Fourth of July

The fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays of all time!  Nothing is better than summertime, fireworks and spending time with family and friends!

My sister had us all over with their friends for a fun fourth of July party!  My sister always makes her house look adorable with cute signs and decorations for every party she hosts and this was no exception!  All of the food and drinks were wonderful!

My sweet Avery and Bennett

Katie and I

The boys in stripes, Bennett and Stephen

After spending some time at their party we headed over to Stephens parents house to have a little BBQ with their family!  Always good times snuggling with baby Andre!

Next up...dinner at Chammps with our friends before heading to fireworks!  We met up with some of our dear friends, Jenny, Erik, Carryn and Justin.  All of the boys are on the fire department together and Stephen, Carryn and Jenny worked together at the camp that Stephen and I met at.  Jenny and Erik started dating after meeting at Stephen and I's wedding almost two years ago.  Small world I know, its crazy how so many parts of our lives have merged together!  We absolutely love it!  After dinner at Chammps we headed over to the fire station to watch fireworks!  We watch them there every year because you can't beat the convenience!  We get to park at the fire station which is right across the street from where they shoot off the fireworks, we can go inside and use a nice bathroom and escape the bugs, and we get to sneak out quickly after fireworks and beat all of the traffic!  

Carryn and I

Stephen and I

FIRE FRIENDS!

Justin, Carryn, Stephen, Kirstin, Jenny and Erik

It was a very busy day running around to see all of our family and friends but we wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Family Fun Days

My whole family had planned to take a summer vacation in northern Minnesota together.  However, with the size of our large family it was hard to find a place big enough that met our criteria!  So we ended up all taking the same week of the end of June and had ourselves a little staycation!  First up we rented a boat on Lake Waconia!  Unfortunately due to all of the rain we got earlier in the summer the water was really high on all of the lakes so the whole lake was a no wake zone!  No problem for us...we scooted along slowly to the other side of an island, dropped anchor and enjoyed the PERFECT weather!

My little Av-baby getting all sunscreened up for a day in the sun!  We didn't want any repeats of last years sunburn!

The whole fam-bam getting ready to head out for our day of fun!

Avery and Papa

Love me some of this goofy girl!

Avery and Katie swimming!

All of the boys!  Davey, Stephen and Scott

My momma and I

Day Two we headed to Cascade Bay water park in Eagan!  We had a blast on all of the water slides and floating down the lazy river!  It was a little cloudy and cool that day but we made the best of it and managed to get out of the water park with minutes to spare before a torrential downpour!  

Day Three we headed to Stillwater to bum around the town!  The St. Croix river was also incredibly high from all of the rain.  I wish I had taken some pictures.  There were light posts halfway underwater where there is normally a sidewalk to walk along by the river.  We did a wine tasting for a local vineyard which was fun and very yummy!  Then we headed to lunch at the Freight House!  

All in all it was a fun few days with the family!  We so cherish all of the time we get to spend together making awesome memories!