Happy Birthday to Chase and Our Country

We started off our Independance day celebration a little bit early with a BBQ at our friends' house Friday night. We had lots of fun eating, talking and the kids had a blast playing games. We ended the night with a little fireworks show. This year I made Hunter wear socks and shoes. Last year he kept burning his toys in his flip flops. But he still managed to burn his finger setting off fireworks!

Saturday we had a fun morning of pancakes and presents. I can't believe Chase is SIX! He is going to be in first grade next year.Chase got lots of Legos, transformers and a new Wii game. He and Hunter were so excited to play with the new toys.

That afternoon we headed to our annual Fourth of July lunch at Uncle Scott's house. It's fun getting together with the Staker family. The cousins had fun playing together and pigging out on treats.

Mike enjoying his Mom's cake.

Kaden and Hunter

Bronson and Sara

Aria, Kara and Jenna. Aria adores her cousins Kara, Jenna and Jaida. She follows them everywhere and likes to be one of the "big" girls.
Jessica and cutie baby Kyle
Our cute little family

That night we had a little birthday BBQ for Chase. Here he is waiting to blow out the candles on his Red, White, and Blue trifle.

Our friends had a bunch of extra tickets to the Stadium of Fire so we decided to try it out. Mike's Mom and Megan and her family were able to come as well. We even had an extra ticket for Tiffles! We had to split up so us girls went and sat with the Gardaniers and Mike and the boys sat with his family. We girls were all the way on the south end so we felt the heat from the fireworks and flames.

We loved the jets flying over and all the dancers. Aria was loving the music but as soon as the first firework went off she freaked out. She DID NOT like the big booms that accompanied the fireworks. They scared her to death. She had her little hands over her ears almost the entire time.

SheDaisy and the Jonas Brothers put on a great show. It was so funny to hear all the little girls screaming their heads off when the Jonas brothers came out. I am familiar with a couple of their songs, but my kids aren't really into all that yet so I'm not a real Jonas Brother fan. Our friends, the Gardaniers, on the other hand knew all the words and were singing along to every song. It was a lot of fun watching Steve rock out during the show. :)

We were basically right under the fireworks as they were going off. It was a spectacular show. I was sad that Aria wasn't having a good time. Michela LOVED the fireworks show. Towards the end Aria finally peeked her head out from under the blanket and watched the fireworks with her ears covered. She kept saying, "Can we go home Mom?" Poor, sweet little thing.

I am so grateful to live in this great Nation. How blessed we truly are because of all the freedoms we are able to enjoy. I feel so blessed and so proud to be an American. I love celebrating this wonderful day. What a fantastic Fourth of July we had!