Fourth of July

My second favorite holiday, after Christmas, is Independence Day. I have said many times, that we are blessed to live in this land. One of our family holiday traditions is going to the 4th of July parade in Inkom. It started when Lincoln was just 18 months old and we went to the Pocatello parade. After Tutus moved to Inkom, we went to the Inkom parade each year after that. We of course missed last year because Tutus were on their mission so it was fun to be back there. Normally the boys have a new flag shirt on but the ones I got them this year were too big and they refused to wear them so we went with red and blue Quiksilver instead. We took our chairs and flags and got to our normal viewing location - on the main street across from Bishrat's Market. Grandma Tutu, me and the boys walked over to the other little gas station market to get donuts and cold water for while we waited. The boys had their bags ready to go to catch the pieces of taffy and Bit-O-Honeys that would be thrown their way. Unfortunately, the the parade is getting to have fewer participants each year and the types of entries are very similar. It was the shortest it's ever been. 

After the parade, we headed into town to have lunch and catch a movie. We saw Despicable Me 3, which turned out to not be as good as the first two. We had a BBQ dinner at the house with all of the traditional fixin's. That night we went to Tutus friends house, Dr. Jason West. He lives in Pocatello and his home looks out over the fairgrounds where they laughed the fireworks from. We got to watch the entire show from their backyard. It turned out to be a pretty relaxing day. I'm grateful for the men and women that serve our country in the military, police and firefighters. It is something that I think we often take for granted. I'm grateful that my mother instilled patriotism and respect for and a love of country in me. I hope I can do the same for my boys. May God bless America!