*Noah's First Fourth*

We look forward to Independence Day every year! Seven years ago, July 4th, Stephen and I had our first official date..so in a way it's what started it all for us! Not only that, but my family has a time honored tradition of a get together with food, and fireworks, so it has always been a favorite holiday of mine! (We also have our own tradition of baseball and fireworks that we try to work in, or take turns going to each year.) This year we welcomed the day with much more excitement because of it being the first 4th with Noah!

We started out the morning at Village Inn for breakfast with Stephen's side of the family. Which is another tradition as well! We had fun eating, chatting, and just being together as a family! After breakfast we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's (mom and dad Benson), to visit for a bit! There we tried to catch the perfect pic of the two little ones in their 4th of July attire. Here are a few pics of the cute kiddos, and some with Grandma Kaydean too!

The sun never sets when you're this cool!:

Maggie & Noah playing together..well kind of playing together:

Some sort of baby ESP communicating going on. ;)

Proud to be an American! :

So cool in our red, white, and blue!:

The "best" picture of the bunch.. they're both looking up and semi-smiling!: Noah had on a red, white, and blue shirt that said "American Made" paired with red, white, and blue plaid shorts. We also bought the cutest red, white, and blue flip flops with a strap going around the back so babies can keep them on, but the keeping them on part wasn't happening. Maggie had on a cute, patriotic shirt that said "I'm Independent" paired with jean shorts, and she had a cute red clip in her hair! They both looked adorable! I'm sure Aunt Liz would agree with me that dressing them up for the holiday was fun! :)

After visiting for a bit we headed for a day out watching "America's Pastime" of course! Our nephew Colton plays baseball on a comp team (comp = competition) and they had a tournament going on in Spanish Fork. It was a long day out in the heat (102 degrees!), but it was fun! The afternoon then turned into evening and we were at the traditional gathering of family and friends for food and fireworks! This year a few family friends that normally come didn't make it, so our group was a lot smaller than normal, but it was still fun to visit, and eat! ;) We normally watch the fireworks from my mom's front lawn, but this year they were shooting them off from the Jr. High instead of the High School due to construction going on at the High School. We decided to go to the cemetery to watch the fireworks, seems a little creepy, but it was the perfect spot to watch them! In a nostalgic way it was also kind of special to be by my dad's grave watching them. The fireworks were great, and Noah didn't seem startled at all by the big booms which I was a bit surprised by because loud noises usually startle him. He was really tired and worn out by the end of the night, understandably, but we still managed to coincidentally get a smile out of him in the picture we took!

Stephen looks grumpy..he wasn't!

I look cheesy...typical, because I am!

Noah looks cute.. because he always does!

All in all it was a great day, spent with our wonderfully family! We feel so blessed to live where we do, and how we do (freely in all ways)! Sure we could find things to complain about, but focusing on the big picture we truly are so blessed to have our freedom and live in the U.S.A! We are so grateful to those men and women who have given their lives, risked their lives, do risk their lives, and will risk their lives to ensure that our great Nation continues to be just that, great! To this day, no matter how many times I've heard it..even if it's been every night for 5 or 6 days straight at the baseball games...I still get teary eyed, and my heart is full when I hear the National Anthem being sung. I know it is the same for Stephen! I hope we can pass along the great pride we have in our country, and our heritage to Noah so that he can look forward to Independence Day for more reasons than just food, fireworks, and fun!