Independence Day!

I absolutely LOVE the 4th of July. It's one of our favorite holidays. It's summer at its greatest...sun, great BBQ food, swimming, great family and friends fun! To celebrate yesterday we came down to Marc's parents to swim and eat, and then went to my parents to eat and do fireworks. We are so grateful to have family that are our friends too! :)

Our 4th of July family pic

Playing in the pool...the water was a fabulous 90 degrees...for me, thats wonderful because I HATE cold water!

Definitely drinking a BLACK CHERRY IBC just for any of you wondering what I'm holding in my hand! Don't worry...Marc drove on the way home. haha jk

Montana and Daddy...she loves the water, but was a little skittish of water floaties and such so we pretty much held her the whole time.

She was driving us nuts out of the pool, because she would run right up to the edge like she was going to jump in, and then stop. She's fearless!

The brothers with their guns...

Tana and her Pompi

The kids have a blast with all the toys Mams and Pompi buy for their pool. The slide is a favorite.

Over at the Petersen's....here's Aunt Tiffy with Ryan...

Marc was a little exhausted from his day of swimming, and he fell asleep on the couch right after we ate. He was out for almost two hours.

Some of the kids (Nicole and Tiffany were inside playing the Wii, so we didn't get any pictures with them. And then David was off camping and having a blast with his friends, just like every 22 year old should be!)

I love my sisters

Pretty sure I was wearing heels...the one time in my life that I will look as tall as my sisters!

Us with Logan's girlfriend Sam. She's definitely a part of the family.

The cute couple.

Couldn't get her to relax and take a picture with me. This is me saying, "Can you just give mommy kisses?" since she wouldn't say cheese? She didn't. haha

Andalyn would smile with her mommy. She had just enjoyed a chocolate cupcake as you can tell!

And here Montana is getting a chocolate cupcake from her Nama.

She did however decide to cheese it up for the camera a little later. Here are those adorable shots. Too cute to choose just one!

Getting ready to do fireworks. Marc's eyes are blood shot from opening his eyes under water too much earlier that day. I also forgot pj's or a sweatshirt for Montana at home, and so again, she put on some of Aunt Tiffy's old clothes to stay warm.

She loved the sparkler.

After that, she pretty much was like this for the rest of the night. She hated the smoke and the sounds of the fireworks. She fell asleep in my lap, because she was so exhausted from the day. I loved it. I haven't been able to hold my baby to fall asleep for a while, since she's getting bigger. I was totally content just sitting there holding my boo.

Andalyn did so well with the fireworks. She kept saying, "That was MY firework." for the ones they had brought.

Then the Elk Grove Park aerial fireworks show was in plain enough sight for us to see from the lawn at my parents, so we watched that and then headed home.

It was a lovely 4th of July. Marc and I were discussing our last four 4th of July's together, and what we were doing the fourth of July's before we met...Idaho, Montana, Oregon...lots of different adventures. I'm so grateful that I have my husband and family. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I'm so grateful that all my fourth of July's to come will be memories with him and our family.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! I'm so grateful for a free country. God Bless America!