..new traditions..

i am a very nostalgic person. i live for traditions. christmas time is so exciting to me because of all the traditions that have been in place since i was little. that's probably why i love all holidays so much - because of the traditions. sure, the candy and presents and all that stuff is nice, but it's honestly more just about the celebration for me.

for some reason, our family doesn't have many traditions for the fourth of july. the only thing we do is go to breakfast with some of our cousins the morning of the fourth. we don't go to a parade, or have a bbq, or spend time outside doing summery things. we just go to breakfast. i'm grateful we have at least that, but i've decided we need to start some new traditions for the fourth of july!

since everyone else does seem to have plans on the fourth, i decided we would start doing a bbq every year on the third - a way to kickstart the holiday. we invited our friends from our ward/neighborhood, and a few others that live in bountiful/nsl, and i was so happy that so many could make it! the party planner in me decided to make things very festive, and even though i only planned this a couple days in advance, i think it still turned out pretty patriotic and cute.

we enjoyed a plain ol' american bbq - hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, dip, salad, fruit, corn-on-the-cob and soda pop. i wanted to make a festive dessert, so i tried my hand at a red, white & blue shortcake featured on martha stewart's website. turned out pretty cute, and was pretty yummy, if i do say so myself. ;)

after dinner, we chatted the night away until it was dark enough to start some fireworks. i was excited to see how my boys would react - finn has always loved fireworks so i was curious if he still would, and also curious how sam would like them. finn loooooooved them. lance told him to cover his ears, and he picked up on that real quick. he would excitedly jump up and down whenever lance would light another one, quickly cover his ears, look up in the sky and wait for the big "bang!" and glimmer of lights. we gave all the kiddos sparklers, and finn loved that too. he was a little uncertain at first, and just stood there, arm extended all the way, staring at it. after it died he kept asking for more. he sure is his father's son - pyro at heart. ;) sam, on the other hand, wasn't as enthusiastic about the fireworks. i ran inside real quick to get something and left him outside with someone - when i came back out his face was bright red and he was making his sad face. i'm sure the noise scared him, and he probably also just needed his mama. i wonder what would have happened if i stayed out there? anyhow, we put some ear muffs on him and he calmed right down. by the end of the night he was sleeping soundly on my lap. :)

it was such a fun night, kick-starting the festivities with our friends. just in the past few months we have become really good friends with a few families in our ward. it has made our summer nights much more fun and eventful. we love having good friends nearby who we can do things with, whether it be dinner, movies, bbq's or just lighting off fireworks. i hope we all stay in this area for a while so that we stay good friends. and i hope that our 3rd of july bbq is a tradition we'll keep alive in the years to come.