Let Freedom Ring

Independence Day started the way a lot of patriotic holidays start around here--delivering flags around the neighborhood.  At 7:00 a.m.  Nothing says vacation quite like that.

The youth in our ward put flags on peoples' yards for a fundraiser--the young men and young women trade holidays.  It's really sad when you're the Young Women president's daughter and your mom bangs on your bedroom door until you get up.  If you're the Young Women president's husband, you come along and help too.  He's a good guy (and strong which helps when driving rebar into hard packed dirt.)

This was the view from our neighborhood.

someone strung a huge flag across the canyon

We hit Kneaders for breakfast.  All you can eat French toast.  I can't eat more than two slices but they are a really good two slices.  Braeden said eating French toast was our way of honoring the French who helped us win the Revolutionary War.  Then he quizzed us on U.S. history trivia and we all failed miserably.

He was a little disgusted.

We spent the day getting ready for our Seattle trip.  We are excited.  We have more places to visit and people to see than we have time for but that's not a bad problem to have.  We'll be back again.

A year ago this last week, Adam interviewed for his new job and we found our house.  It's surreal to think about the year in between.  What a year.  There are parts of Washington that I miss so much it makes me ache (mostly people but other things too).

This feels like home too though.  There are a lot of wonderful things about living in the mountain west.  I love the proximity to my family.  I love my kids' friends.  I love the mountains and blue skies.  I love seeing church steeples and temples in every direction.  As far as changing states go, we could have done worse.

The boys got to help when we gathered up flags (lucky kids).

Rolling up flags means intense concentration

We watched fireworks across the valley from our deck.

I loved our panoramic view of everything (and there was a lot going on!).  Our old neighborhood felt like a smoke filled battleground on the 4th of July.  I loved being above and away from the action a little bit.

I am glad to be American.  I love that we have the freedom to disagree and to keep our leaders accountable but we also value democracy enough that we're not going to stage a coup if we don't like what's going on. 

It's pretty miraculous.