Our Fourth.

The Fourth of July has always been a fun holiday for our family.  Due to the fact that my immediate and most of my extended family lives in or around little Provo, family get togethers are a must for anything that can be celebrated.  

The Fourth of a July is no exception.  

Our day started with getting our red, white, and blue garb together and attempting to match.  Not bad, eh?  

(Ignore the photo bombers of an otherwise cute picture.  This is normal for them.)

 Then we headed on over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the annual barbecue and fun in the backyard.  My cousin's twins were there this year and I absolutely adore them.  I have hopes of one day having twins just like them.  I've always wanted twin boys.  It's always been a dream of mine.  Too bad twin girls run in the family instead.

But seriously, aren't they just precious?!  They eat potato bugs, beg for grapes, and beat each other up like brothers should.  

I want a set just like them.

 The grill master and his wife (otherwise known as Jamie's-saving-grace-during-her-first-year-of-teaching-and-the-best-mentor-ever).  They made some delicious brauts this year.

The hot mama and papa.  Best parents ever.  Hands down.  

To prove my point, my Dad bought us a key safe that night so the next time we lock ourselves out of our house he wouldn't have to come to the rescue and help us break in.  Instead of freaking out (like yours truly) he brought his tool box over along with other odds and ends and helped us break into our house.  He's the most patient father ever.  If you ask him a question, he teaches you and doesn't make you feel stupid or worthless because you don't know the answer.  He loves you whole-heartedly.  And my mom!  Goodness knows how many times she has jump-started our cars, driven us to work if needed, helped out in my classroom, corrected papers, and brought us food galore in case we're "starving".  

See why they're so awesome?

Melanie and Damon (who now officially live less than 3 blocks from us.  We're pretty excited.)

And the best tradition ever for the Fourth of July is watching the movie, "Rocketman."  If you've never seen it, you live a deprived life.  We have most of it memorized by now, but watching it with aunts, uncles, and cousins is too much fun to ever stop the tradition any time soon.

And you can't forget the fireworks!  My cousin has been a pyro since birth and his firework shows get better and better every year.  He's been known to rig up some pretty cool displays that no one else has ever seen before. 

Once sparklers lost their appeal to us when we reached our teenage years, my aunt started buying us glowsticks for the Fourth.  We have more fun playing with those than any 10 second sparkler show.

 All in all, we had a fantastic holiday and couldn't have asked for better weather or company. 

Can you believe that this is our 3rd Fourth of July together while being married?!  Time has flown!

Happy [Belated] Fourth of July!