4th of July

Becca, Misty, and Kim at the BBQ


Hryum and Jason listening to the choir sing at the ward breakfast.
Don't look so excited Hyrum!



Mike F. & Jason and Hryum




The kids getting ready for the ward "parade"


Any of you who know Mike Mayfield, our neighbor, know that he is a born story-teller. Before our annual "street of fire" BBQ he told the kids his version of the reason we celebrate Independence Day. Here is a bit of what he told the kids before we ate..........



"All right kids ... the 4th of July is a pretty big deal. Why? Because back in 1776, England started pushing us around. They made us pay taxes, they made us wear funny wigs, they made us drink crazy tea, and finally America said, 'Dudes! We're not going to do this anymore.' So on the 4th of July in 1776, we wrote 'em a pretty nasty little letter. It was called the Declaration of Independence. It said, 'Dear England, thanks for Harry Potter in the future but we don't want your stinkin' taxes, your funny wigs or your bad tea. We don't even want to be part of your country any more. So take that. Kiss off. Love, America.' And then they signed it. Some of our founding fathers weren't as brave as the others. They signed it pretty small. But John Hancock signed it in big ol' letters so King George wouldn't have to use his glasses to read his name.



"When King George got the letter, he was so mad that he sent the largest army in the world to come fight our guys. Their army had big guns and matching red coats. Our guys had little guns and no shoes, but they loved America and they were ready to take on that big army so we could be free. Fortunately, we were smarter than the British so we got 'em surrounded and then we said, 'Take your red coats and bad teeth back to England and don't come back until 1812.' And that is how America started kicking butt. "


Thanks to Misty for preserving a bit of Mike wisdom for posterity. I bet the kids will remember better than learing this stuff in a dry old text book. Next holiday I'll send the kids over for more history lessons. What do you think he might tell them for Halloween?