'Merica

To have our nation's birthday in the summer was the best idea ever! Good job founding fathers!

Also another good idea: making aerial fireworks legal in the state of Utah.

It seems like every other person is grouchy and upset about fireworks going off all night, every night for the whole summer but not this girl! I absolutely love fireworks! It's so mesmerizing and just American to stop everything and watch them explode overhead.

As I thought about the real reason we were celebrating my mind went back to my trip back east a couple years ago. There was no other place that just put me in history nerd heaven. I'm so grateful I was able to visit those places that not so long ago were the stomping grounds of the beginning of this country that I'm so blessed to be apart of.

A lot of the world looks at the United States as that big-headed brother that is good at everything. People see Americans as entitled and ignorant. Although I can't deny those accusations I also believe that that is what makes us Americans. Why shouldn't we believe we are the best? Our country was founded on people who believed they could do better, people who demanded respect, rebels with success..no wonder we continue with that same reputation. No wonder other countries come to study American young people because there is no one else quite like us.

Now let me quickly say that I don't believe I am better than others and I definitely don't believe that my country and the people in it are perfect. I love studying histories and cultures throughout the world because there is more than one "right" way to go through life. But I do believe that I live in the best country and am grateful to have that blessing.

There are many ways to see the Lord's hand in your life but when you study history there are just things that are undeniably God's doing. The beginning of the United States is definitely on the top of that list. The men whose names are written forever on the beginning and all the things that happened to go right are a testament to a true and living Being bigger than us all.

I couldn't be more grateful to have the life I have because of these men and so many others that continue to fight for those founding principles.