The Forth of July!

On the 4th this year, we decided to head to the beach in Santa Cruz and spend the day with some of our new friends.  The parking lot ended up being full and we had to go to a different beach (we miss the HUGE lots in So. Cal). A little bit of a bummer, but we ended up have a great day anyway. Lola slept A LOT. And Brandon played with Hudson A LOT.  So I read and slept, A LOT! ;)

 Lola is the sweetest, softest baby.. (as of July 4th anyway).. I am so glad I caught this sweet moment of her adoring her Daddy

 LOVE. Could her face be more perfect?!

 Love this next series too. Can you tell these kids adore their daddy or what?

 I love my Husband. {and obviously my kids too}
I am so grateful for this country and the freedoms I can enjoy because I live here. I think many of us take if for granted. I know I do. As messed up as we may think the government is.. At least we can have an opinion. At least we can voice it.  At least we can stand up and fight for it. And for me, I am most grateful for the freedoms we enjoy today because without  this country and without the freedom of religion, The fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ would have not have been restored to the Earth today.

{to learn more: click here}
Whenever I see a flag I instantly think of my older brother Nathan,  (along with the many many men and women who are currently or who have  previously served our country in the military) Nathan is deployed right  now in Iraq. Nathan I took these for you.  Thank you.

 Later in the evening we were able to meet up with some friends from our  new ward (can I just tell you how NICE it is to get to know such great  people wherever we live because we have the church. I don't think I've  ever been more grateful for that than now.  We were invited to watch  fireworks on the lawn of a middle school.  It was such a beautiful  evening. We were nervous about the outcome because prior to this night  Hudson has had somewhat of an anxiety/obsession with fireworks ever  since the fireworks at Angel's stadium over a year ago.. We are now  happy to say that the older and wiser Hudson now LOVES big fireworks.  Thank goodness. Lola was just starting to sit up. (about 5 1/2 months here)

So little and cute!

 

Our Family