The 4th of July

When I was a kid I used to say that my favorite holiday was the 4th of July. And I have to say, it's still one of my favorites......it's SUMMER, it's warm, usually hanging out by water of some sort, eating, BBQ, fireworks......it's just fun!!

We were in town this year, so we celebrated over at my mom and Randy's.....they have the perfect 4th of July backyard!

Family photo.....kinda sunny, but I had to get us all in our red, white, and blue before the craziness began.

Aubrey found some 4th of July desserts in our Family Fun magazine that she wanted to make. (Love that magazine!) I thought the red, white, and blue strawberries turned out very cute. We also made some 4th of July ice cream sandwich popsicles that I didn't get a picture of.....

Happy first 4th of July Charlotte!

All the celebrating wore her right out! (This is a rare moment of her sleeping among the chaos.....Grandpa was loving it!)

LOTS of swimming!!

Who's ready for some sparklers?!

And some lawn games.....

Are those the longest sparklers you've ever seen??

It's finally dark and we can start the "real" fireworks. Aubrey and Carson were so excited that they got to stay up so late.....

Uncle Jared was the official lighter this year, and he put on quite a show! Okay, so I did have to tell Aubrey once to stop playing games on Catlin's phone.....

Yay America!