My Favorite Holiday...

Park in all his glory at the neighborhood parade

Linc sacked out for his first 4th fireworks

I just love the 4th of July, I've dubbed it my new favorite holiday! It's a busy day, but a loungy, fun day! (I know, that's not a word)

I started the morning with a 10k with my sister Meagan, we finished under an hour which some people might be disappointed with that but I was ecstatic with it!

I then rushed home for our neighborhood parade. All the kids decorate their bikes, wagons, 4-wheelers, whatever & the fire marshall that lives by us brings his station SUV with sirens & lights to head the kids around the block ending with popsicles & kisses & hugs from Grandma & Grandpa Freckleton. We did it last year too but Park wasn't quite aware of what was going on. This year he was all about it, waving & blowing kisses, the whole deal! Grandpa gave him his Harley gloves for the ride too which topped off the whole ensemble!

Off to the Kaysville parade that Parker loved last year & this year too. This year for some reason he was a little nervous at first about the fire engines with their sirens (even though he loves them) & was hesitant to go into the street for the candy. He soon warmed up & had a blast. The bigger kids are obviously quicker at grabbing the goodies & often would snatch them just as Park was going for them but being older were nice enough to hand them over to him. Being the smart cookie that he is, he stopped even trying to get the candy & just started holding out his hands to the big kids every time they'd pick up a piece, it was hilarious but I told him he needed to start getting his own & quit mooching!

The afternoon was spent lounging in my sister's AMAZING backyard under the trees, eating great BBQ & watching while the kids jumped, swam, & played. Jas challenged me to a trial run of the 40 yard dash he "thinks" he can beat me in. If you haven't already seen it on facebook, I'll give you the rundown. I was only wearing flip flops & he had sneakers on so I made him take them off for a fair race. We started at the back of the yard & we were only going to go about 17 yards. Meagan started us & about 3 steps in I saw out of my peripheral vision Jas slip, try to recover in about 3-4 awkward steps & totally biff it to the ground! Even as he fell he was still grasping at the ground in an effort to further his position. I remember it like it happened in super slow-mo! I was laughing so hard I then fell to the ground, showing my beautiful bum crack to the camera! HILARIOUS! I'll briefly mention that we ran it two more times after that & he did beat me by just a hair. That being said, it was only 17 yards, not the full 40-so I'll see him on race day. Buy your tickets & make your bets people!

Fireworks in Kaysville were a bit of a dud this year, surprisingly because last year was pretty good. The kids still had a blast though. We had bought glow sticks, necklaces, & poppers at the dollar store before hand so they played with those until the show began. Parker refused to call the glow sticks anything other than light sabers & had a little sword fight with Jas with them. We were all cuddled up on our blanket as a family & Jas was loving watching them with Park but then he said, "I want to lay by Alex (his cousin) It just about broke Jason's heart! But they were so cute cuddling up together in their blanket & Parker kept asking Alex funny questions like, "are they rocket ships, Alex?"

I love living so close to my family. I love that Parker will get to know & be friends with his cousins. We are so blessed in all that we have & the wonderful country that we live in!