Let Freedom Ring

The 4th of July weekend was such a BLAST! I think (aside from Christmas....who could compare) the 4th is my favorite holiday. I just love the atmosphere the fireworks and time with family. Love, love, love! Oh and I love all the carnivals and "town days" that every town here in Utah has. We were seriously going non stop all weekend.

After we got back from Britney's Steve picked us up at my moms and we headed to the Riverton days celebration. Katy really wanted to go on the merry-go-round. She always calls it the carousel. She loved it and it only cost 4 dollars! Sheeze! Ha. Luckily I didn't have to buy a ticket to stand next to her. It was making me laugh my head off when the pink horse we were riding on was super rickety going up and down. I'm surprised it didn't just break off the track. I guess that is what you get with carnival rides that get taken down and put up who knows how many times!

I love the picture above because sometimes Steve is just as bad as Katy when it comes to taking pictures. See funny face and not paying attention to me face above! My family...gotta love it!

Katy and I tried to get a picture taken but the ride behind us what too loud she kept saying. I guess she was a bit distracted! Ha :) After we got back from the fair we slept in the tent (see June post) in the backyard. It was so much fun. Much better than our sand dunes experience!

On Saturday we drove up to American Fork Canyon. This canyon is BEAUTIFUL for sure. We may be kind of nerdy but we got a season pass so we can go up there all the time! Like I said it's beautiful....and I forgot my camera!

Saturday night we went to see Cars 2 at the drive in with Wendy and Chris in Steve's new truck. Yes we have another new car. I think I'm resined to the fact that Steve wont keep a car for longer than 3 years...even if it is your dream car Jeep Wrangler! Ha, hopefully this truck will be his new dream car for another 3 years!

Jordyn, Katy, Grayden and Carter at the movies. I had a good time at the movies with you guys. You are welcome to come any time. Ha, Steve gets us in for free because he's a cop. You can imagine we spend a lot of time there...which makes us kind of white trash but I'm embracing it!

Monday we had a blast. Most notably we headed over to Roger and Joannes. Holladay has a pretty great fireworks show across from where they live. For the festivities Steve made his famous home made root beer. He always makes it for Halloween but we decided that the 4th was another day we need to make a tradition. I opted to make homemade ice cream. MY FAVORITE! Actually the funny thing is I made it earlier that day and put it in the freezer. By the time we got there I pretty much didn't need the ice cream maker....so you don't necessarily need to have an ice cream maker to enjoy homemade ice-cream! You should give it a try it's my Grandpa Ferguson's recipe.

Dad's Lemon Ice Cream

2 quarts milk (that's 8 cups)

1 1/2 C heavy cream

1 1/2 C lemon juice (I use limes)

5 C sugar (to taste, I use a little less)

2 1/4 t. lemon extract (this one I usually use the lemon, but lime extract is good too!)

It's seriously my most favorite summer treat. It's not quite ice cream, or sherbet. Kind of like a combo perhaps! Give it a try, seriously you will LOVE it!

I found some morning glory sparklers in the dollar bin at Target. We had a good time lighting them off. Katy watched on Steve's lap. She was not too impressed. She did watch the fireworks with her special headphones aka Steve's gun earmuffs! All in all it was an excellent weekend for celebrating! We are blessed to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave!