Happy 4th of July!

I LOVE the 4th of July! It's got to be my favorite holiday. We have our little traditions that we do as a family and then some fun "where ever we're invited"stuff. We started off our day today bright and early. All of the wards that meet at our building have a fun run/walk and then a flag raising, complete with music and then yummy cinnamon rolls. Mike wanted to run the 5k so he planned on loading up the younger 3 kids into the big stroller and running with them, with Conner running along side. That left Alia. She WON'T run, so I volunteered to walk the 1.5 mile route with her. It was pretty fun. We actually got there a little early, but upon pulling the stroller out of the van, we realized that we didn't bring the wheels that go with it. We figured that those were kind of important, so Mike went home and I hung out with the kids. Everyone else went before us. A couple youth in our ward got there right about the time Mike did, so I told them that they'd better walk with us. Mike took off on his route with the kids and I took off on my route with Alia and Danielle and Trischelle. That was pretty fun. I really enjoyed
visiting with the girls. After the run the boy scouts raised the flag and then we had a young women who is serving in the military speak for a few minutes on patriotism. That was pretty cool. After a couple songs and prayer, we were off to eat home made cinnamon rolls.


After that, we zipped out to go home and load up the chairs and some snacks so we could go out to St. Paul for the parade that they have and we attend every year. That's fun. We sit in the same spot every year. For me, it's all about feeling that "small town" feeling of pride in our country. I love it. Even though there are more people than we would like to be with and it's a mess to get home, it's a tradition and we all enjoy it. So, after a brief nap and the making of a yummy potato salad, I'm waiting around to make cookies to take to our dinner celebration. Our bishop has invited us out for a "bring your own" bbq. We'll grill up some steaks and dogs for the kids and then swim and play kickball and visit until dark and then we'll sit tight for the amazing fireworks. Bishop got a permit this year to do the big fireworks, so we'll all get to enjoy those. I'm looking forward to visiting with friends and enjoying my family. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!