Happy 4th of July!/My Sister, the Rock Star!

I have always loved the 4th of July. I come from a very patriotic family, so the day is always full of traditional bbq goodies, fantastic music about our country, and, of course, amazing fireworks. In fact, Adam and I were just talking about how the 4th of July is kind of the anniversary of us getting together. 2 years ago (right after he got home from his mission) we invited his family to share the day with us. The evening ended with a spectacular fireworks show--my parents' backyard is basically a front row seat to see the show at the park right below. All growing up I would sit during the fireworks and wish that I had someone special to share them with. Well, my ultimate someone was there that night! We sat together for the show, watched a movie with my family, and then he and I stayed up talking until 3am!!! The rest of the story...well, we all know how splendidly it worked out. This year we are in Logan with my mom's entire extended family. It's a total blast! And man, it totally would not have come together, were it not for my older sister Cheralyn. She seriously is a rock star! Cheralyn has been working for months on this reunion--giving people assignments, planning awesome activities, and making hundreds of calls to take care of all the important details like food (most definitely high on the list for our family, haha). I do not know of anyone else who could have pulled off such an incredible event, and it's not even over, yet! AND she just had a baby in April!!! She truly is the best! Today we had a patriotic program to start the holiday on the right foot. One of my uncles, all of his sons, and one of his sons-in-law are in the Air Force, so they were in charge of the program, along with another cousin and my brother who are also in the Air Force. We are definitely a family who supports our troops!!! Our grandfather started it all as a navigator in a B 52. Anyway, it was so neat because all of them are in the Air Force, but they were each wearing a different uniform, so we were able to learn all about the different things they wear and why. They also explained the history of our flag and presented flags that were flown during Operation Iraqi Freedom to my uncle, the oldest in the family, and my aunt who has served for years as a Utah state legislator and senator. We also had a slide show of everyone in our family doing different things that are special to our country--visiting the Statue of Liberty, saluting the flag, walking around Times Square, etc. The rest of the day was full of an AWESOME bbq (the hamburger patties were like huge steaks!!!), family olympics, and our own sparklers and fireworks show. What a great day!!! Oh, and Steven has been such a sweetheart through it all! He has been soooo over-stimulated this weekend, but he is handling it like a champ and still being his sweet, happy self. Most of the pictures with this post have nothing to do with our holiday weekend, but he's just so dang cute, I had to share!









My cousin Chrissy and her husband Kevin meeting Steven and his cousin Thomas :)










Lots of cousins gathering for our fun reunion!