Smiles from the 4th of July 2013

I hope that you all had a very Happy 4th of July…. (no matter where you live I hope your day was happy).  For those in the states, I hope that your holiday was filled with celebration and rejoicing in the birthday of our great country.

Each  year I get a thrill as I see all of the flags flying.  I think it was last year that I counted almost  200 flags flying on the 3 mile drive home from our church.  It is a sight to behold.

I didn’t count them this year, but the sight still filled my heart with smiles.

I actually could repost last year’s blog because except for David and his family being here with us, this year’s 4th was a carbon copy.

We started out our morning with a patriotic program and breakfast at church.

It is always nice to join with our friends and start our Independence Day celebration with prayer, songs and patriotic tributes to our brave founding fathers. I always get a thrill when I sing the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless American.

 

The pancakes, eggs and sausage always hit the spot too.

Going to church for a patriotic program and breakfast has been our 4th of July tradition for as long as I can remember. Smile… Smile

Even though he is only in 8th grade, EJ marched with his dad’s high school band in the 4th of July parade again this year.  He is quite the trumpet player. He has been able to keep up with these high school kids since he was in 6th grade. Next year will be his 1st year to officially be in the band but he has been marching with them for the last 3 years.  Way to go EJ!

After the parade the family joined us for a day of eating and playing in the pool. Mindy and Ernie smoked chicken for us.  I made potato salad, baked beans, home made bread, corn on the cob and ice cream. I also served watermelon … you have to have cold watermelon on the 4th of July….it is a rule!

Once the chicken was cooking in the smoker, Ernie and EJ crashed and took a nap…. they both were worn out from marching in the hot parade….

 

…but Claire and Mindy decided they needed some more sun while they rested…

It takes 3 hours for the chicken to smoke so we had plenty of time to play in the pool after everyone got a little rest from the morning’s activities.  Even Grampy and Ernie got in which never happens is rare.  I love swimming and find the pool so refreshing but seeing me in a bathing suit is not a pretty sight so I will spare you that picture.

Before we knew it, the chicken was cooked to perfection.  It was falling off of the bone, tender and finger licking good. I made all the rest of the dinner but Mindy and Ernie’s smoked chicken definitely stole the show!

I missed having our Utah kids with us this year but as always, I was so thankful to have this sweet family here to celebrate with us.

We planned to make “s-mores” over the fire pit after we had our home made ice cream but we ran out of time and room in our tummies.

 

We had to hurry off to the ball park for the fire works show which started at 9:00 p.m.

We got there not too long before the fireworks show started….

 

…but Grammy still had time to get some knitting done on one of the scarves  I’m making for my grandgirls.

The firework show and music were beautiful…. even though these pictures don’t do it justice.  It was a lovely ending to a lovely day. You can see why my heart is full of 4th of July smiles!

 I hope you had a great 4th of July too.  How did you celebrate? What are your favorite 4th of July traditions?

Now that I have written this whole post…. our internet is down and I can’t post it.  John is on the phone with our provider so maybe he will get it up and going before I go to bed. I hope so…. but if not, I will post this as soon as I can.

Have a great week.   Hugs, Lura