4th of July Fun!

We had a great Independence Day Celebration! We were so honored to have some friends from out of town stay at our house for the weekend. Then we had our friends from church join all of us for good old fashioned 4th of July BBQ.

It started with a First Lady Cookie Bake-Off. I made Cindy McCain's Butterscotch Oatmeal cookies & Michelle Obama's Shortbread cookies for each guest to taste (recipes thanks for Family Circle Magazine). The guests were asked to taste one of each cookie (recipe owner not identified) and vote for which one they liked best. The Butterscotch Oatmeal ones won by a landslide. We enjoyed each others company, the kiddos splashed in the pool and put on temporary tattoos, had delicious food and ended our celebration with a fun relay race.

After the celebration was over at our house we headed to church to serve at the 4th of July Outreach and watch the fireworks. Jack and I went to the park and went for a long walk too. As we walked along the path in the park Jack would stop to say "Hi" to lots of people. He would also point out all the fun things he saw like motorcycles, balls, etc. On one particular stop along the path Jack not only greeted his new friends with a friendly, "Hi!" but he also decided that it was important to tell them, "I poop." That is his newest phrase. He lets us know, and apparently perfect strangers too, when he poops or toots. It is very cute!

Here are fun pictures from the day:

Delicious Desserts - Notice the beautiful trifle that Tanya brought...

Some hungry guests in line.

My sister Stephanie, her fiance Tim, and their new puppy Cassius.

Grandma Shelly & Jack have lunch.

Splashing in the Pool!

Dinner Time...




The Relay Race
(First to fill the bucket with marshmallows...there was definitely some cheating going on though...Mike & Ruth, oh - Jack & Jeremy too!)

Go Abby!!

Family Time at the Fireworks!

Our Guests, the Wagner Family

Auntie TeeTee made it home from the Challenge Conference in time to watch the fireworks with us!

Jack LOVED the fireworks. Once they started he only took his eyes off the sky once to look back and see if we could see what he was seeing! He would point and say, "Oooh."