250th Fourth of July

I finally started my summer vacation! I was literally GONE the entire month of June. Phillip expressed Sunday night how bored and frustrated he was because he has nothing to do besides chores. This summer was a strange one for sure. I am not getting through to any corn topping companies, I hear most of the crops were destroyed through all the strange weather we’ve had. The rain up in the mountains was nothing compared to the valley flooding, SNOW, hail, and rain in Nampa and Meridian. I hired Phillip to clean and organize the garage, in return I will buy him a new set of drum heads. He’s spent hours this past week in the garage puttering around putting a hammer away, taking a ride on Rita, putting a bike away, riding on Rita, sweeping a few strokes, taking a water break, etc. He is making progress! Everett is organizing the cupboards just because he is so bored. 

Eve and Wally are at odds now. Eve is acting like a territorial beast, she purposely sits right next to Wally’s cage and guards him until she goes berserk. We now have to be on constant guard and shoo her outside or into her kennel before she goes mental. I called several local dog trainers hoping to get those two punks some behavior modifications. The humans need training as well. 

I spent the week editing 6 photo sessions from MAY before all the June madness commenced, correction, some of the photos were that first day of June. It was good to swing the Damocles sword away from my head for a few weeks. I made the kids go with me to the library and then sit in the van while Everett got his gnarly hard wart treated. The girls had some friends over (Delyla for Evelyn, and Stella/Kara for Josie). I got the girls snow cones one afternoon just to get out and be somewhere for a little while. I needed to run errands to the Post Office, return some purchases, and donate garage offerings. 

The Fourth of July was a perfect day. Sara invited us to tag along up to Emmett for their city parade. The kids had a fun time donning head bands, wrist bands, whistles, necklaces, and eating candy. It was on the roasting side of hot, a huge Sonic Limeade hit the spot. Bishop Bledsoe hosted a ward swim party from 2-5 pm with a BBQ and sides. That pool was rocking ’n rolling for the duration. Phillip and Everett tried throwing a cussing William into the pool while he was screaming. I warned them not to make poor choices. In their minds it was not a poor choice because William was going around pushing people into the water, kicking shins under the water, and jumping on top of people’s heads. Drives me crazy that his mom just placidly sits around watching him wreak havoc and not intervene. Another few littles were jumping off the diving board onto a floatie that was extremely near the edge, my heart cringed each time because their little heads were so close to the concrete. They were not happy when Justin and I removed the floats, if parent’s are not going to monitor their kids I will remove the fun parts. Yep, I’m the fun killer…and the fun maker. The party was in full tilt when 5 pm rolled around. Once again Justin and I killed the party. We started collecting the toys and shooing our kids out of the pool. Rebecca Bledsoe called me later thanking us for shutting the party down. They don’t like telling folks it’s time to go and usually no one stays to help clean up. We stayed and cleaned up the toys, plates littering the tables and lawn. 

Ambree and Evelyn used acrylic paint to decorate their legs and arms with all sorts of patriotic designs. Josie joined in after seeing how cool it looked. We had a late dinner over at the Ostlers with Lake Powell chicken, pork kebabs (keboobs), grilled veggies, fruit salad, and chips. It was the perfect amount of food! I also made a small fruit pizza, delish. We celebrated our amazing country watching the Ostlers and the rest of our neighborhood blow up hundreds/thousands of dollars. I let the kids spend $200 on some sparklers, roman candles, snappers, and 3 fountains. The world was snapping and popping until after 3 am. Guess we love America! Amelia called! She reported that her day was pretty normal, her district dressed up in Patriotic colors. The cafe served hot dogs, potato salad, chips, and root beer. While we were chatting it was pouring rain and the Elders were having a cupcake eating contest. The winner stopped at 15 cupcakes! Ha ha. Other than talking with Amelia, I think the second most meaningful thing we did was listen to a Hillsdale Podcast and then read the Declaration of Independence while we drove home from Emmett. I’m still thinking about what Scott Bertram and Dr Habib taught:

SB: how does self-government at the personal level relate to self-government at the political level?

H: For the exact reason that St. Augustine says you have as many masters as you have vices. So if you're just tyrannized by your appetites, by your vices, nobody in their right mind would call you a free person. You're an unfree person.

You're a natural slave, so to speak. And what Locke and what the Founders and what the Adamses always distinguish is liberty from license. Liberty is not licensed to do anything you want.

Liberty is a friend of law, of order, and self-government essentially means you have the virtue to restrain your desires, forestall instant gratification. And no human being who can't govern himself is fit to govern and live in society. And so if you're not going to govern yourself, I'm sure the state would be happy to fill that void.

And so the idea actually of a small government is predicated on the notion that we have little government here in our own soul, and that's sufficient. And so that I think is a very important and good question.

Yeah, this idea that liberty and virtue are inseparable, is that something that we have lost? Many of us have lost modern day America.

SB: sadly, I think so. I think there's too much of an emphasis on liberty defined as whatever my will desires. And whatever that is, when you liberate the passions from any restraint, you create a condition where humans can't live with limits.

Think of all of the addictions that people develop, because there's just no adults left in the room, culturally speaking. And when you do that, you're not suited to live in a world where you have to limit yourself. I mean, that's really what virtue is, in a way.

H: Well, the laws are also a limit. Our Constitution is a limit. It's a limit on power and abuses of power.

And so the more our society encourages, I think, license, the more it's gonna rub up against our constitutional order. And then the next step would be to just live in an anarchic state, because once you liberate those desires, you no longer listen to the voice of reason or law. There's no reason to have a constitution.

SB: We're living in a post-constitutional world. And I think that's a very dangerous place to be in.”

H: “The Adams' viewed Independence Day not just as a birthday party, as we've mentioned previously in the conversation, but also an annual recommitment to certain truths about the country. What truths should we recommit ourselves to this Fourth of July, this Independence Day?

SB: God, family and country. I think it's pretty clear from their writings, from their speeches, that those three pillars form the foundation of a healthy society. And to see how the Constitution and the principles of the Declaration support them is another way of providing or adding water to those pillars.”

**From The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour: America 250 Independence Day Special, Jul 2, 2026