Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love that it is summertime and hot and everyone eats watermelon and barbeques and we go to the beach and watch fireworks and feel good about America. Anyway, this year was even more special because we got to spend it with our good friends the Towers. It's been two years since they left sunny So. Cal. for sunny Florida and it was so good to see them. We went to a few of the places they had all missed here: Chuck E. Cheese (only the kids missed this one), Lucille's, Rainforest Cafe, and the beach. We saw fireworks, the Bass Pro Shop and Victoria Gardens, went swimming and played Rock Band and even had a parade. We also got to see some other good friends who moved away (but they are moving back!!), the Sanders. It was a great weekend and saying goodbye when it was time for them to leave was just as hard as saying goodbye when they moved two years ago. I would have taken more pictures of us all this weekend, but my camera battery died. Lauren, however, took more than enough pictures for all of us! Check out her blog for more!

Our patriotic little family.

Here's some of the kids at the parade Sandy organized. What a fun idea! After the Stake pancake breakfast, we went to a local park and had the kids decorate themselves and their bikes and ride around while the parents cheered and threw candy at them. Afterwards, we had water balloons to throw and a slip 'n slide to cool them all off. It was really fun.

You couldn't tell it had been two years since they'd seen each other. Maylan, Maggie and Molly picked right back up where they left off. Such good friends! Maylan cried when it was time to say goodbye. Hopefully we'll be heading to Florida to visit soon.