Happy 4th of July!

I have always really enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July. This year was no exception. We started out the day slow and lazy like. It was awesome! In the early evening we went to Paul's sister's home for a yummy steak dinner with all the fixins. Emma and Andrew got to spend some quality time with five of their cousins. Auntie Mere had come from Nevada with her three kids and of course Megan and Matthew were there. The kids hadn't met baby Miriam before this trip. We all loved her and took turns passing her around. 

The kids eating their delicious dinner. 

 Kellen going to town on his hotdog LOL! I love watching kids eat. Especially when they aren't my responsibility to clean up later ; ) 

J & D made this beautiful, patriotic cake. It was super yummy too.

Here are Mere's three kiddos together. Kellen, John and Miriam. They are all really sweet kids and loved playing with their older cousins. 

I love soft, squishy, little babies.

This year due to a ton of construction on BYU's campus and for other reasons (Mostly laziness I guess. Fighting the traffic to get home is a major ordeal.) we decided to not to go to down BYU to watch Stadium of Fire. (Just from the outside of course) 

I was reluctant to break tour tradition for one reason and one reason only. The jets. Each year they fly over the stadium and I love it. It's my favorite part. I love the jets. I adore the jets. The jets have become the 4th of July for me. (The good news, they had flown over my house just days earlier and I did indeed see them. One friend posted on Facebook after they flew over that she has just heard the sound of freedom. I loved that! They represent freedom and power, things I love about our country.) 

Anyway, I'm selfish and still wanted to see them. Again. We opened the sunroof on our car and the whole way home from J's house I kept my eyes pealed. The jets are tricky, by the time you hear them they are usually gone. We were getting very close to home and there was no sign of them. I thought for sure we had missed them. We slowed the car to get over a dip in the road and I heard it. The sound of freedom. I started yelling, grabbed my camera and opened the car door before Paul could even react. I practically jumped out of a moving car. It didn't matter. I saw them heading to the Stadium of Fire and it was awesome. It was not quite as good as it is when we are right by the stadium (you get to watch them longer when you aren't stopped in the middle of the road LOL) but I saw them and I was happy. 

We ran home, gathered up our stuff and headed to Andrew's school to watch our town's firework show. They did a very nice job and I am so glad we went. Fireworks are just awesome.