Fourth of July Celebrations

This Fourth of July we enjoyed a low key relaxing time with our neighbors. We all gathered in the cul-de-sac for a potluck BBQ under the pop-up canopy's (who asked for the rain anyways?). We love getting together with the neighbors. They are just like family. After some yummy food and some chatting we all sat around and watched the show.

All of us pitched in and went in on the fireworks together this year. It made for a pretty sweet show! We were probably setting stuff off for a good 2.5-3 hours! We also had a bunch of the BIG STUFF. Mortars and rockets and such. It was good times.

Here's Dan helping supervise Tyler (neighbor boy) light a rocket.

Both Ethan and Tyler were in heaven this year and they lit off a bunch of the smaller stuff all by themselves! Definitely boys! It was fun to watch their excitement as they got to light stuff off.

Here is Emma and our neighbor Maddie drawing with sidewalk chalk. It was nice to let the kids run around without any worries. They knew to stay clear of the launching area and we had lots of eyes to keep track of everyone. Emma enjoyed wearing my shooting earmuffs to cancel out the loud booms.

 

Kiera enjoying spinning around with a sparkler

 

Here's Tyler and Samantha holding and letting off Roman Candles with their gloves on. It was great fun!

Emma with her sparkler. Still a little unsure but when she was finished she was pretty proud she had done it. I love her face in this shot.

The three musketeers. Maddie, Samantha, and Kiera. These girls are great friends.

Tyler and Ethan. These two had such a great time together especially when they had permission to light matches!

Towards the end we had some of our friends from our ward (The Hansen's) show up and they watched the fireworks with us. It was fun to have more friends come and celebrate with us. This is a family shot I took for them. Notice the furniture they are sitting on? We finished the Adirondack chairs that morning! I'll post about them next.

Starting to wind down a bit. The kids all loaded up in the back of Travis's pick-up truck to watch the rest of the show. The kids had a blast and we all had such a great time. I LOVE our neighborhood!