Independence DAY!

Today Independence Day I'm thankful for so many things!: 

#1 - A very cool 4th of July parade. I know that I'm a little bias but my little hometown of Ashton, Idaho has the best 4th of July parade in the whole entire U.S. of A. It begins with a very cool fly over, they pass out little cartons of chocolate milk, half of the parade consist of my relatives or people I used to babysit, all the little kids collect huge bags of candy, and it all only last a half hour. That last reason is my favorite - needless to say attending the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is not on my list of things to do before I die. My Ashton parade on the 4th though - I'd never pass it up.

#2 - This little sweetheart. I just love her. I also love that Liz got in the back of the picture. We were all having a great time at the parade. And I love these two other equally as sweet little girls who had the perfect seats on their daddy's shoulders. 

#3 - Fun at the city park. After the parade we headed over to the city park where there is always a little festivities going on. We found Uncle Mat and bought a hamburger for lunch. Uncle Mat and 1st ward scouts always sell hamburgers. I'm always very happy to eat one for lunch. 

#4 - Next we headed out to David's house to ride the war wagon. My mom's cousin David trains horses and is always so nice to let the kids come and ride. He also hitches two up to a wagon that has a couple of hay bales on it and we all pile on and go for a ride. I'm not going to lie sometimes we come down off the hill and in your head you're planning how you'd get out of the way if it was toppling over. This plan also includes how you'd save the small children that are holding onto you for dear life. We're probably never in real danger but it is call the war wagon and it does have the possibility of being dangerous.  

#5 - Root beer floats at the Frostop. There is just something about a root beer float on a hot July day out of a chilled mug. Kolby and I couldn't get enough! We had quite the crowd and had lots of fun! 

Max and Emme waiting for ice cream. 

Liddy, Mary, Kera, and Porter

Max and I. Max loves to have his picture taken even though he's not looking at the camera in this shot. 

Kera loved her float. 

This little one is pretty excited! A little ice cream always does a kid good. 

Max loving him a little chocolate. 

#5 - After ice cream we headed to Warm River were we decided that we needed to get wet and float the river. It doesn't matter how hot the afternoon is but that water is always so cold I have to scream when I get in. I'm pretty sure I've screamed every time I've first gotten in for the summer since I was a little girl. Today Jonathan laughed and said, “Every year it never gets any warmer. That first shock is always the worst.” It's so true every year somehow you think it'd get a bit warmer but nope, Warm river has nothing warm about it.  

 

#6 - A family picture with our cool Clark reunion t-shirts. My family is a lot of fun. I just love them. I love that we love to be together and I love my sweet grandpa who is always in the center of it all. I just love knowing that my family is mine forever! 

#7 - Tonight my family was in charge of dinner and we ate some yummy tacos. I was in charge of cooking tortillas. It all was very delicious. 

#8 - Campfires and making more memories. I never quite get enough of just sitting around the fire and telling the same old stories. We like to talk about life, share memories of my grandma, and tell family secrets that can never be retold unless it's next year and we're around the campfire again. I've learned many an interesting tidbit about family members from stories told around the fire. 

#9 - Having Max and Kolby spend the night. I asked Amanda if her and Jed's boys could sleep spend the night up with us. They're so sweet and I was glad they got to spend one night with all of us. Amanda tucked them in before she left - gave them hugs, kisses, and told them how much she loved them. I thought in my head, "I want to be just like Amanda some day. She's such an amazing mom and person. I'm lucky to know her.