Fourth of July in Hanna

I spent the Fourth of July with Kristine, Trent, and Sean up at our favorite campground in Hanna.  It was absolutely lovely up in the mountains and it was so relaxing.

We barbecued burgers for dinner and they were delicious.  I think everything tastes so much better outside!

After dinner Sean and I made our traditional flag cake.  I have made this cake every year since I was a teenager!

Sitting around the fire is my very favorite part of camping.

Of course we had to make s'mores!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday filled with fun, friends, and family!

4th of July

To celebrate Independence Day I went back up to Hanna with Kristine to spend the day with Sean and Trent.  The campground where they are staying is so beautiful and it was incredibly relaxing to listen to the river while reading.  Every once in a while a lovely breeze would blow through the trees and I was perfectly content.  Trent made the best breakfast ever on the grill: bacon, eggs, sausage, and waffles.  It was so delicious.  I always make my famous flag cake every year and this time I had a little helper who served it to everyone with great solemnity.  Once again, we had a big fire and I laughed and laughed at Sean's antics!

On the drive home we had spectacular views of the fireworks in Park City and at Sugarhouse Park.  We saw both shows without having to deal with all of the hassle!

Independence Day 2014

Friday was absolutely wonderful!  I spent the holiday with my family and we had so much fun together.  We had a fabulous dinner of dutch oven chicken cordon bleu, corn on the cob, fruit salad, and rolls.  I think everything tastes so much better outside.

I made my traditional flag cake, which I have made every year since I was in high school.  It is so simple:  bake a white cake, spread a tub of whipped cream on top, and place blueberries and sliced strawberries in a flag pattern.  It is a really light and refreshing dessert which tastes a lot like strawberry shortcake.

I also made flag cupcakes at Sean's request.  He kept asking me if he could have one.  I think he eventually had four of them before the night was over!

While Sean went swimming, the rest of us played the board game Life.  This is actually one of our favorite games to play when we were kids (we also had epic Monopoly games that would last for days during every school holiday when were young).  It was so much fun to continue the tradition with Tashena.  We have a tendency to get really silly while playing cards or board games!

Sean had a hard time waiting for it to get dark to start the fireworks so we had the kiddos play with poppers and sparklers.  I think Sean would have been completely happy with just the poppers!  But we take fireworks very seriously in my family!  When we were kids we used to spend the 4th of July at my Grandma's house in Moroni.  My Dad used to provide a fireworks show for all of the grandchildren.  This usually necessitated a trip to Wyoming to get the good (illegal) stuff.  One year the sheriff pulled up in front of my grandma's house and we were afraid that my Dad would be in trouble.  Turns out, the sheriff just wanted to watch the show!  Now aerial fireworks are legal in Utah so Marilyn and I spent the equivalent of the GNP of a small country on fireworks this year but it was so worth it!

We had an epic show (although the expensive one I bought for the finale was kind of a dud).  One of our aerials malfunctioned and sent showers which exploded towards us!  One exploded right next to Marilyn and actually burned her leg a little bit.  She is such a pyromaniac that when we rushed to see if she was hurt, she yelled out, "That was awesome!"  After the fireworks display (we were competing with the people one street over and I think we won), we went inside for cake.  Then the kids wanted to go in the backyard and play another board game.  We ended up playing Clue (at midnight) and laughing so hard!  Another very memorable 4th of July!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!