Some Shots from the Fourth

We had a fun but very tiring July 4th. 

We started laying pavers on our back porch.  Rob found some free pavers on craigslist last year and they've been stacked in our backyard since then.  I somehow convinced him to lay them this weekend before we bothered to do a silly little thing like measuring.  Well, long story short - we have enough pavers (which are now cemented down) for about half of the patio.  oops. 

Earlier in the weekend, Rob mulched our flower beds and re-sealed our driveway. 

Thankfully, we were invited to Rob's parents house for a July 4th picnic.  I fear we would have been unloading a pallet of pavers well into the night had we not committed to attending. 

Rob's aunt, uncle, and three cousins were visiting from Iowa.  The youngest cousin of the clan, Lisa, is moving to NYC to work for a design company.  Check it out.

We enjoyed some great food, volleyball, water balloons, sparklers, and a slip-n-slide! 

Here are some of the pictures from our fun time together!

Josh is just so cool! :)

Lisa, Jim, and Ilene

Josh and Wesley

the spread - me, Nic, Aunt Ilene, Nana Putz (my m-i-l)

water balloon launching - Jeremy, Josh, Emma, Travis

Angie, Jim, Ilene, Katie, and baby Malachi

Natalie

my father-in-law and Wesley

Travis and Angie

Kate, Travis, Emma, Jeremy

Emma on the slip-n-slide

Jacob

Emma and I

sparklers

We decided to let our kids stay up late and watch the fireworks.  On the 30 minutes drive home, we had two little sleeping girls.  Look how excited they are about the fireworks! 

We loved the fireworks, but it is really hard to take good pictures of them.  This is about the best pic of the bunch (and there were about 100).  

We enjoyed celebrating the freedom we are blessed with in the United States.  We are forever grateful for the bravery of our founding fathers and the foresight they had to craft the Declaration of Independence. 

Hope you had a fun day celebrating with your family and friends!