Saturday, July 10, 2010

Happy Birthday America!!!!

Everyone who knows me well, knows that Independence Day is by far my favorite holiday. I love everything that comes along with it. The weather, the friends, the food. I think it is all so fun. And this year was exceptional. Having the 4th fall on Sunday meant 3 days of parades, and parties instead of just one. HOORAY!! This year Burk and I decided to add a new little twist to our Layton Liberty days celebration. We made a list of 35 people that we always see at the park on the fourth but rarely see other places. People we have worked with, old high school friends, random people that we both know or have funny stories about. Then we each drew 24 out of a hat and made Bingo cards. The free space was a girl with too much cleavage and a tramp stamp. The loser was going to have to be in charge of date night once a month for a year. That means they had to plan it, pay for it, and arrange a babysitter. The game would begin Monday morning when we got to our saved parade spot and end when the fireworks began at ten. Sadly, after tons of trash talking by both of us neither of us ended up with Bingo at all and we both ended up with exactly nine spaces filled. DOH!! We loved it anyway and are thinking of expanding our game next year to include our whole "group" and making the bingo squares be things like mullet, bikini top, wife beater tank top, etc. rather than people, and buying prizes for the winners.
We went over Sunday night and roped off a space for all our family who sit at the parade with us. We were worried because our usual spot is "under construction" and unavailable. But we ended up in front of the library in a spot that worked out great. It had shade and everything. It was also really close to the parking lot and restrooms. Perfect for Tata who was due 2 days later. (Hazel by the way has still not come out to meet us, Tata said she must be building a city in there and planning to never come out) Sorry Tata that must be miserable)

Porter did get to feel Hazel kick though which was super cool but surprised the heck out of him.

The parade was the same as always. Mostly politicians and local businesses. LAME!! And I loved it as much as always. I felt a surge of pride as the flag went by and I stopped to reflect how lucky we are to live in this great country where men and women give their lives so we can enjoy this lifestyle. (thanks guys)

I was a little sad to see that my very favorite part of the parade, Ruben, was riding this year and did not flex for us. But I am glad we saw him, he was on both of our bingo cards.
I found it a little funny, and thought only in Utah, would the float voted "best of show" say "church going, temple attending, tomato picking people" But I have to hand it to them it was a pretty float. I also giggled a little and took a pic for Sammy at both Clearfield and Layton's parades because the "Elders" were handing out candy. We thought they should have had tiny BOM's to hand out. HA HA

Porter has had a plan for months to have a mo-hawk on the fourth with red and blue spikes. Here he is feeling very cool in his "glasses and awesome hair". The only thing missing was his "tank top walk" which is very cute but that will have to be another post.

After the parade and carnival we set up Porter's waterslide, blew up a few pools and put out a few lawn toys and had a BBQ. There was tons of food. We had burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fruit, green salad and cookie salad. It was such a great time. I have to admit I got a little too caught up in the food and visiting to take as many pics as I would have liked to.


After the BBQ it was on to Grandpa Great's to watch the fireworks. Masen and Heather always brings fireworks to light while we wait for the city ones, which is bonus for us. This year they had peculiar names and we all had a good laugh. We brought glow sticks and the kids all had fun with those.

All in all it was a super long , super great day. As much as I always love the fourth this one may have topped them all.

Thanks to EVERYONE who spent the day with me. I truly love you all. I can't wait until next year.

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