July 4th 2014

The 4th of July is one of the biggest holidays for the Anderson Family. Along with Christmas you either be there or be square! All the cousins regularly bring friends to the tiny town of Arimo to experience the festivities, it's arguably the best 4th of July celebration anywhere in the West if not the country. The main attraction of course is our beloved matriarch Grandma Jean. She is nearing 81 years old this summer but is still the life of the party. She organizes, cooks and entertains with her stories and quick wit.

Fireman's Breakfast at the Park

The fire department in Arimo is a volunteer one. Our family has been the reason that they have had to leave their own family holiday celebrations on more than one occasion so we feel the need to heartily support them. We do this by eating food. This the kind of community service the Anderson's can do!

My cousin's cute girls- Emma and Autumn

A little slice of the family including my future cousin-in-law Les! Hey girl, we love you!

My New Brother-in-law Keveren, he's pretty rad

I caught this moment of my Gram helping her friend clean syrup off his sleeve. You guys, my grandma is such an awesome lady, she has friends everywhere she goes!

The littlest sister chowing down on some pancakes

The Parade

This year's parade was a bit dismal really. I think there were about 5 or 6 floats. And by floats I mean there were a few cars that were decorated and some kids on bikes. I guess there was a fire truck too so it wasn't that bad. In the past the Anderson's had a huge flatbed trailer that my grandpa towed behind his truck. My grandma always had a theme for it and all of the grand kids rode in costume of some kind. We also rode horses and lawn mowers. But now, we mostly throw some red, white and blue at Gram's car and stuff a few kids in there.

My cousin Faith (AKA Baby) is student body president this year.

And that was basically the whole parade... it had definitely seen better years.

My auntie handed me this as she was scooping up candy. Rude.

This is what we call a cameraman's tax. If you ask someone to take a picture of you, they are going to snap a few of themselves too. Thanks Beef!

Even my sister's dog Tuffy got into the spirit

This is my awesome cousin Eli and his twin girls. He has 4 kids now and is seriously the cutest dad ever.

Lady Liberty and Gram

This lady always has a smile on her face

Lunch and Softball at the Park

After a bit of lazing around we gather up food and take it to the town pot-luck at the park. Gram always makes potato salad, Auntie Kathy makes her Spam fried rice and I normally fill up on just those two things. Once the food settles, the fire truck sprays all the kids and everyone comes together for a softball game.

Hallie made this amazing flag cake! So cool!

Little Orin got passed around quite a bit, just look at those chubby cheeks!

She may be a cowgirl from a small town but she sure has some Valley Girl sass.

The Water Fight

As soon as they call the last inning of the softball game everyone sneaks home to prepare their water balloons, find their bucket of choice or stake their claim on a hose. This water fight is no joke.

My Aunt Chris got a hold of the hose and was relentless with it!

Once we are all soaking wet, we move our fight to the street and get anyone who dares to drive by.

Just as we were getting the last person wet a big wind picked up and filled the valley with dust. It also served as a nice hot blow dryer. Before I knew it my hair was dry!

The Water Hole

There are a few great places to go swimming in the creek (crick if you are a local) just down the road from Arimo. In some of the areas the water moves more than others and depending on how much livestock is upstream the water can be quite... interesting.

I can't imagine a prettier place to enjoy a swim in the cold water on a hot day.

After a dip in hole 24 we headed down to the bridge swimming hole. Yes, we know all the best places to swim in the creek. Thomas and I ran to fill the car with gas and picked up a package of Oreo's. We tossed them off the bridge to the crew swimming in the water. We may have lost a few cookies but we earned some cousin of the year points for sure.

Showing off their mermaid hair skills... am I really related to these people??

Annalie is freezing to death over there.

Volleyball at the park before heading up to Lava for the fireworks

Fireworks

I have to say that the fireworks were a little less exciting than in previous years. Normally the mountain from which they are launched is on fire at some point. One year there were three small fires that burned during the show. Half of the excitement was watching the fire trucks wind their way up the hill to put them out.

I was so so glad that we got to make it to Arimo for the 4th this year. Last year we were in DC which was amazing but nothing compares to Arimo. You just don't get this kind of excitement anywhere else in the world.