The Fourth Was With Us

There’s no better time to live in Skyline Estates than on the Fourth of July. That’s when we shut down our street, the entire neighborhood throws a party and fireworks are shot right above our house and late into the night.

We were remiss to celebrate our final holiday in Arvada without Hadley who flew to Utah for our new ward’s Young Women’s Girls Camp this week. A second bummer? I don’t even have one picture because my cell phone landed in the lake with me at my adventure race with Bode last weekend.

Regardless, the 4th of July had all the fixins for a great day:

  • Jamie, Bode and I woke up early to attend our stake’s annual patriotic breakfast (though not too early and missed the 5K Bode wanted to run).
  • Our friends, the Rolfsons, invited a few families to spend the afternoon at Hyatt Lake, a private lake where we swam, cannonballed, canoed, lounged and leisurely floated in tubes.
  • That night, some of our dearest friends and neighbors, the Haymonds, hosted a bunch of families at their house for a big BBQ. As I sat there at the kid table laughing at 4-year-old Lucy, I had an epiphany: I love my friends’ kids every bit as much as I love them.  After a few hours, we all walked up to the fireworks together where more families joined us–the Carrolls, Cooks, Larsons, Wagners, Cardons and countless neighbors.
Growing up, Canada Day (July 1) was our big celebration and we loved spending it in Raymond. But since moving to the U.S., the Fourth of July has always come and gone without much fanfare…until we moved here. As Jamie and I slowly walked back after the fireworks, I wanted to soak in every moment. The revelries, the high-fives, the exhausted kiddos with their glow sticks.
And the happiness that we have been part of something special for the 12 years we’ve been privileged to live here.

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