4th of July

Happy Independence Day! I have a lot of fond memories of the 4th of July. When I was younger growing up in Utah the 4th of July was always a fun time. You always had some dad in the neighborhood who would go up to Wyoming and get the REALLY GOOD fireworks. My eyes would always light up with explosions and colors........AWESOME!! It would be so fun to gather as friends and neighbors.
I love those Utah summer nights! We would go up to the BYU grounds and lay out blankets and play around until the fireworks lit up the sky. Good times! One year I went with some friends and saw the fireworks from up on the mountain looking down. You could see all the different cities below do their firework display...........great memories.


I even got to go once to the Stadium of Fire. It's a great show they do at the BYU football stadium. They did a celebration of fireworks around the world. I thought it was so cool. The Japanese firework display turned into a big dragon. It was awesome!





I remember how fun it was to get a sparkler as a kid. You would swirl it around in the air and spell out your name from the drag of the flame. And who can forget snaps. You know the little white balls of noise. It was so fun to throw them around! My brothers and I had the best way to use snaps.

We would take the snaps and place them all around the toilet seat. Then ever so gently put the toilet seat down on top of the snaps. So you can only imagine our rolling on the floor with laughter when someone would go and sit down to use the bathroom!! All the snaps would pop!! SO FUNNY! We loved doing that! Then we would have to clean up the black powder from the toilet seat. It was WELL worth it. I think I need to try that on Shaun.....shhhhhh, Don't tell.

I love being able to hang the flag outside my house. I'm a very patriotic person. I love to be involved with the holiday fun. I have to say that the best place to celebrate the 4th of July is Utah. The fun parade, Fairs, Booths, Fireworks, Food, Family, Friends, What's not to love.

The 4th of July is not the same in Arizona. I think because it's just WAY to hot!! This 4th of July I have to work! LAME!! Because the holiday was on a Saturday my work decided to give the holiday off on Friday because more people could get a paid holiday off. The only good thing is I did get paid for Friday and work Saturday. The extra money will be nice.

Shaun's work also gave him Friday off so we had time to spend together on Friday.

Last year for the 4th of July we went with my sister Kelley and her kids to see the fireworks here in Arizona and I have to say it was the best display because the fire works ended up being right above our heads! They were huge and filled up the whole sky because we were so close to the launch of the fireworks. It was really fun! We had no idea we were in such an amazing spot.

It was so nice to spend Friday together as a family. We didn't really do anything real exciting but we got to be together and that's what's important to me. I love being together as a family even if we're grocery shopping. While we were out Max fell asleep so Shaun and I did get a nice quite lunch together at Subway with Max asleep in his car seat.

I'm so thankful to live in this great country!! I love America and all the FREEDOM we get to enjoy everyday!!






One of my favorite 4th of July was when Shaun and I were dating. He went back to New Hampshire for the summer. I went to go visit him over the 4th of July. We celebrated the day with his family and friends and then Shaun got us a canoe and we went to a lake. We canoed our way around the lake which was sooooo beautiful. It was just Shaun and I out on the lake together. We paddled around and talked and watched the sun go down.

Then as we lay in the canoe together fireworks started to light up the sky! It was so beautiful! We just relaxed in the canoe on the still water with trees surrounding the lake and watched fireworks in the sky..........perfect. It was like we were the only two people in the world and the firework show was just for us. What a great time:)

My scrapbook page of the 4th of July 2001

What a great time with my Shaun.