Saturday, July 9, 2011

4th Celebration at Home

 Since we had our big church picnic on the 3rd rather
than the 4th like we normally do, we had a pretty
relaxing 4th of July.. but it was nice! :-)
I was craving a Frappe since I woke up!
Crazy, since I'd only had one other one ever in my life!!
So, I finally went and got one.. it was super yummy!
 Mar & I both dressed in Piston jerseys for the day..
comfortable and red, white, and blue, so it worked! :-)
We tried to get some pictures, but it was a challenge
to get a good one!  Guess it wasn't really a picture day!
Maybe we were done with pictures for the week since
we'd taken SO MANY the day before! ;-)
Personally, I like this one of Mar actually.. ;-)

 

 Suzy & Jo left for Chicago later that afternoon.
They went to spend some time with their sister
and her family before going to Minnesota, to visit some 
friends, and then Wisconsin to surprise Tab, who is 
working at Camp Chetek for some of the summer!
Hope you have a great, safe trip, girls!  We'll miss you!!
 Had a cookout that night and had some of the family over.. 
it was low key and relaxing & I really enjoy grilling! :-)
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! :-)

4th of July Picnic at Church

 Naomi made some awesome lookin' 
cupcakes for the special event! :-)
 Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!
Our church normally has a picnic to celebrate the
special day, but this year we had it a day early.
We enjoyed a special Sunday of preaching by Shawn
Smith and a picnic in the afternoon as well as games
in the late afternoon and evening! :-)
We started out our day of festivities with
a historical service and a flag raising ceremony.

 It was a beautiful day!
 Some people even dressed up for the occasion! :-)
 I am thankful that I live in the 
"land of the free and the home of the brave"!
God Bless America!
 Sam chillin' during the ceremony :-)
 We had a "Freedom Wall" made up of bricks and on
the bricks were written servicemen that served our country.
It ended up really looking awesome!  Great idea, Mrs. J! :-)
 Some pictures of the servicemen..
 Lydia & Aunt Woody
 Besides Rachel, these were the other women who
made this day possible! :-)  Thank you for all
your hard work, ladies!  The food was great!
 An ensemble sang an arrangement 
of "America the Beautiful".


 All that to get a good picture.. my goodness! :-)
 Best time of the day.. FOOD TIME! :-)
 Some bus girls that came.
 Sarah, MacKenzie, and Lydia
 I think Britany was laughing.. and I think John was
in line in front of her.. that explains it! ;-)
 Adorable Ray girls - Micah, Autumn, and Summyrrh! :-)
 We love you, Uncle Woody! :-)

 Aunt Woody & Mrs. T (and Uncle J peeking in back) :-)

 Suzy & Victoria
 Once again, we got the bounce house.. 
and the "kids" loved it! :-)
 I guess Stephen Smith didn't want a picture.. just a guess! :-)
 Kelly & Rachel
Thank you for all your hard work, ladies!
You did a great job!
 Suzy & Dave
 Mr. Collinson got in a little nap while eating lunch.. :-)
 I guess a person's head makes a good stand as any! ;-)
 We got TONS of freeze pops!  Perfect day for it!
 Mary seemed to be enjoying "Capture the Flag"! ;-)
 "Capture the Flag" with water balloons.. it was great!
 CLASSIC Picture!  David throwing a bucket of water
on Hannah!  I love it & it looks like he does too! ;-)
 Playing Kickball
 Great to spend the day with Mar & Dave!
 We had a morning service, afternoon service, games,
and then clean up around 6pm, so then people
could go to fireworks later that day.


 Yeah, and the boys.. well.. as you can see they were
a BIG help! ;-)  Actually, they did help some.. :-)
 It was an exhausting, fun-filled day! :-)
 After clean-up, we still stayed around for a while..
SHOCKER?! ;-)  
We enjoyed relaxing in the field and playing volleyball..

 Well, John called Mary a name.. I won't say what,
but it didn't turn out too great for him as you can see! ;-)
 Tizzy & Ariel
Future traveling buddies! :-)
 Couldn't resist getting a good picture of 
Mr. Reiman playing football.. CLASSIC! :-)
 Caught in the act! ;-)

 Ariel, Mary, and Rachel watchin' the volleyball fun!
 So, even in the middle of a volleyball game
she doesn't miss a great picture opportunity! ;-)
Did I mention that the Statue of Liberty
showed up too at the end of the night?! ;-)
 Balloon Splash Photo Shoot.. 
havin' some fun with the camera!



 I hope you've enjoyed this post.. and this is
the woman who made it all possible!  This
was pretty much her stance for the day, too, can't 
you tell?! ;-)  Thanks for the pics, Jo!  They're great!
 We went to fireworks later that night.
Jo & I wanted to get a pic, so I tried to
take some but my flash was so bright
that Jo ended up closing her eyes in
the first attempt.  The next try, she said
that she'd just close her eyes and for me
to say "ok" when she should open them for
the picture.  So, I did.. and this is what we
got! LOL :-D  She looked at the right time,
but in the wrong spot!  We were dying laughing!
Finally!  One that's okay.. ;-)
We had a great day celebrating our American independence!