Our celebrations this year seemed to spread out for the entire week. We started the week of celebrating Canada Day with some friends in the ward that are from Canada. It was a new, fun celebration.
We got the opportunity to attend Provo's Freedom Festival's Freedom Awards Dinner. Zach's Grandparents took us (which we are so grateful..thanks!). It was so a wonderful evening. Perhaps the highlight for me was getting to hear from Immaculee Ilibagiza author of "Left to Tell" and survivor of the Rwanda Genocide. It was amazing to hear here describe what happened to her and her family. I got her book that night (Wednesday) and I finished on Monday. It was such a wonderful story and wonderful in ways that you would consider. As I started the book, I thought the main theme of the book would be about the genocide, but really the book was about forgiveness and how she forgave the people that killed those she loved. It was very touching and I would recommend it to anyone (sorry small tangent, but it was a great book.)
The day of the fourth was jam packed. We (and when I say we, I mean me because Zach and Elle got blocked off because of the parade) ran a fun run with some of Zach's extended family. The race was a blast as the gun went off and we realized that all the young kids had sprinted away. Zach's Aunt Payslie and I scrambled to find all of the kids...needless to say they weren't all aware of pacing themselves, so it was mostly a sprint--but it was fun.
We then went to the parade and had a lot of fun--even though it was stinkin hot.
For the evening festivities we went to the Stadium of Fire, where Miley Cyrus was the main event. I was a little nervous how Elle would do with all the loud noises, but we put some cotton in her ears and she was just fine. She slept through a lot of it.
She woke up in time for the fireworks. She loved to watch, it was so cute.
For some of the activities we didn't have our camera-so there will be more pictures to come-hopefully.
We had a wonderful time being together and, especially after reading Left to Tell, I can hardly express how grateful I am for my freedoms!
3 comments:
elle's outfit is so cute! i was a little disappointed when i realized i wasn't going to be able to use any cute red, white and blue outfits for this new one.
looks like you guys had a lot of fun. i loved all your pictures.
what a cute family pic!
My goodness you were busy! I love it when the holidays are like that though. Thanks for the book endorsement. Elle is so cute!
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