4th of July Fun

 We have made it a tradition to go to the Huntsman Springs Celebration every year and I love it.

 The best part of the whole celebration is watching the pure joy on my kids faces when the fireworks light up the sky and hearing their little "oohs" and "wows"!  "Mom did you see that one, I love the purple and gold ones!"

 We always go early to find a spot on the grass so we have lots of waiting time.  This year the girls had fun dancing and doing cartwheels to entertain themselves until the festivities start.

 This year the beach boys came and preformed.  It was great fun for the whole family...and the best part is it is free.  The fireworks are amazing and so patriotic...and even though I don't love all the crap that is going on in our country right now, it makes me grateful to be an American.  It reminds me of how grateful I am for those who are serving and have served our country and died for our freedoms.

 I just had to post a picture of little Mattie Faye.  She loves suckers and I know this is not great parenting but sometimes giving her a dumb dumb is the only way to get her to stop throwing a fit. So I went to Sam's club and got these suckers in bulk.  Trust me these suckers have come in handy...especially in stressful Walmart trips where she is having a meltdown and I am having to drag her across the floor.  I have had people tell me that the third child is the easiest.... and I say  "That John Denver is full of crap."

 We celebrated the 4th by going to Victor to watch the parade.  Then we had to make the drive through Swan Valley just to get Huckleberry Square Ice Cream.

 Moments of happiness intermixed with more moments of whining.

At the end of the day we went to our neighbors house and watched their amazing fireworks.  He had a whole bunch that I am pretty sure fell out of the back of a truck...if ya know what I mean.  They were not like the little dinky fireworks I grew up with.  They made our sparklers and snakes look like baby fireworks.  It was so fun to just sit and be with good friends and being able to watch all the other neighborhood fireworks...which were very impressive.

Idaho Falls has the second best fireworks display in the nation.  I have never been to the Mellaluca show but I hear it is really cool but the traffic is crazy...over 50,000 people attend...with that many I feel ok about staying home.