Independence Day

Is there anything more patriotic than a cute baby in a red shirt?

Or a simple flag hung outside a home?

This is my parent's home. The home I lived in for 10 years. We moved there when I was 8 and I lived there until I left for college at 18 --

We got up and went to their ward's 4th of July breakfast. My dad was reminiscing that we had moved into that home right before the 4th of July in 1984 and that our first activity in that ward was the 4th of July breakfast. I vaguely remembered doing that.

There was a silent sadness surrounding the day -- to have a holiday so soon after my mother's passing. To the best of our recollection -- every single 4th of July for 27 years has been spent by my parents in their home doing much the same thing -- ward breakfast, swimming, barbecuing, having friends over, watching fireworks. My mom always wore red, white, and blue -- so did my dad (the past few years it is a shirt that looks like it is sewn from an American Flag). My mom always wore patriotic earrings; My dad always hung the American flag out front. Most years we were awakened in the morning with loud patriotic music! It was just a great holiday spent doing what we loved with those that we loved to honor a country that we love.

There was just something missing about the whole day. The flag still flew, the red, white and blue still adorned us all, her patriotic earrings were on my ears, the grill was fired up, all of us swam, but it just felt a little funny. There was a hurt about it. We made the best of the day that we could, but the reality is that my mom is irreplaceable and while the activities will continue to go on -- they will never quite be the same for us again.

In other news, I had over the past week taken a lot of underwater footage of all the kids swimming. I made it into a video . . . Enjoy!