4th of July

4th of July fun! I took the two younger boys to the clubhouse for our community event, where we enjoyed the petting zoo:

So this llama loved me.  He could have cared less about the kids, but when I went to pet him he kept giving me kisses!  Don't know why, maybe he liked my perfume, but I couldn't pass up getting a selfie with him.

Train rides!

and balloons!

Loved spending time with my boys!

Came home and had a water balloon fight!

bought our fireworks

and of course enjoyed watching our cities fireworks.  Love the 4th of July!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!  This is absolutely a favorite holiday filled with BBQ's, parades (we've missed not having parades in AZ&TX), and of course fireworks.  Its a fun day celebrating the wonderful country we live in.  

 Brad and I started off the 4th of July holiday with the Kaysville Rotary 5k fun run with Ryan and Kami.

Brad even placed 4th in his age division!  Woot woot!  It was a great way to start off the holiday.

After our morning run we went to watch the Kaysville parade.  Its so convent that my dad's office is along the parade route.  When we got too hot we could just go inside and enjoy the nice air conditioned office.  Plus the theater next store was selling their popcorn, score!

 Tanner  was all about trying to get as much candy as he could.  Carson was disappointed that all it was was salt water taffy.

 Tanner was excited to see Captain America and also Batman in his bat mobile.

 We scored big time!  The grocery store Smith's was passing out free popsicles and since we were almost at the end of the line the gave us a whole bag!

After an enjoyable parade we went to Ryan and Sasha's for a BBQ.

 and then to the Kaysville City Fireworks for a really great show!

How thankful I am to live in this prosperous nation.  After visiting different countries last year, I was acutely aware of how blessed we truly are to live in such a wonderful nation.  One that doesn't oppress women, the wonderful education opportunities we have, and where my kids can be kids and are encouraged to be whatever they want.  

For my freedom to speak and voice my opinion, to travel freely, and yes even in this crazy election year I'm thankful to be able to vote.    

I am thankful for the American strength and spirit that we have, and even when we see tragedy our country comes together in love and support.  As Mr Rogers said perfectly when he would see scary things on the news, his mother said "Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping."  This is how I see our country.

Veterans Day

For Veterans day Carson's school hosted a breakfast for all the veterans to say thank you to them for their service.  One of the veterans that came was our neighbors grandfather who was an infantry medic in the Vietnam war.  He came to their class and read them a story.  He then taught them how to fold the American flag.  Carson came home that day and told me that when a solider dies, you lower the flag to honor them.  

I'm so glad that Carson had the opportunity in school to do this.  I love that he is at a school that teaches them about respecting our flag and say the pledge of allegiance everyday.  I'm thankful for all the serviceman who serve our country, and especially thankful that this veteran took time to teach my son on this very special day.

4th of July

And I'm proud to be an American,where at least I know I'm free.And I won't forget the men who died,who gave that right to me.~Lee Greenwood

It was a wonderful 4 day weekend, and we took full advantage.  

This was our first year that we've been able to by fireworks.  They were illegal in Arizona up until a two years ago, but even then they were always banned because of fire dangers.  So we took advantage and went to a fireworks stand to get our supply.

To celebrate the 4th of July we had a BBQ/pool party with our new friends in the ward, the Millers.  They moved in the same day we did so we had that instant "were both new and don't know anyone" bond.  We thought the pool was going to be packed, but we actually had it all to ourselves.  It was quite nice.

We later watched the fireworks just up the street from us.  It was nice having them so close.  We had a great spot by the lake, and the fireworks didn't disappoint!  Carson loves fireworks, always has, so he was in heaven.  Tanner did great last year, but this year he was scared to death!!  The fireworks were close to us so they were extra big and loud.  When the first firework went off Tanner about had a heart attack and let out a "I'm going to die" scream.  During the entire show he had the tightest death grip on me and just buried his head in my chest so he didn't have to watch the horror that apparently was the fireworks.  Brad and I thought it was hilarious how sacred he was.

The next day we went to one of our community pools.  Carson loved the frog slide.  After the pool Brad took Carson on a fathers son date to see Despicable Me 2.

Then on Saturday we went to Galveston beach for the first time.  We live about an hour to an hour and a half (depending on traffic) away from the beach so we need to take advantage!  Everyone we talked to however, told us we would be disappointed about the beach.  "They're not California Beaches" they told us. So I thought it would be a rocky beach.  One that we couldn't even play at, but it was not like that at all.  The water is a little murky from sediment from the Mississippi River, and the sandy beach has a lot of seaweed, but thats it.  It was a lot of fun!  Carson loved the waves and building sandcastles, and Tanner loved to destroy said sandcastles.

Carson makes friends wherever we go!

We're going to have lots of fun times at the beach! 

Such a fun filled/exciting weekend!