Celebrating our Country!

Don't you just LOVE the 4th of July?! I think it is the best holiday! I love that it is in the middle of summer, most of the celebrating to be done OUTSIDE bbq-ing, playing, watching the fireworks, etc. I just love it! AND most importantly, what a special opportunity to feel gratitude for this amazing country we live in. No matter your politics or gripes of government, this is such a blessed country, full of freedom and beauty and brave men and women who have and continue to fight for all that we have. I could not be more PROUD to be an American! We struggle, we have seen disasters that have devastated the land, but even still, this remains the country I am proud to call home! I love this land!

 (I had to laugh so hard at these pics because Taylor looks like she is fearing for her life and Kaiya looks like she is trying to stab her with a sparkler! So funny!)

We started the festivities on the 3rd, since some of our greatest and most cherished friends were in town! We have known the Cox's since before I was born and have enjoyed the most special and enduring friendship with their entire family! I adore them all! We were able to meet up and went to a really fun splash pad with our other long-time friends, Katie, Julie and Becca. The kids had an absolute blast! Afterwards, Katie was nice enough to host us at her house for lunch and we had such a fun time talking and laughing and catching up -- something we do really well with this bunch! It was such a fun day!

 Later that evening, my sis and her kiddies came up to Logan and I was able to shoot some family pics for them (hopefully they liked them). Pretty easy for me with such a gorgeous family!

Then we came back to our house, the kids splashed and played on the tramp and we enjoyed a yummy BBQ of burgers, grilled corn, fruit and of course homemade ice cream and cupcakes for dessert. Then we nestled down onto our blankets and enjoyed the firework show! Have I mentioned that we live in the PERFECT place for fireworks?! It's one of the many perks of our house! We get to watch the show right from our lawn, instead of fighting all the traffic! And when it's all done, we grab our blankets and walk back inside! EASY! Plus, we were able to put Avie-girl down to bed since she was too tuckered out to stay up! It was a pretty perfect night!

The next day was the 4th so we just spent the day with daddy home, relaxing and hiking around up at our favorite pond -- while Chase did lots of swimming, of course! That night, since we had already had our big show, we did our own fireworks with our neighbors in our culdesac. It was another fun night!

 So, another fun holiday come and gone and I'm grateful for the memories we have made!