Oh Say Can you See....

The 4th of July is by far one of our favorite holidays.
We officially "started dating" on the 4th of July 9 years ago, and we've always done something special to celebrate. It's my Grandma's birthday as well, so there's always a special family celebration just for her. I love watching fireworks, cooking out, and having an excuse to celebrate! This year was extra fun since it was J's first 4th. We celebrated by going to church on the 3rd with Matt's mom at the church he grew up attending. Matt went golfing with his brother and 2 good friends, while I hung out with my mom-in-law, sister-in-law, and 2 adorable nieces. Then, we went to a friend's house for a 4th of July BBQ and fireworks. AWESOME! I will say I'm a little conflicted about the new fireworks laws in Utah. I think what we make in revenue will be spent fighting fires and emergencies. BUT it was pretty amazing to be right there watching huge fireworks right above our heads. On the 4th, we visited Matt's dad's grave. It was J's first time going there, and was a special time for Matt I think. We took some pictures that we're going to print off for his mom, I think she'll love them. Matt's dad was an incredibly patriotic man, so it seemed fitting to visit his grave on this special holiday. The rest of the day was spent at my parent's house, BBQing hamburgers and celebrating my Grandma's 84th year! She has gotten quite forgetful and I'm not convinced she really understands who we are, but she sure loves watching Jason and is super affectionate towards us. It was fun to spend time together. We also played the wii and had some delicious birthday strawberry shortcake. Yum!
That night after treatment and J's last bottle, we put him in the stroller with his awesome earphones on and walked through the neighborhood admiring all the fireworks along the way. It was pretty surreal to walk around and hear what sounded like a warzone all around us. I couldn't help but think about the men and women in our military and people around the world who hear sounds like that in their neighborhoods all the time, yet it's not any type of celebration. I kept praying for people who have served overseas and are hearing these sounds again and hoping that it wasn't super hard on them. I have a super vivid memory and imagination, so I know that I wouldn't handle that so well.
Here are some adorable photos from the 4th... loving this little man sooooo much!

His new thing... party arms!

My new favorite family picture!

Matt said, "Take a picture of J in jail!"

Another dad idea... "does it look like J's standing in the tree!?"