4th of July

I love the 4th of July! We have spent the last 3 years NOT in America for the 4th, and we were so excited to be here this year to be part of the fun! We started out the morning with red, white and blue crepes. And yes, I'm a dork, and took a picture because I was so proud of them!

 After our fun breakfast Ben had to go to work. I got the kiddos ready and we headed out to enjoy the Kaysville parade with Will, Kate and the rest of the Newbold family (Kate's family). We lucked out and found parking really close, then a perfect spot under a shady tree right at the start of the parade! It was awesome!

 Hudson fell asleep in the stroller minutes before the parade started and slept through half of it. Chase seriously enjoyed the whole thing! His favorite part was the firetrucks at the start, but he was totally entertained by everything that passed us by! He sat on Will's shoulders or my shoulders for the first part and clapped his little hands and waved! It was darling!

 This boy has a serious firetruck obsession-

this was basically Christmas for him!

 About halfway through the parade Chase found Bruce, Kate's dad. They became best friends and Chase spent the whole last half sitting/standing on Bruce's lap, climbing all over him and playing with his sunglasses. I had a blast just being there with family, chatting and watching Chase's excitement.

Both of my boys on their first American 4th of July!

 After the parade and naps we went swimming in the pool. As always, we had a blast and loved watching Chase's daredevil skills in the pool. He loves to "fly high to the sky!" Here is Unky Will helping him out with that. Ben was able to get home in time to enjoy the pool with us!

After going off the diving board 50 times Chase was finally worn out! We put both boys to bed and had a little BBQ with Will, Kate and Will's friend and fiancee. All our food turned out delicious, even though we didn't eat until almost 9 pm (we found out that our organizational skills for stuff like that need a little work) but it was so fun chatting until then that it didn't really matter.  We were joined by our fabulous family friend, Pam from Boise, for fireworks. We sat on the balcony of my parents house and could see fireworks going all over the valley. It was amazing! We were watching about 15 different firework shows at the same time. It was really incredible. Will had quote of the night by saying, "This is awesome! I'm going to start believing Mom and Dad when they tell me things are cool." My parents watch fireworks there every year, but he had been opting to go the Kaysville fireworks, which are also cool, but not quite the same as this! We sat there for over an hour enjoying the amazing view, mixed in with a lightening show. 

The whole day was incredible! It was so fun- we had a great time together and enjoyed so many fun activities. I am so proud to be an American and so glad to be back in America! Living abroad really taught us just how blessed we are to live in the amazing country that we do. Happy Birthday America!