Happy 4th of July!!! (2018)

Happy Birthday America!!!

The Fourth of July was a little hard for me this year because Josh had to work (he's been working mandatory overtime all summer) and this is the first Independence Day that we have ever missed in our entire 10 years of dating/marriage :(. But I packed the day full of fun events with friends and family to help me not feel so lonely and it turned out to be quite an amazing day!

We started the morning off with breakfast and swimming over at my best friend Jura's apartment. They recently sold their home and moved into an apartment close to us but life has gotten so dang busy and we don't see as much of each other as we would like. So this was the perfect excuse to get together and let our little ones play! The kids had a blast and the company and conversation was light and fun! We topped our little party off with some pool side ice cream and it was a big hit! I normally dread Vegas summers but having kids makes it so much more enjoyable and it almost always involves water! :)

Happily skipping off to the pool!

The cutest little kids in the whole world!

Best friends going on 20 years!!!

Playing in the water with Uncle Adrien.

Ice cream always tastes best after swimming!

MMmmm ice cream!

The kids swam their hearts out all morning and then we left at noon to head to our next party! They fell asleep in the car and I HAD to snap a quick picture because it was so funny! Can you tell that they partied hard? ;) It probably didn't help that they were up at 5:30am that morning...... ugh.

We spent the rest of the day in Boulder City with Grandma Helm, Uncle Kenneth, and Aunt Diane. Grandma Helm's house is always a big hit with her nice back yard and all the fun toys she has collected over the years :). We BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs and Grandma made homemade potato salad and cherry jello salad to go along with it. Austin loved her potato salad so much he had three helpings! And then he asked Grandma to give his Mom her recipe..... hahaha! Uncle Ken always has fun with the kids (even if Evie was super grumpy from getting woken up from her cat-nap in the car).

BBQ with the family.

Grandma busy in the kitchen! She's not the typical "good at cooking" kind of Grandma so this was big for her ;).

Playing with all of Grandma's fun treasures!

Little grumpy butt cuddled with Uncle Ken for a little while.

But cuddles with Great Grandma are the best!

As remains true every year, the sparklers and pop-its were a fan favorite! The kids went through 6 boxes of sparklers and then wished that they had more! I was just glad it was Uncle Ken lighting them this year and not me! hehe!

Yay for "Sparkles"! (hehe!)

Austin had fun writing his name in the air now that he knows how to spell his name!

Happily sweeping up the mess from all the pop-its for Grandma :).

As the sun began to set and the magic of fireworks loomed in the air, Uncle Ken and Aunt Diane left for home and we took the party over to the Boulder Creek Golf Course with Grandma Helm for the firework show! This is the best kept secret in the Henderson/Boulder City area and I was reluctant to let Jura know about it because I didn't want word to get out that this is the place to be! Everywhere else in Vegas and Henderson is so dang packed with people! But on the golf course, there is only a handful of people sitting on the lawn and the kids all get to run around on the golf course with their glow sticks having a blast until the show begins! Not to mention there is always parking up front and center. You just can't beat that! Jura, Adrien, and Juliette met us there and I was actually really glad they came!....but I made sure to mention that it's a secret hahaha! As he always does, Austin made tons of friends that night and he was really upset when I made him stop playing long enough to watch the fireworks. I am still amazed at what a social butterfly he is turning into! It is so opposite from his previous nature! The glow sticks were the hit of the night and it was so fun watching all the little kids running around on the grass, glowing in the twilight. I missed Josh so much in this moment. I wanted him to be there holding me on the blanket while we watched our babies play. But, oh well. I had to remind myself that I was so blessed to have a Grandma and my closest friends sitting there next to me when my husband couldn't.

Blessed is an understatement

As the firework display lit up the sky amid the palm trees, the scene was so picturesque. Austin sulked for a while and then finally accepted that the fireworks were a pretty good supplement to his new found friends. Evie, however, sat next to me on her tummy, ooh'ing and awe'ing along with the rest of us....only her little excited voice was a million times cuter than anyone else I could hear ;). Afterwards, we reluctantly said goodbye to Grandma and our dear friends, and set off for home, sleepy and happy from a day full of fun and laughter.

As we drove over the hill into Henderson and could see all the fireworks going off all over the city, I silently counted all my many blessings and thanked God that I am an American. Nowhere else could I have such an incredible life, and for that I am eternally grateful.