Independence Day!

Well, it has officially been forever since I last blogged. And you probably thought that I had absolutely no patriotic spirit at all since I haven't so much as mentioned our Fourth of July festivities...Hopefully this post will restore your faith in me as an American.
Our "Fourth" was great. We spent the whole time with family. My brother Kenny (and his family) came down from Mesa and were here from Thursday (July 2ND) to Monday (July 6TH). This gave us plenty of time to do everything we wanted to while they were here. Which included playing card games until wee hours of the morning and eating a ton of food and letting the kids swim in Mom's and Dad's pool while we stayed inside in the cool house. We have no pics of any of this since were were having too much fun.. So back to the Fourth Festivities.
Safford had a parade down Main Street which a lot of people came out for. We got a spot on the corner by Dad's old bank and waited for it to start.

It started with the National Anthem and someone leading the Pledge of Allegiance while the flag was raised at the courthouse. (I staged this photo after the Pledge was finished ...that is why Tyler's hat is back on his head and why Kaitlyn is looking at them with a funny face.)

The parade had some National Guard (I think) men in uniform marching at the head followed by a group of local scouts and then this guy wearing red, white and blue ringing the Liberty Bell. All of which were appropriate for the parade.

But then I guess any local organization who wanted to participate could do their version of a float which is when it got random. Smokey the Bear from the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service was there. And there were some little kids riding scooter ponies or something which were really cute and I missed what organization they were from but again...random. (Do you see the STAR sunglasses on some of the kids? See. Its American!)

Saturday night we went out to the Graham County Fairgrounds to watch the fireworks. There is always a huge crowd so I went early with my kids and saved places for Kenny and his family and Mom and Dad. There was a free concert of this new country band called Savannah Jack before the fireworks. They were good. The lead singer came down from the stage and went right next to us to sing to this little girl. It was cool. Plus he is kinda cute! Jeff missed the concert but arrived just in time for the fireworks show. I was happy that he made it to our family night of fun. He worked on the Fourth (and got paid holiday pay) and then had the fifth off.

I discovered a firework setting on our camera so I was having fun taking pics of them as they went off. I like the ones that have that dragged out effect more than the ones that just poof out and hold it there. Here are some of our (my) favorites.

Hope you all had a great Independence Day! Happy Birthday, America!