4th of July

I love small towns. My grandparents just happen to live in a pretty cute one.

Fillmore, Utah.

Growing up, my brothers and sisters and I dreaded any type of stop my parents made when driving through this town. We thought it was boring. We thought it was old.

Now that I am older, I understand the character of it. There is something quaint and sweet about the people who live there. And as long as we have family there, I think I will force my kids to make stops there too. Maybe someday they will get it.

We spent our 4th of July morning walking to the parade on Main Street (of course). We lined up our lawn chairs and gave each of the kids a bag for their candy (yes, they still throw candy). My grandparents spent the duration of the parade waving to everyone and calling them by name. It's like the show Cheers... "Everybody knows your name."

We had such a fun time.

After the parade, we drove to Provo to attend the Stadium of Fire. It held up to its name. It was amazing. Very patriotic.

Beckham is our planes, trains and automobiles kid. I wish I had a video camera to video tape his reaction when the jets flew over the stadium. Total freak out.

I picked him up at one point and held him on my hip. Some military helicopters flew over the stadium and the freak out began again. He held his fist up in the air and yelled. And then I felt something warm on my hip. "Did he just...?"

Yep. Peed. The kid was excited. It leaked right through his diaper through his pants through my first layer of shirts, through the second layer...

We were both soaked.

I took him out to change his diaper and get us cleaned up. It was almost no use. I didn't bring an extra set of clothes for him, so he spent the rest of the celebration pant-less.

We also got to see the Jonas Brothers. Honestly, I knew who they were but had never heard any of their songs. My 10-year old sister on the other hand, thought that they were "awesome" in every sense of the word and knew everything about them. In the middle of their performance, I looked over at her and saw that she was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I am just so happy right now."

Oh boy.

It was an amazing show and an amazing day. I am so thankful for this country we live in and for all of the blessings and freedoms that come with it.