July!?! Really!?!

I can't believe it is July! I was on the phone with my mom last week, and we were discussing my sister's summer job, and I remarked, "Oh she'll get a lot of work in." I was thinking it was early June, that the kids just got out of school. I was wrong! (FYI: My family is going to drive out to Utah to drop Bill off at the MTC! So everyone will be taking a good two weeks off his or her job at home...well, except for Bill. He'll take a good two years off!)

July is a good month. My favorite holiday is July 4th: Independence Day. No doubt. It has always been my favorite. I'm a summer girl, so it just made perfect sense for me. It's at the height of the summer:
BBQs galore, full of burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, grilled FRESH FISH from the Atlantic...
parades, with the Elks Lodge, Miss North Wildwood, all the decorated kids' bikes...
fireworks on the beach, which you watch from the boardwalk...ahhhh, bliss. I'm totally with my friend Alita, who says she still gets choked up when she is in the midst of something patriotic. I'm like that, too. I just swell up with pride. I love the red, white, and blue. I love being an American! My love for my country will only get stronger as I get older.

Well, we are going to Arkansas for the holiday weekend. And NO, we aren't going there for the pure heck of it (haha Ashley). Grandma Killion lives right outside of Little Rock, so we will stay with her for a few days. *Disclaimer: I must admit Arkansas is actually very pretty. When Chris told me he lived there (also graduated high school there), I scoffed. My mind was full of dry, brittle grass, trailer parks, and toothless old men. Not so, my friends! Arkansas (at least where Grandma lives, and where Chris's family used to live) is very beautiful. I was properly impressed when we made a stop last summer on our drive from Jersey to Texas. Everything was a lush, vibrant green, bright and colorful...civilization does exist there! :)