#RedWhiteBlue

the Fourth of July.

America's Independence Day.

Freedom.

Liberty.

Patriotism.

Pride.

Red, white, and blue. 

Family.

Friends and roommates.

the huge parade down University Avenue.

Carnival on downtown Center Street.

Good food.

BYU Men's Soccer. 

Lots of candy.

Fireworks.

This year's Independence Day celebration was a winner in my book. Super low key, super relaxed. Clarissa and I woke up super early (aka 7 am) to save a spot for the parade. My family, her family, and our roommates gradually joined us. My family brought Kneader's french toast, and I painted/had Clarissa help paint my toenails and fingernails (huge deal for me - I hardly ever paint my toenails, and painting my fingernails happens even less frequently). 

It's amazing. Dancer feet don't look quite as ugly when you've got painted toenails.

Clarissa's and my toenails. Accidental patriotism right there. 

 

Oh those two!

 

 Roommates and friends!

 

Family. Love these guys! (Not pictured: Benjamin. We missed you!!)

Being the nerd I am, this was one of my favorite parts of the parade!

My hair is starting to go blond again! My dad likes to joke that the man I marry won't know what my real hair color is until about our third year of marriage. Right now, I've got a healthy mix of blond, red, and brown on my head. 

Right before heading downtown, I realized that the three of us were matching - blue and white stripes!

BYU Men's soccer! It was way fun, even if we did lose :(. 

Waiting for the fireworks - they let us chill out on South Field to watch them. 

I decided that a downside to watching the fireworks from Stadium of Fire, while also an upside, is that they are for Stadium of Fire. These pyrotechnicians are absolutely wonderful, that's for sure. The problem with watching the firework show is that there is an actual show being done inside Lavell Edwards Stadium, and we have no idea what's going on. So we wait forever to watch the fireworks, and then we have no idea when they are ending. We seriously thought that the firework show had ended at least three times before it actually did. While watching and waiting, I kept thinking about how I needed to clean my room and all the studying I needed to do for the test that I have to take this week. I even debated ditching and going home to get things done. 

Then I thought about it some more. The Fourth of July comes once a year. Fireworks are incredible to watch, and I love watching them with my family. I wanted to skip out on a tradition and freedom celebration to study?! Remember the post I wrote the day before talking about how important the little things were? (See what I'm talking about here.) I felt a little ashamed of myself. 

In Utah, we basically have two Independence Day celebrations. There's the actual Fourth of July on July 4, and there's Pioneer Day on July 24. There are parades and food and fireworks and family and friends and no work or school on both days. Even so, fireworks and family time and freedom are not things I should be taking for granted. Yes, I really needed to study. But I was losing focus! I was supposedly "celebrating" freedom with my family, but all I could think about was what came next, what else was on my To-Do list.

Life shouldn't be about To-Do lists. I think that life should be a celebration of LIFE. There's a quote one of my friends from high school liked to share. It's from Kung Fu Panda:

from bubzbeauty.com

 Of course, we need to think about the future; what we do today will have an impact on tomorrow. But that doesn't mean we can't take the time to stop and smell the roses, or in this case, stop and watch the fireworks. 

Happy America Day yo.