for the fun and excitement that these two kiddos find in such simple things.

I quite often find myself tyring to follow their example!

A little time with the Fam.

This upcoming weekend is bound to be a little quiet after all of the fun we had last weekend!

We were lucky enough to have my WHOLE family come visit from Utah! YAY! If only the trip could have been longer. My grandparents and my aunt, uncle, and cousins also joined us for a few days, so it was quite the party! We played games, went shopping, saw Toy Story 3 - great movie, btw- played Frisbee golf, went to the temple, and basically had a grand ol' time.

I was so glad they could all come, and it was nice to be able to actually fit that many people in our home - there is no way we could have in our old apartment! :)

Monday night we set up the tripod and took a few family pictures. Figured it was a good opportunity since we were all together. My brother and his wife live in Alaska, and my sister is getting ready to leave on a mission for the LDS church to Missouri, so these times may unfortunately be too few over the next couple of years....Okay....don't make me cry!

Happy thoughts....

Here are the cute pictures!

I thought they turned out pretty well considering we were using a tripod and a remote, and considering the fact that Grace doesn't usually smile or look at the camera for pictures. :)

Chances of getting her to do both at the same time are slim to none, really....but she is mine and I love her anyway!

AAWWwww.......How Cute!