Proud to be an American!

We had such a great holiday this year!  Landen got an extra night off so we had a really long weekend together.  It was awesome.  We started the celebrations on the 3rd at the Manning's Pool Party.  It has been really hot this summer so it was so great to cool off in the pool.  Ellie loved it!  And she was the cutest little baby in her swimsuit and hat!!!  Oh my goodness.  Just let the pictures do their job. The Logan fireworks were awesome!  Ellie slept through the whole show.  It amazes me what babies can sleep through.  Oh, and we had cute matching red painted toenails :)

On the 4th we headed down to Springville to visit Jared and Megan.  It was so nice to spend a few days with them!  I hate being so far away from them now.  We had a cookout and homemade ice cream.  That night we went up by the Provo Temple to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks.  It was pretty crazy up there...so many people!  But we had a great time.  Funny story:  Poor Rylie.  We may have scarred her for life.  She had to go to the bathroom really bad, but there weren't any restrooms close by...so I said I had a diaper she could use...yeah, I think you can figure out the rest.  It was hilarious though!  She didn't mention it the rest of the weekend...so maybe we didn't scar her...  Anyway. 

On Friday we went swimming at the new Provo Rec Center.  They have indoor and outdoor pools, it was awesome.  I stayed inside the whole time with Ellie, it was so nice to not have to worry about the sun with her.  She loved the water.  We had so much fun in the lazy river...but it wasn't too lazy, it was pretty fast.  She didn't mind getting water splashed in her face, which I am really happy about.  I don't want her to be scared of water.  (Sometimes in the bath I let water run down her face so she can get used to it...I hope that doesn't make me a mean Mom...)  While we were just sitting in the shallow water she was kicking her legs a lot and just seemed so happy.  So fun!  It was so much fun to play with Nathan, Rylie, Maya and Juliet.  Nathan and Rylie LOVED the water slides!!!  It was so cute!  That night Jared did some little fireworks at home.  The kids loved the sparklers!  Maya really loved them until she grabbed the hot part...poor baby.  Luckily she just had a few small blisters and the band aids sure seemed to help :)  I loved spending time with all of them.  Rylie just loved Ellie.  We call her Ellie Belly a lot (thanks to Adri) and Rylie loved calling her that.  She would say, "Ellie Belly, where's your belly?!"  So cute.  I just love those kiddos.  I can't get enough of them.  Even though I have my own baby now I still NEED them.  It was so fun to hang out with family and eat and swim and watch fireworks all weekend.  I'm so grateful for our families! 

I'm also so grateful to be an American.  We are so blessed to live in this country and enjoy the freedoms that we have.  Especially the freedom of religion.  I'm so grateful for all those men and women who have fought and who are still fighting to help protect those freedoms.  Happy Independence Day!