Independence Day Fun!

We were thrilled to be able to spend a whole week with our Oklahoma Family last week. We did something fun and exciting on every day of the week. I plan on writing at least a couple of blog posts about our fun times there, to continue our family's online journal. But first, I just wanted to share a quick pictorial post of our fabulous fun on the fourth.

We started the day at a super-cool park and splash pad. Look at this huge slide!

Abbey felt like a big girl pushing her younger cousin, Natalie, in the swing:

Brody and Luke had so much fun at the splash pad. Actually, I should clarify that—Luke had a blast watching Brody get soaked by the large buckets of water that were being dumped on him at the splash park. Luke wasn't as interested in getting soaked by the buckets, but thought Brody was pretty funny. 

Then, loads of immediate family, extended family and friends arrived to my parents' house for the annual Independence Day extravaganza. My favorite part of the evening is simply enjoying being around all of these fun people for the fourth celebration. It is the only time of the year that I get to see some of these special folks.  And, of course, there is a ton of delicious food to eat and beautiful fireworks to watch.

Little Miss 4th of July!

My brother, Jason, pulling a booby trap.

Our niece, Kaylee, tossing "poppers".

Hey--that's not a firecracker in the air---it's Kaylee!

Traber, our nephew, concentrating on riding the tricycle.

My niece, Linnea, taking in all of the festivities.

Even though he wasn't a fan of loud fireworks, Luke enjoyed throwing the "poppers" and trying to catch the parachutes.

Traber caught a parachute.

Abbey loves to give daddy kisses!

Drew and I enjoyed playing with sparklers and camera settings.

It turns out my handwriting with sparklers is no better than on paper.  I am trying to write the word, "hot," with my sparkler here. 

We even made sure to capture some formal family photos this year in our red, white and blue attire.

Grandma, Grandpa and their grandchildren

One of our family friends offered to take a photo of my immediate family.  Thanks, Brandy!

Fun times! We are already missing hanging out with these wonderful people and are looking forward to the next time we get to visit.