4th of July 2016

This year for the 4th we headed down to my in-law's home for the start of the weekend.

We spent some time at the beach

 and my sweet Mother-in-law treated me to a pedicure for my birthday!

Pedicures are so relaxing!

 Then for the actual 4th we all came back to our house and enjoyed the festivities here.

Sweet Girl's patriotic dress (that she wore quite often this summer, but it's super cute and she loved to wear it!)!

 Her 4th of July outfit!

The bows stayed in for about a minute, but at least they lasted long enough for the picture!

 And a little bit of playtime too..

 We went down to the central park here and enjoyed wiener dog races (which were quite hilarious, the owners were the best part!), a funnel cake, the shade, and the playground at the park.

 After that we were pretty tired, while Sweet Girl napped, some of us took one too!

 Sweet Girl and Grandpa coloring.

That night my Sweet Husband and I enjoyed the city's firework show from our roof, Sweet Girl would have joined us, but she had been asleep for about 2 hours at that point.. lol!

It was a great weekend and we are so grateful for the wonderful nation that we live in and for the freedoms we enjoy! We are also so grateful for the men and women that serve our country and protect our freedoms!

God Bless America!

4th of July 2015

We went and visited my maternal grandparents for the 4th this year!

We had a great time!

My brother and sister joined us for the second half of the trip.

Sweet Girl was a champion traveler!

Lately, if she's a little sad, it helps if I give her my hand to cuddle with.

But after a while my hand starts to go numb,

my siblings gave her the puppy as a trade and she cuddled right up to it.

It was really sweet!

We got see lots of cousins while we were there and introduce Sweet Girl to them!

 We also did some work on my grandparents' home while we were there.

 My sister (who was 8 months pregnant) watched Sweet Girl while we were working,

we couldn't have done it without her!

 I love this picture!

A couple that works together,

stays together!

Also, remember how in the last post I mentioned that I was a tad bit afraid of heights...

I was quite nervous on that scaffolding...

I have NO idea how people work on it all day and on super high buildings... yeah, count me out! Lol!

Saturday night we had a BBQ with all of my mom's family in the area, it was really fun!

 Decked out in our 4th shirts.

 My brother and his ladies... lol! Just kidding, they are all cousins.

  

I love the 4th of July!

I say it every year, but I truly love the 4th of July!

I love celebrating it in my hometown!

The past couple of years we haven't been able to make it in time for the town water fight,

but this year we did!

My sweet in-laws joined us this year!

They got in on the action as well.

I watched and laughed at everyone..lol!

Here is the gang in action

 My sweet husband and some of my cousins ready for their next victims!

 Here is my father-in-law peeking around the corner to see if anyone is coming

 Some of my cousins decided to drive around for a bit,

please enjoy my cousin in the left corner, her face is priceless!

 More of my relatives that drove around

 Just a great action shot!

After the epic water fight we had a family BBQ, it was delicious!

Then we relaxed for the rest of the evening and went to bed.

We had an early start the next morning,

some earlier than others.

My mom, my father-in-law, and my sweet husband ran in the 5K.

My mother-in-law and I went down to cheer them in 

but my mom and my sweet husband were too fast for us,

they were finished when we got there.

We did get to cheer in my father-in-law.

 Post-race photo

 We went home so they could get ready and 

then we headed down to the park for breakfast, the program, and races.

The kids did well in the program.

 My cousins saved us a good shade spot for the races.

We enjoyed cheering the kids on.

 Then we participated in the watermelon eating contest, 

but apparently I forgot to hand my camera to my mom.

The rest of the day I guess we were having too much fun to remember to take pictures because I forgot to take any more pictures,

but we relaxed for a bit (aka took naps),

then we went to my aunt and uncle's home and swam in their pool and had a BBQ.

It was delicious!

Then we went back to my parents home to get the boat ready for some "yard work" the next day,

and to welcome in my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

The next morning was also an early morning, but worth it.

We did a little yard work...

well, I took pictures and cheered everyone on.

I took a lot of pictures, but I figured I'd only share one of each person doing each activity they did.

Here is my papa doing what he does best!

 My sweet mother-in-law,

she is a champ, she hurt her back on her first attempt, but still skied for a while!

 My sweet father-in-law

 My dad fishing! Our boat quickly becomes a fishing boat when there are fish boiling!

 My handsome husband getting some awesome air!

 My dad even wakeboarded! If you know him, that's a rare occurrence!

 My sweet husband and I enjoying the beautiful day!

 My brother-in-law getting some air

 My mama doing what she does best!

 My sweet husband waterskiing 

My brother-in-law waterskiing

 We talked my sister-in-law into skiing, this is her husband helping her get ready.

 She even got up!

 Remember how I said my mother-in-law hurt her back,

this is how she rested it.

We made the front into a bed and my mom would wet a towel

 and wring it out on her to keep her cool.

 After a wonderful day doing "yard work," 

we celebrated our sister-in-law's birthday (which is actually today)

with a delicious cake!

It was a great weekend!

I'm so grateful for our country and the freedoms we enjoy!

I'm so grateful for the men and women that fight for our country each day!

I'm grateful to be a citizen of this great nation!

I love America!

4th of July

This 4^th of July was a bit different from the 4^th we are used to.

I missed the BV 4^th of July celebration, but we had a good time here too.

I wish we could have gone to my parents’ house, but with the 4^th being on a Wednesday it just didn’t work out; however, my parents and my little brother did come to us!

We woke up in the morning and had some French toast. Then we all got decked out in our 4^th of July clothes and headed out to the town celebration. Supposedly they had a petting zoo, but we must have missed it, much to the kids’ chagrin. But they did have snow cones, funnel cakes, kettle corn popcorn, and live music, so we sat around enjoying the ambiance a bit.

 Then we had lunch at our favorite little bakery here.

 

 Then when we got home we got ambushed by a water fight! It wouldn’t be the 4^th without a water fight!

After a delicious dinner of baby back ribs, baked beans, watermelon, and homemade ice cream, we headed out to the rodeo. Sadly they didn’t allow pictures at the rodeo, so that isn’t documented. But it was fun, after I got over the shock of almost seeing people get stomped to death. Then we went and watched the fireworks, which is always a great way to end the 4^th.

I’m so grateful for the country that we live in, for the people who serve our country, and the freedoms we enjoy here because of it. I’m grateful for our Founding Fathers who came and established a place to enjoy the freedom of religion and many other freedoms! I’m proud to be an American!