Independence Day.

 Happy 4th of July.

We spent the entire day celebrating our country's birthday, starting with a neighborhood breakfast. Bill and I took V and NJ, Mar and Jonah met us there. I love that there are people in our neighborhood with the energy and ambition to plan a big event like this. It was fun to mingle with some of the neighbors we don't know as well. I love where I live.

The girls went straight for the donuts. YUM.

They held a bike parade after breakfast, but since we didn't have any for the girls, we headed home to get ready for our picnic at the park.

Bill and I had scoped out the park situation a few days before. Riverton Park, where we have gathered several times before, was having a big city event, so we needed to find someplace else to meet up. We googled local parks (we still feel new here), and found Margaret Wines Park in Lehi. It had big trees for shade, and a playground for the kids, so we decided it would fit the bill.

 We got there early enough to pick a nice shady spot.

Lynnea has been missing from pictures because she was sick. Bummer!

I've also noted that I have hardly any pics of Lex and Jason. I'll be making a concentrated effort to get pictures of them, whether with or without their consent haha. Peep Lex in the pic above... they were there. Also pictured: Grandpa Great and an adorable Emmett ♥

Old people trying to take a silly pic. Now that's fun-knee.

I have loved how the grands like to hang out on my porch. And I love my flags. I'm thinking of adding a couple more, but trying to decide if that's overkill? There's no such thing as too much patriotism, right?

Love this picture of B-elle running down the sidewalk with the temple in the background. Have I mentioned I love where I live?

Britt and Austin brought this fun splash pad over and we put it to good use. The Andersons and Martins had other activities that evening, so we spent the evening with the Paulls and the COSyddalls.

There was a firework ban by our house, but not past the stop sign at the bottom of our street, so we took our year-old Costco firework pack to the Jr. High parking lot and lit 'em up.

Here's Lex and Jason {wink} I'm sure they'll love the pics I snapped of them today.

Most of our fireworks did the exact same thing, so not a lot of variety, but the kids loved being outside as it got dark and enjoyed our mini show.

I love this picture with the temple lit up in the background.

The neighborhood across the field from us was having a big firework show, so once we were back home, we pulled up some chairs in the backyard to enjoy it.

It was a fun-filled celebration for the USA with people I love.

That's a pretty perfect day.