4th of July!!!

This is truly one of the best holidays!!

 We had a fun filled day celebrating our beautiful country!

 We started off with a delicious breakfast at Nana's with our cousins.

hung out and played for the morning and then off to pick up our cute Boston

from his Trek Expedition.

later that night we celebrated again with our neighborhood with the 

"cul de sac" of fire! haha!!  LOTS of fireworks and bbq!  

It was a perfect day!

**** white chocolate trifle****

TO.DIE.FOR

marisa made italian creme sodas for the kids! it was definitely a hit...

fourth of july...

We kicked off our fourth of july with the Taylor Family Reunion.  Family came in from 

Arizona, Washington and West Virginia.   all Cory's siblings were together and all 28

grandchildren with 3 new little babies.

we are growing quite large.  Jake and Candace were in charge this year and planned 

lots of activities with beads that they got to put on their "Big T" necklace if they passed 

off the activities.  it was well planned and my children were in cousin heaven!

sleepovers every night and plenty of late nights!! 

the scouts presented the flag early on the fourth and then we spent 2 hours on a service project.

all the kids and family cleaned up broken tree branches, trimmed trees and did lots of

 yard work at Aunt Mary's {Mary Pulley} 

it was  a great way to start out the fourth of july honoring our beautiful country, and 

watching our boys present the flag.

I always choke up this time of year and am so grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy.

we are truly blessed!

getting our gloves on to start our service project...

Uncle Sam showed up with music to say hi to the little kids! haha  

these girls are tired and done helping. ha  

i guess they had a late night at their sleepover!

after the service project we played all sorts of water games, launched water balloons and 

played on papa's go kart!

after we had lunch and played games at nana's house we shifted over to our house for a polynesian chicken and coconut rice dinner.  the kids performed skits and passed off some more beads for their "big T" necklace.

we played all night and then watched the fireworks from our own backyard.  it was quite the 

show with the neighborhood fireworks and watching the fire

 on the mountain all night.

  

 these crazies were hilarious holding hands together and backflipping at the same time.  It's amazing no one was injured that day... er uh well actually cute little cousin hailey broke her leg that night.  good thing my awesome neighbor is our pediatrician.  boo!

the fourth of July!!

one of my favorite-est holidays!

i talked my sisters and nieces into waking up bright and early to start the holiday 

off with our morning 5k freedom run in provo! they thought i was nuts

 until they did it and LOVED it!  

this just gets you starting the day off just right with over 5000 runners 

+ lots of emotion + adrenaline + the national anthem! it's wonderful!

 i love america and all those who continue to protect 

our freedoms we enjoy, we live in such a beautiful country.

and i was so proud of my sister jill who ran her very first 5k race! yeeehoooo!

um yah, witney and ally dressed like that on purpose!! haha   love you girlies!

how cute are my girls in their darling outfits... didn't they turn out darling??

we had a wonderful day field with Family, Food and Fireworks!

we had a bbq at nana and papas with all of the taylor family.  the food was delicious

 and the kids played all kinds of water games!

some of the cousins.

then dessert was to follow... i made this super duper delicious trifle.

loved it!! {white chocolate pudding. yummmm}

then we made "banana boats" with the kids.  they loved putting together their own 

little mix and then we threw them on the grill with their names marked on them.   

we all went back to our house and enjoyed a gazillion fireworks in the cul de sac.  

it was awesome!

tyler entertained us with his $800 worth of fireworks!!

{ no joke, i think we did fireworks for the whole week! haha}

we all got good at the sparklers...

boston

olivia making her own initial.

olivia 

DIY bandana skirts...

these are perfect for the '4th of july'.

i saw this tutorial on pinterest and i just had to try it out.

 let me just say how easy it was and inexpensive.  overall cost was  $2.50 per skirt! 

  i found the bandanas at walmart and just grabbed some extra fabric for the bottom

 of the skirts while i was there too. 

*first iron the bandanas and cut in half with some fabric scissors.

*next i cut the 2 strips of the other material {checked material}

 the length of the bandana at 4 inches width

 {you could cut it wider if you want the skirt to be longer}

*place raw edge towards the bottom of the skirt with the "right side" of fabric facing up

*sew your strips onto the bottoms of the bandana then press with an iron.

*right sides together, line up your seams where the bandana and the bottom strip come together, sew together both halves to create a tube.

* next sew as close as you can to the bottom open edge of your casing 

{this will help to slide your elastic a lot easier}

and Voila!

look how adorable they turned out!! 

fourth of july celebrations...

0

were 'Spectacular' this year.

we celebrated on saturday the 3rd of July, 

sunday the "4th of july" 

and monday "the 5th of July"

this holiday is one of my favorites.  I love the parades, the colors, the patriotism everywhere, the colors of red, white and blue and the music that makes you tear up when you think of all those who we honor and who work so hard to make our country free.

'we are the home of the Brave'

I love that it was on a sunday this year.  My two favorite things...the gospel, and our country.  I LOVED in church when the congregation sang the "battle hymn of the republic" i totally lost it, the spirit was beautiful and to see so many others tearing up made my heart melt.  

We are truly blessed to be able to have freedom of religion & to live in such a beautiful country.

I love this country and am so proud to be an american.

"happy birthday america"

**********

Cory's family got together for nana's delicious ribs & plenty of trampoline time!   Homeade ice cream and ice cream cones were to follow...

impossible to get all these cute little cousins to look at you and smile {normal} haha

cute little charlotte

  

livi & lucy

                               

little miss 'chievious'

                               

*************

BBQ/Volleyball night at the Rhodes

swimming, volleyball tournament, croquet, & yummy food

we are big fans of "volleyball nights" at the rhodes.

  They know how to throw some fabulous summer parties.

below in the fireworks pictures,  Jane and I were experimenting with the night setting on our cameras.  I think they turned out pretty cool!

cutest little swimmers...

Boston & all his coolness

Cory

girlfriends..

the little girlfriends...

**********

Fireworks...

                         

                         

***************

July 5th 

Hansen family breakfast

Boston and his cousin Dalton presented the flag to start off our celebration.

We ate a delicious "kristy approved" breakfast with some other delicious treats.  The kids played Wiffle ball, balloon animals and made red, white & blue bracelets.   

**********

My sister & I ran the 5k race at Provo's freedom festival that morning.

It was so awesome.  It's my favorite race of the year.  Everyone is dressed in the colors of our country and hot air balloons are everywhere.   Everyone {5000 runners} start the race by singing our "national anthem" and then the gun is fired and we are running through the parade route.  

It was so awesome! 

I finished in 24 minutes!!