4TH OF JULY

We started out our morning with a yummy breakfast at the church, along with a few pioneer games. Later in the day we went to a BBQ at another members house here in Harrisburg. The Wilcox's throw a big 4th of July BBQ every year with a competitive bean bag throwing tournament. There was a ton of people there and they had a poster with the break down of the bean bag throwing teams and the different tiers of the winners all the way down to the champions. By the way, the tournament was for the adults, not the kids! Phil and I loved it because we are both so competitive! Unfortunately we didn't have beginners luck. After the BBQ we went over to Harrisburg Liberty School for fireworks. By the way, Harrisburg is actually a very small town in the country, just south of Sioux Falls with a few thousand people (and those few thousand people are very spread out). As we were waiting for the fireworks we watched the fireflies and got eaten alive by mosquitoes. The kids played with their glow-in-the-dark bracelets and Phil and I (the kids were too scared) wrote our names in the air with sparklers and threw "Pop Its." I couldn't believe that Gracie and Parker were so scared of the sparklers and the "Pop Its!" (To their credit, the next night at our house Parker did the sparklers and they both did the "Pop Its.") The fireworks were an enjoyable 15 minutes of one firework at a time! :) No really, even though they were short, it was just a fun experience to be in our new little small town and with our little family. Gracie and Parker were afraid of the fireworks being too loud so they plugged their ears the whole time. Funny little kids they are! It was interesting because I talked to my mom and dad on the phone that night and they were at the fireworks with my siblings, nieces and nephews, and with several of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I have some great memories of watching fireworks with so much family, but I really do love and enjoy every second and memory that I get to have with my husband and kids. Our little family has experienced so much growth just being on our own.