4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July...

...getting all dressed up in red, white, and blue!...going to the parade and visiting with family and eating watermelon....and having a BBQ with the fam and eating this for dessert! Yum!

I am so thankful to live in this great country and enjoy the freedom that we have. It was a great day!

30

It was my birthday this past Sunday...I turned 30!

Honestly, it's hard for me to believe that I'm 30. I feel great and I really am so happy with all that I have accomplished thus far in my life. There, of course, have been challenges too, but that's normal. I guess I just like to focus on all things good...and those things make my heart swell with happiness. I am so happy to be where I am in my life right now, at this moment. I have wonderful parents who have helped mold me into who I am today, I was fortunate to get a good education, I married my true love, and I have three amazing little angels that I love SO much! Life really is good.

It's pretty obvious that I love celebrating birthdays, and it was so wonderful to spend my special day with the ones that I love! After getting home from church, all of the kiddos were in a very cheery mood, so I jumped on the opportunity to get a pic of us together...seeing that I really don't have many good ones :). Lucky for me, Doug was able to get a decent shot...**Happy Birthday to me!!**

We then headed to my parent's house for an evening of relaxing, eating, gift giving, and cake! My mom has always made sure that my birthday is extra special...I honestly can't remember her not going above and beyond on my birthday...makes me smile! This year, she got me the most YUMMY cake from Mrs. Backer's Bakery. I can honestly say that it was one of the best cakes ever...and it was oh, so pretty too :).
My Noah knew exactly what he wanted to get me for my birthday, and he made sure that it was going to happen. I'm not afraid to admit this...we definitely have a little Bieber Fever in this house. Well, maybe it's just me and Leah, but I know that the boys like the Biebs too ;). His songs are catchy, plus Leah knows most of his songs and it is so funny watching her dance around and sing them. SO...Noah got me Never Say Never for my birthday! We had rented it a while back, we all enjoyed it, so he had the idea to get it for me. I just thought that it was so dang cute the effort that my little 5 year old went through to get me a gift...he's such a thoughtful little boy :).
We always set off fireworks on my birthday...such a fun tradition. I had some fun taking some sparkler pictures...Isaac's name was the only one that turned out, but that's alright.

I really had a wonderful, wonderful day! Thanks to all who helped me celebrate!

Sleepover and S'mores

Noah has been asking me, for what seems like *forever*, to have a sleepover with his cousin. SO, I finally delivered and we had Jacob come over last weekend for a fun filled sleepover! After our BBQ, we were lucky enough to have even more cousins stop by and have some s'mores with us. S'mores are definitely a favorite treat around here during the summer! So sticky, and SO yummy! Doug, being the awesome dad that he is, put the tent up in the backyard, and slept in it with the boys. Thankfully, they fell fast asleep and everyone had a good nights rest :).

Noah had such a wonderful time, and we definitely look forward to our next sleepover. Good times!