Fourth of July

Fourth of July was great.  It was the first fourth that we have had in awhile that we have actually enjoyed and gotten into the spirit of the occasion.  In the morning we got the kids dressed in their American Flag shirts and got an adorable picture of the three of them together.  Then we all got into our American themed garb and started in on the cooking of the barbecue feast.  I blasted the patriotic tunes on my new iTunes speaker that I got for my b-day.   Nana and the kids put together an American states puzzle and I made the Flag themed sugar cookie that I make every year while Dad BBQ-ed hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill.  ;0)

My cookie creation!  I love it and it is sooooo good!

Selfie with the cookie!  

After the length of the day, filled with food, family, and National Treasure, we tuned into the National broadcast from Washington DC on PBS.  It was really fun to listen to all the patriotic songs and the boys danced the evening away.  We watched the fireworks the hovered over the Washington Monument and then we loaded up in the cars for the end of the evening.  Brigham City was having their fireworks at dusk and so we went over to the big park in town, found a decent spot, and settled in for the wait to sundown.  I was actually pleasantly surprised.  Having just come from Disney World where they pride themselves in having the best fireworks in the world, I was shocked at just how good the small town fireworks show turned out to be.  There was music streamed through speakers placed throughout the whole park and the bugs weren't too thick, so I definitely enjoyed it.  It is something I believe we will add to our list of traditions.  It truly lightened my spirits about the kind of family memories that can be made here.  It has me terribly excited for the holiday season now!

Since then, we have been avidly job hunting.  Some of the job opportunities we had lined up fell through or turned out to not be what we thought and so we have been scrambling to get something to bite.  We have been going to the temple a lot to gain peace and calm through all the disappointment and God has been with us every step of the way.  Sometimes when I think that He has forgotten us, He manifests himself in the smallest of ways and I am humbled to know that we are still significant to Him and that He is mindful of us.  We have had some pretty promising opportunities that have been definite "nos" from God and it has been hard to walk away from potential opportunities when we are so desperate to have our lives start.  But we know that we have been making the right decisions and that God will bless us immensely in the end.  We just have to continue to exercise our faith.  (And we are grateful for all the temple time!)