fourth of july celebrations...

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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"

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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'

                               

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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...

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Fireworks...

                         

                         

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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.   

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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!!

happy '11th' birthday to my boy...

Boston is an absolute joy to have around!  Cory & I always say "how is this child ours?"

 he's such an amazing kid.  He sets his own alarm and is so responsible at getting himself ready for school, makes his own lunches, and gets to church at 8:30 EVERY Sunday and sits up in the front!!  {church starts at 9}

He pays his tithing all on his own, i haven't ever had to remind him.  He saves his money and NEVER wants to spend it!  we literally laugh that he definitely is not taking after his momma in that area! haha 

 He loves "adventure" and is a true "adrenaline junkie"  he needs action at all times.  I love how he is continually working on some sort of trick, either on a bike, skateboard, trampoline or diving board.  He is SO much fun to watch!  His energy is contagious...  now that is from his momma~wink

He loves his siblings like crazy and loves to tease and wrestle them,then make them cry!

 a perfect older brother!  

lately he loves to watch "CSI", Billy the Exterminator, Worse case scenario with Bear Grylls, discovery channel, and ESPN with his dad.  He loves crab legs, artichokes and his dads famous hamburgers! 

 He has been so pumped to play tackle football this fall and has been padding up and playing in the yard with the neighbor boys. It would be hard to pick his fav sport right now, but is very possible that right now it is football!

this child has become an amazing little chef!  He makes the most incredible omeletes, and chops everything just perfect, and it is so delicious.  A few times in the kitchen he has asked if chef's make very good money! haha

he is our first love, and we feel so blessed to have been chosen to be his parents,

 love you bos,

Happy Birthday...

The birthday boy...

turned 'eleven' on wednesday!

and for his birthday he could pick a birthday party or a getaway with a friend to park city!

He chose the 'get -away'

we stayed 2 nights at our favorite resort in Park City, at the Canyons, 

"the grand summit" 

We picked up his friend Luke to come with us and we grabbed Mc Call  to help out.

that night the kids loved night swimming & shopping.  Boston's choice {nike factory outlet & adidias}  

the next morning we were going to go up in a Hot air balloon, but decided last minute against it since it was at 6:00 am and my little ones were a bit freaked out!

So instead we did the "Alpine slide, coaster and zipline" in Park City. The hot air balloon ride will have to wait.

Boston & Luke loved the zipline.  They needed some real adventure!

 Zipline... 

Alpine 'coaster' {our favorite}

Birthday dinner at "red rock brewery" 

another favorite of Boston's...

Night swimming!

'flowrider'

is Boston's all time favorite thing to do!  So on his real birthday we went to the 'lindon pool.'

 some of our good friends came along with us to play!

all this kid did the whole time was surf and tried to do a "kick flip" on the surfboard, he landed it once and then fell.  The line was long but he did NOT care.  It was hard to pry him away from this thing!

man, i love this kid of mine

                   

      

my darling friend rebecca made the cutest cupcakes with surfboards and waves!  So many people came up to check them out.  

she is like my own personal baker, i told her she should have her own side business! haha

happy birthday to my boy!!

again...

this pool is pretty much our favorite spot.  the kids loved the pirate slide and the lazy river, all while Boston and his friends did the 'flowrider'

      

                         

eclipse...

was absolutely Fabulous!!

i went with a bunch of girlfriends, {it's tradition now} out to eat at the Melting Pot right before our Midnight showing of the movie!

It was so much fun to see the crowd at the gateway.  Seriously some die hards!  

I just love listening to everyone in the theater scream when Jacob has his shirt off. Hahaha

This film was my favorite yet...

cedar hills festival...

we had the cutest little festival for the city of Cedar Hills last weekend.  They started off with the Parade in the morning, and plenty of candy was involved.

later that afternoon we went to Heritage park by the river and my kids had a blast jumping on bounce houses, face paintings, slides, rock climbing, digging for money in the sand and a bake off!

They had lots of booths with yummy food, and boutiques to shop.

it was so darling!

   The best part of the whole festival was the firemen!!

every hour they would spray the hose on all the kids by the park and drench them all!!  Cory even went in to get wet and he said it HURT! haha

they loved it!