Happy 4th of July!
When I was a kid if you were to ask me what my favorite holiday was, I would have had a really hard decision to make. Christmas or the 4th of July. I loved the 4th of July. Let me take you back with me for a moment...
Our ward had a 4th of July breakfast at the church beginning at 7:00 a.m. They also had a "make shift" band compiled of any ward member who could play or attempt to play, an instrument. The band would gather on a flat bed or pick-up truck (depending on the size of the band that year,) and drive around the ward at 6:00 to wake everyone for the breakfast. Now remember our ward boundaries in Bountiful Utah don't even go a mile, (this would not work in Brentwood).
The families would head over to the church parking lot for a great breakfast and a reunion of sorts. Not only were the current ward members there, anyone who had every lived in our ward, and their kids, and their kids, and so on and so on... It was always fun to see who came and what was happening in their lives.
After the breakfast, the kids would all get together and talk and goof around. After about an hour a water fight would usually break out. We loved that!
We would go home and change my wet clothes and head up to Grandma's in Kaysville. Grandpa had set our chairs up the day before in just the right spot for the parade. We would walk down to the parade and watch.
Then there was a carnival over by the library. We would go play games and get prizes. Loved that!
After that we'd go back to grandma's and hang out, nap, talk etc. Around 6:00 we would have our dinner out on the patio in the backyard. My grandma and grandpa Palmer had a beautiful backyard with lots of room for us! We would eat our yummy meal, you know the kind where everyone brings your favorite food, and you can't imagine getting full... ever.
Someone would grab the yellow plastic bat, and the baseball game was on! Everyone played baseball, except for the moms. All the kids loved this game, because our dads and grandpa would play. I will never forget those games.
When it started to get dark, we would get the sparklers out, and any other fireworks we had. I loved running around the backyard with my cousins and my sparklers, (probably not so safe now that I think of it, but no one was ever maimed.)
Once it got really dark we would haul the lawn furniture over to the side of the house for the BIG fireworks. Kaysville City puts on a big show at the high school about a half a mile from the house. There were always big crowds in the stands and all over the grounds at the school. We always felt so cool that we didn't have to leave the house and haul chairs 2 miles to see fireworks.
We huddled under blankets and stared at the sky, waiting. Then they came. And they were always better than the year before. Sometimes my cousin Blake and I would try to guess the colors before they came up.
Then it was over. And just like Christmas you can't believe it went by so fast!
Last year was hard for me. Being in California, away from my family on that holiday. Even though things have changed a lot since I was little, I still loved the 4th. I loved being with "my people".
I know I'm a big girl now, with my own family, and I need to find our own traditions. I'm working on it.
This year we did better. We went to Clayton for some festivities.
We had a great pancake breakfast, chatted with the locals a bit, and then watched the parade.
Macie's favorite part of the parade:
My favorite part:
Dogs in a parade. Dogs colored red, white, and blue in a parade. hmmm.
It was a typical small town, goofy parade, but I liked it. I felt like a real family.
I know our family is still growing, but hopefully we will come up with traditions that our kids will love, and miss, when they get big.
4 comments:
It is the hardest thing to find new traditions. I am glad you are doing it. It makes these times a lot easier. But as I remember, you santered out of bed about the time they were serving breakfast!!! We were the ones who would be up and outside so we could see the band coming! I think that is why you never wanted to sleep over, so you wouldn't have to wake up at the "butt crack" of dawn!!! I am glad you had a good time...in Arizona its a sucky holiday, its too hot to do anything! Love ya!!
I love your memories of the 4th...I feel the same way about when I grew up, the 4th was the best...Now I have my own family and our own traditions and I love it even more...keep workin on it and it will feel your "own" again...can't wait to see you!
Ricci and Amy are right...you'll find them, but sometimes it takes awhile to make it feel like a tradition. This was my 46th year watching fireworks from Grandpa's lawn, 34 of which were spent with you and your Dad. Grandpa talked about all the activity that had gone on in that backyard over the many years. It was fun for him to see all his little Great-Grandkids enjoying his yard.... Time goes on and things change, but being a close family goes on forever, even if there's only 3 or 4 of you!!!!!
We missed you!
The Hale family tradition this year was we went to Chili's, the kids fav and then since we didn't know where the fireworks were we came home and watched them on tv. I hope next year we can do a tradition that I want to continue!!! Love your memories keep them up!
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