The 4th of July!!!

WARNING: Picture Overload!

Here's a walk through our first 4th of July as a family!

Well, technically it starts on July 3rd :)

Jay, Emma, and I went to our good friends Halley & Colleen Griess' house. We met a few other couples there for an evening of some good grilling, fun games, and great conversation. It was so nice to hang out with some old and new friends! I was in charge of bringing watermelon. But, why just bring simple cut up watermelon when you can do this!

Halley thought it may resemble a muskrat, but I'm convinced it looked like a hedgehog.

Here's our baby.

She looks so grown up!

Her smile!

After a long week at work, Emma was missing her daddy. (or I'd like to think she realizes he's gone..... maybe not yet) But she enjoys playing with him so much, as you can see in the picture below.

Tummy time with daddy on his day off!

 After Emma's afternoon nap, we went out with my friend Jamie and had Emma's first photo shoot! Here's the link to her blog with the pictures! Jamie Lynne Photography or Jamie Lynne Photography Facebook Page I put Emma in her car seat and finished my conversation with Jamie; I looked down and she was out. Must be exhausting looking that cute!

 Our hub church, Walnut Creek Community Church, holds a big 4th of July celebration out at the church camp. We had been out there in the morning to watch our WTC team play and then watch my sister play. Cara's team just kept on winning, so we had to head out there for her semi-final game at 5:30. They won that game too! So, we stuck around to watch the championship game, but they happened to get "served" in this game. (not meaning to sound mean, just needed a fun pun in this post)

Cara in action!

This was the competition!! They put up such a great fight!

Emma watching Auntie Cara!

 After the volleyball game was over, we headed back home for dinner!

Cara turned my cute hedgehog watermelon into a devilish looking bugger!

Daddy feeding Emma rice cereal for the first time!

Someone got sunburnt!

Emma loves drinking out of a big girl glass.

Jay grilled up some delicious steak, potatoes, and carrots!

Of course, we needed an after dinner activity!

Jay and Cara enjoying a game of badminton.

We had a little problem. The birdie/shuttlecock got stuck in the tree. No one knew at the beginning that I was taking a video and not snapping a picture. It makes the video that much better.

We had a spectator.

"Yo Mom! I've got winner!"

"Please, just one more game before bed!"

We even got to watch some fireworks.... well kinda. We watched the Chicago fireworks on TV. We decided there were many pluses to this situation. We were in air conditioning, could grab a glass of water when we were thirsty, and best of all NO BUGS!!! We had such an enjoyable first 4th of July! Hope you did too!