God Bless America

it's been 16 years since i lived out of the country for 4 months. 4 months isn't very long, but it was long enough for me to come to really appreciate living in the United States. during my 4 months in the Dominican Republic we traveled to Puerto Rico for a week. we were all so happy to be back to part of America. i have always been patriotic, but that experience made me much more proud to be an american. 

i love holidays! all of the holidays! 4th of July is one of my favorites. i love the fireworks and barbeques and family and fun. most of all i love celebration.

i celebrated a few times this year. byu stadium of fire was on saturday, july 2 this year. tiffany's brother and family came to town so we celebrated with them. we met for a bbq and then went down to provo. we spent almost as much time in the car as we did in the stadium, but it was so worth it. tim mcgraw was the headline performer. i have seen him tons of times in concert, and he is one of my favorites. the energy of the crowd was incredible, and we had the most fun.

the actual holiday was the opposite and equally fun. 

shyloh, mandi, and i started the day at pure barre. i love starting the day with a killer workout. 

we went back to my house for breakfast and then hit the pool. the rest of the day was so relaxing. 

we didn't have specific plans for the evening besides fireworks somewhere. stephanie and her neighbors did street fireworks. they were pretty cool until one shot sideways across the grass. it was a little scary, but luckily everyone was ok. 

I had so much fun celebrating this year. what did you do to celebrate?