the fourth day of july

this year i made my way up to snowflake, az with danielle and her friend kelsey.

nothing like 65 degrees, yummy small town food, a rodeo and fireworks to celebrate half of the year going by...oh yeah, and America too!!

we drove up friday and stopped at the snowflake temple to do baptisms {what an experience!}

then afterwords we went and cheered on danielle's brothers at their softball game.

we had a lot of down time, so while at the softball game,

 i learned how to work a new setting on my camera. 

it lets you pick which color you want to stand out and 

then everything else is black and white. 

im sure i am the LAST to find out about this setting but,

 i am now super excited to see what fun i can have with it in the future!!

for the 4th, we slept in, had the most amazing french toast 

with biscuits and gravy at a lil place called Trapper's. 

then we had pizza for lunch from a place called Bits & Pizza. 

then we headed off to the Taylor/Snowflake rodeo where we had 

yummy navajo tacos for dinner. whew. i think i am officially in a food coma.

the beautiful sunset at the rodeo!!

and of course, no july 4th would be complete without fireworks.

{i liked the black and white setting on my camera better for these pics}

the fireworks were awesome, seriously some of the BIGGEST i have ever seen!!

**

the 4th is always one of my favorite holidays; any excuse to get away, 

eat a lot and see explosions in the sky is alright with me!

all in all it was a good 4th weekend.

it sure wasnt the same as last year.

i didnt feel very festive.

normally i am all about wearing the red, white & blue.

this year it was just whatever.

it didnt feel right to spend the holiday & watch fireworks without my you know who.

but i love this fabulous holiday that reminds us 

what a wonderful place we live in and 

how blessed we truly are.