The 4th of July

For as long as I can remember, we've always gone to Bear Lake to celebrate the 4th of July.  This year, the holiday was on a Wednesday and Kris and I only had that day off.  Taking two extra days off work is hard, so we went up on Friday night after the holiday instead.  This year, we celebrated Independence Day with my in-laws, Kris's parents.  It was such a great night.  We had burgers and some side dishes, the kids played  in the backyard, and it was nice to have some time to just chat and catch up.  There were no expectations, there was no rush, and what we had was a nice evening of company.

After dinner, we decided at the last minute to go up to the Cove and feed the ducks.  The fire had just happened, so it also gave Carol and Errol to see the burn areas and see how close this fire came versus the last one.  I had a couple of loaves of bread and we used the left over hamburger buns to feed the ducks.  I brought chairs thinking Carol and Errol would want to just sit and watch, but it instead, they joined the festivities - it was awesome!  I thought it was so cute how involved Errol was.  I think he could have stayed there all day.


After our duck feast, we headed over to the Riverton Fireworks show.  We got there pretty late and knew we wouldn't have the best seat in the house, but the kids seemed to enjoy it anyway.  While we waited for the show to begin, Kyson and Kodi were dancing and being goofy kids.  Just as they turned off the lights to give a warning that the show would begin soon, the entire crowd, nearly in unison, began to point and talk.  It wasn't fireworks everyone was talking about, it was the fire in Alpine.  When the lights went off, you could see the mountain on fire, and my heart went out to those who had been evacuated - I understood well what they were going through.

I'm so grateful for Independence Day.  It is a day that we get off work, but it means so much more.  This is the day where we became our own country and we have so many more rights and privileges that others in this world don't have.  While the holiday comes around only once a year, I'm grateful for the reminder of how lucky I am to live in America.

The burned mountain after the fire