Grand Old Flag

We love the fourth of July!!! Here are the highlights of our holiday.

1. I made/bought some super cute decorations. I used to have ZERO decorations for this, one of my favorite holidays. Now I have 5!

2. We went to see the balloons in Provo- Awesome.

The girls were just as excited as I hoped they'd be!
We were late but we still had tons of fun watching the balloons go higher and dancing to the fun music they had playing!
Katelyn watching excitedly as a balloon came back toward the crowd
3. Whitney tried sparklers and fireworks after Kate went to bed! It was so funny to let her stay up later than Katelyn, who was deathly afraid of fireworks last year.
watching a little fountain firework
4. We went to the parade in Provo! The girls definitely liked the bands the best, and Whitney really liked the flag-twirling girls. Katelyn also liked the old cars, which we kept comparing to CARS characters- "look, there's a Sarge!" "it's another Doc!" She would get so excited!
Us at the parade. Eric's family came down to watch it with us- we love seeing them so much in the summer!
5. Later on the afternoon of the 4th, Eric was taking apart our deck (he's rebuilding it) and we girls played in our swimming pool. Katelyn wanted to put on her own swim suit, and she came down looking like this:
with her strap all weird and her Elmo potty seat on! She's so skinny! It was hilarious.

6. Then we enjoyed my favorite fruit and an Independence Day classic, watermelon.
7. I also had a great experience at church on the 5th, with singing the national anthem for the opening song, which always leaves me a little choked up, and saying the opening prayer for sacrament meeting right after. I was on the stand, and we all stood to sing the song, and so there I am totally crying through most of the second and third verses in front of everyone! It's okay I love this country and I am so grateful for the sacrifices that so many have made to keep it safe and I pray that we can keep it strong and continue to elect and support good leaders and stand up for what is right so that I can continue to be proud to be an American!

These next two weren't the 4th of July, we just went boating with Eric's family this weekend. Aren't they adorable?? Whitney continues to be our little daredevil, not afraid of the water or the boat at ALL, and Katelyn continues to conquer her fears, we are proud of her.

I love July!!