Independence Day 2010

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! I have fond memories of getting excited for the missionaries to come join our family for a holiday picnic on the back porch. Spencer or Dad would grill hot dogs and hamburgers, we'd put out the red and white checkered table cloth, and we'd eat on those red, white, and blue plastic plates. As I got older we didn't always have the missionaries over, and I would often take on the job of using the hose to power wash all the patio furniture before the big day. It was always so hot during the picnic, and this would be the main day that we'd make use of the ceiling fan in our gazebo-feeling porch.

But, what I always thought was one of the best parts was the homemade ice cream! Dad would usually be in charge of making it, and I remember the motor being so loud and obnoxious for at least a half hour. When it was finally ready, he'd pull out the mixing part and put it on a cookie sheet. Most of us would promptly grab spoons and eat every last drop of stray ice cream off of the cookie sheet. We'd each eat a big bowl of the delicious treat, and we'd have a huge tupperware filled with the remaining ice cream. I always loved how much ice cream it made!

Things have obviously changed as I've grown and been in different situations for Independence Day. This year was my first year being in Provo for the holiday.

The Hansens and Jennifer watched the parade (which was actually the day after the 4th because the 4th was a Sunday) right in front of the spot that my ward had saved overnight. The first half of the parade I watched with my ward, but for the end of it I came and sat up with these cool people. I thought it was crazy how many people had camped out to save spots!

Here is Jennifer with Luke. It could have been a cute picture except for the fact that Luke was so wiggly. :)

I just had to take pictures of these two floats, because it was so funny/cool to me that temples were depicted on the various ward or stake floats. What a big deal parades are here in Utah!

This was one of the big balloons that went down the parade route. I felt like I was at a mini Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! There definitely weren't big balloons like this in our homecoming parades back home.

What a great country I am blessed to live in!