Fourth of July

The older I've gotten, the more I have grown to really love the Fourth of July. I love that it is a holiday that is relatively low stress-- no presents involved, usually warm weather, good food, etc. My family typically congregates together for the Fourth and Thanksgiving. It's one of the few times where most (sometimes all) of us get together. Usually a trip to the cabin with everyone happens either before or after the holiday, depending on what day the 4th falls. This year, we headed to Island Park the weekend before. 

While there, we took a hike to Whits Lakes. We did this same hike a few years back and we loved it this time also. So beautiful!

Loved these flowers!

Davis was awesome and hiked almost the entire way by himself without complaint! 

Upper Whits Lake

I was really hoping there would still be a lot of wild flowers in Island Park, and I was definitely not disappointed! So many fields just covered in all sort of colors and varieties!

These ones were really cool-- my dad told me they are called elephant trunks because when you zoom in and look close, that is exactly what they look like.

Our kids are always in heaven at the cabin and even more so when there are cousins to play with!

Bode was really into riding our little dirt bike and asked to go constantly.

These two were addicted to their cousin Adam's Nintendo Switch.

Getting ready for s'mores!

One of the little ponds we like to ride the four wheelers to had tons of tadpoles in it. The boys loved catching them and even saw a few frogs!

A lone buffalo we spotted on our way to Hebgen Lake

We headed back for Idaho Falls on the 3rd and had fun lighting off our own fireworks that night. This year's show even included a police officer showing up at the end and threatening to issue a ticket! :) Thankfully, we talked him down and he left just giving us a warning. 

Parade on the Fourth

Some cute pictures my sister-in-law Julie took

I took a million pictures of Molly because I thought she looked so cute in her Fourth of July outfit!

I really love this picture of her. 

Waiting for the big fireworks show! 

This year they moved the big Melaleuca show further down the river. The new set up was actually really awesome and you could see the whole show without obstruction. Down by the green belt it was sort of getting hard to find a spot where you could see everything because of the trees. The only downfall was leaving the show was sort of crazy and we had to wait in our cars forever. Hopefully they get those types of details ironed out for next year. I am always so proud of our little hometown having such an amazing fireworks show each year!