July 4th

The 4th of July was just a perfect day! It started off with a red, white & blue breakfast: homemade buttermilk blueberry pancakes, strawberry syrup and whip cream(one of my favorites!). Then we took the kids to see Ice Age 3 in the early afternoon (cute movie btw), came home and ate lunch, and then we all took two hour naps....soooo nice. I think geocaching and swimming from the day before wore us out or something.:) Then we woke up and Joey bbq'd some yummy hamburgers and hotdogs. After that I did a little FHE lesson on Patriotism , which was an awesome little lesson! We will do that every year now. Thanks Mom for sending me the link! We then made brownies and decorated them like little flags (another idea I grabbed from everydayfoodstorage.net). Then we headed out with a few other couples and their kids to the city's fireworks show. It was lots of fun!



I have to say the favorite part of the day wasn't the food, the fireworks or the brownies(which I think was my second fave:) My favorite part of the day was when we were talking to the kids during the lesson about the Book of Mormon. We talked about how verses in 1 Nephi 13 correlate to Christopher Columbus and the events leading to the founding of America. Aubrey was wowed by it and said, "I didn't know it talked about that in the Book of Mormon!" and wanted to hear more. Reading those verses in the Book of Mormon increased my testimony in the Book of Mormon, in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and in the knowledge that America is the promised land, the land of the free, a blessed nation, a nation under God. I am so grateful to be an American and for the Lord's promise that He will protect this land as long as we follow His commandments. What a wonderful knowledge that is.

Here are pics(I'll spare you captions) from our fun-filled 4th!

Okay, I have to caption this...Cali and her friend Charley are getting into the candy bag. It was so funny. They practically lived next to that bag all night long:)

Oh, and this is when the fireworks started. Cali LOVED the fireworks and was in awe by them. Sorry I couldn't resist captioning! :)

Hope y'all had a wonderful holiday filled with fun, family, friends & a love of country! May God continue to bless this land.