4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July for three days and it was awesome!  I had low expectations for the holiday since it fell on a Sunday and Sammamish canceled the fireworks, so I even went so far as to buy everyone patriotic T-shirts from Old Navy to make the day feel special. But we played so hard it didn’t matter and I never even got a picture of all of us in our shirts either.  Boo!

Our ward held a very last minute breakfast which was so fun to all be together for the first time in over a year.  There was a bike parade that Henry thought was a race and don’t worry, he won!  He can zip around on his scoot bike like it’s nobodies business. 

The “winner” of the bike parade

That night I grilled burgers and made corn on the cob which makes my boys say all sorts of wonderful things about my cooking because they love corn more than anything, so it was a great way to start off 3 days of BBQ’s. 

Sunday was an unforgettable experience since we got to go to church without wearing masks or any Covid restrictions which meant we got to sing for the first time in over a year.  And it all happened on the 4th of July. So perfect, right?  As we drove to church I told the boys “Today is the day!  We get to sing hymns at church so I want you to sing loud and proud!”  They didn’t. But I did and they humored me by mumbling the words.  And Landon bore his testimony for the first time so it was a great meeting. 

Our neighbors hosted a big BBQ this year and I was surprised how many people were expecting me to host one. Apparently it’s a tradition even though we’ve invited different people each year, word has gotten around. But it was nice to relax and eat lots of food without the stress of hosting. 

After dinner we all ended up in our backyard to roast s’mores and play with our huge collection of yard toys.  When it was finally dark enough, Ethan and his posse entertained us with illegal fireworks.  No one got hurt or arrested so it was a success. 

So many kids and no one got hurt!

Meanwhile, Marcus was reunited with his best friends in Utah.  He’s working hard this summer, playing lots of lacrosse, and it was the only weekend we could make a trip work.  I told him he couldn’t go back to Utah in the fall like he hoped so this felt like a good way to come to grips with it.  

Marcus, Caleb, and Gibby 

The next day our friends invited us to go boating and the younger boys all refused so I did the wise thing and let them stay home so Randy, Ethan, and I could enjoy ourselves. And we did!  We were on the lake all day!  (We really need to get a boat. We’ve been talking about it for over a year now so I don’t think it will ever happen.)

After returning from Lake Sammamish we quickly got everyone ready for another BBQ with other friends who live on Pine Lake. The little boys LOVE jumping on their water trampoline so it was the perfect ending to three days of playing hard. 

God bless America!