It all began July 3rd with swimming with Monson and Lexi’s family at Morley's pool, then off to Landon and Alex’s for a late-night - outside viewing of HAMILTON. ( we had to wait til almost dark...so an after 9 start) It was sooo good… but it didn’t get over til almost midnight. Landon and Alex were so nice to host us for the Hamilton watch party. To make it Pinterest approved… they served up “And Peggy popcorn,” “I’m not throwing away my bundt cake” “Hamilton hooch” “say NO to this sheet cake” and “ Dear Pao de queijo” ( Brazilian cheese rolls) It was all a stretch...but fun to come up with. We watched on their outdoor wall -- thank goodness for subtitles so we could keep up with it all.
We threw our own parade. It was a riot. 
Emilee Belnap Dahl and I are really good at getting things done. ( We did our Black Lives Matter rally ) Emo said we should have our own little kid parade and I agreed. We decided the best parts about a parade for kids is the throwing of the candy and getting squirted with water...and they like afire truck siren thrown in. So that’s what it was. We sent out a post/text to our neighborhood and told them the Welches and Belnaps were doing this and please join us. THEY DID!
It turned out better than expected. It may have been the greatest, spur of the moment, 20 minute parade of all times. We had a police car, fire trucks, some sweet vintage(ish) cars, convertibles, cars, a boat, all terrain vehicles, our blue truck decked out with flags and music blaring and God Bless America signs.
We had flags galore, pandemic royalty, 2 wonder women and candy coming from all directions. Our neighborhood kids ( and my grands) had a blast! Maybe 50 spectators and 10 vehicles altogether. We went around the block twice throwing candy and spraying people with water and some silly string. Young and old came out. I swore I was done with Bountiful parades for the rest of my life...but this was legit awesome! Thinking about doing it again next year!
We had Monson’s and Addison’s families celebrate with us all day. After the parade we cooled off in our neighbor's pool (thanks Jill ) for a bit, then back home for scones, Fizz drinks and a dance party with Laila leading the kids in Disney zumba videos.
It was a riot. By 2-- we were back at the Butters pool for more swimming and Laila had Addison tape a flag shape to her back so she could lay out and tan a flag onto her skin. After an hour in excruciating heat..she was successful. So funny.
We came back home to a bbq and games. Addison and Bre made patriotic macarons and we had burgers and salads and watermelon of course. Friend Paula Carlson joined us for dinner. ...then we tried to wait for dark to do the $100 of fireworks that Addison picked up ( so like his dad) But we just couldn’t and had to do gutter works down at Grandma Welch’s yard at 9 pm. Fireworks are okay in the light too. The kids still loved it.
Another Independence day… in the books. This year was a little more tender for me around this holiday. My conscience has been pricked and I see how unjust our county is for so many of my BIPOC family and friends. Having systemic racism pointed out and now working to dismantle it is a challenge for all of us.
I'm grateful for our flawed founding fathers and our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. I can see it Divinely driven. I’m proud to be an American…. And I see the need for improvement in some areas. I’m still amazed by some of the conversations I have with white privileged people who don’t see racial injustice or don’t want to see it and just believe that if everyone would just work hard it would all work out for them. It’s sadly not true. We need to help each other. I’m also amazed how upset white privilege is about the confederate statues and names going away. I say good riddance… we need to make this country filled with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness equitable for all. It’s truly the Christlike thing to do.
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