The Fourth of July....

these are pictures from our celebration 2 years ago. we had a blast. we first enjoyed the breakfast at Far West, then went to Cameron for the parade, then went to Brent and Kim's for an awesome barbecue/biggest party ever....(it was so fun, they had a bounce house, a blow up slide and a blow up thing we could beat each other up on....obviously i don't remember the name of it...and they even had two of the local dj's from the best radio station in town there to play music and grill for us.) seriously, it was awesome!!

we have some fun traditions we like to do every year. i ALWAYS paint my nails and toes red white and blue, and have done this since i was a teenager....now I do it for my girls. We used to all get together (mostly all the Fish' side) for a family reunion and barbecue and do fireworks. Parade's have been a LONG standing tradition in our family as well, and I am pretty sure that all started in Spreckles CA. I wonder if Melissa and Family will drive out there for the parade!? Anyway, I have great memories growing up and being in the Spreckles parade....I can remember so vividly several of our floats. I am so grateful my parents went through ALL the effort to do so much for us.

It is funny, because today while I was talking to Natalie on the phone I was saying how i just don't get how Mom was always so happy and positive and ALWAYS got so much done for holidays.....and if you know my Mom, you know that the entire house....and I mean ENTIRE house was decorated for every holiday....and every holiday was a big deal....and we were always doing something....how did she find the time?!!? and the energy??! I am having trouble keeping up with the bare minimum over here and can't fathom how she did it all....
So, basically I am going to try to enjoy the holiday for my kids and try to make it even half as fun as my Mom made it for me. Oh yeah, and Seth is going to read the Declaration of Independence to us in the morning.....we are starting a new tradition for our little family. I hope to instill the patriotic feelings I grew up with, in my children.
I am so afraid that so many of us have forgotten what gave us this freedom..how we got here...and I don't want to take it for granted. God Bless America. Have a fun and safe Independence Day!