Ellis Island In The Park

This year there was a new element to the Freedom Festival called "Ellis Island In The Park" it ran on the 4th and 5th of July in the Scera Park in Orem. We decided that Saturday morning would be a great time to go see what it was all about. Since Andy is a big history buff, we thought it might be neat to learn what it would be like to be imigrating to this beautiful country. When you got to the park, the had a booth where you would buy your imigration materials that included a passport, a booklet of the constitution, and study materials that you would need to take the citizenship test prior to taking the "Oath of Citizenship". They had a small program with some very talented young singers and dancers that told stories of the first settlers here in this country. They showed the wars between the settlers and England and told the story of how Frances Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. It was really neat to see all of the people there to witness all of these great events. The very last song they sang at the program was "God Bless The USA" and I must admit that when the whole croud started singing I couldn't force the tears to stop for the longest time. It was amazing to hear a whole crowd of people who had no idea who anyone else was around them all singing out about how proud they are of this country. It was truly AMAZING!!! After the program was over we took Chloe over to the field where they had hundreds of flags standing in the shape of a star, and at every corner of the star were different facts about our history. It was a really fun day at the park, and it was especially great to be reminded of all the trials that people have gone through over the years to make our country great.

Happy 4th of July!!!

We hope that everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July. We had so much fun starting with a BBQ with Tiff's family and finishing off with a single firework with Andy's family. There was lots of cousins to play with and fun things to do outside. It was a beautiful day here and we couldn't have asked for better weather until we started our fireworks that night. Chloe's playset is at my mom's house so Chloe got to play with her cousins...Kellis, Savannah, Kasen and Kanyon. They had so much fun playing on the slides and just running around. It was really hard to get them inside for lunch and even harder to get them ready to go when it was time to leave. That night we had a BBQ with Andy's family and went out later that night to light fireworks. As is the norm here in Utah the weather decided at the very last minute that it didn't want to cooperate. We only got to light one single firework before the wind started to blow so hard that we decided it was too dangerous to light anymore. At least the one we got to see was very pretty. I always love getting together and spending time with the family. Especially on days when we have something as special as our freedoms and all of the people who fight so hard to make sure we keep those freedoms to celebrate. I am so grateful that we live in this amazing country where we can wear what we want, do what we want and have the abilities to make our dreams come true. Thank you to all of those who fight for our freedoms, and also to all of the families who sacrificed their precious time with their loved ones so that we can live the American dream.