4th of July

We had a fantastic 4th of July this year! I am not sure we have ever had a bad 4th of July....it's certainly one of my favorite days to celebrate! Our 4th of July started earlier than normal when Bryson, Matt, Kena, and I got up at about 5:45 to drive to Ada and participate in our first 5k! I had been running in preparation for the big day but hadn't been able to squeeze in as many runs as I liked and could never go over 2 miles. So I wasn't expecting to do very well, but I knew it would be fun! I ran into a sweet friend from high school before the race that informed me that this particular course was one of the hardest ones in the State and had a lot of hills. Awesome....hadn't ran any hills. But I knew I could walk if I needed to and I knew I could finish!

The boys completely smoked us (not that I was surprised) and Kena and I stayed pretty close together! The hills were horrible but I was very pleased to finish in 33 minutes and 19 seconds. I beat Kena by just a little bit (not that I was trying to....wink)! Yes, sibling rivarly still exists! Our parents actually thought I was lying when I told them I beat her. She is in Much better shape than me, but her bad back gave me an edge! We had a yummy breakfast following the race and just really enjoyed the time spent together without kids. The four of us very rarely do stuff by ourselves because we hate for our parents to watch all four kids! Brody stayed the night with Papa and Nana and "camped" inside the house, Meg hung out with mom, and Dad kept Hannah and Huston! I think more races our in my future. It is a great motivator to workout!

We arrived back in Sulphur this little firecracker was ready for the party to start!

And these two guys were ready to relax for a bit and then pop some firecrackers. Have I ever mentioned how lucky we all are that these two like each other so much? I couldn't imagine our husbands not being good buddies! It helps they have known each other pretty much all their lives! And the other Pauls Valley boy....Cousin Shawn. We were all so excited his girlfriend Katelyn made it. My kids just love her and always want to know where Shawn's girlfriend is!

A rare picture of just the two of us!

Mom and dad were ready for the party! They had the cutest 4th of July decorations!

The kids started off playing on Matt and Kenas awesome water slide! Such a hit on a hot day!

Meg was so happy to see how much Cousin Austin had grown since the last time we saw him. She had a great time playing with him. I love how sweet she is with babies!!!

Giving him some love!

And then it was time to have some races! Cousin Shawn set up a course for them and supervised!

And then he got in on the races with Hannah!

I tried to help Meg beat Hannah. It didn't work.

And then it was firecracker time

Meg and KK stayed close to each other. Just like always!

It was all fun until the smoke bombs went off.

And this is what Meg thought of all that!

Brody loved it all though!

And Austin could have cared less!

But Miss Meg spent the rest of the night watching the fireworks from behind the door! It was such a fun filled day but we were all sooo tired! Bryson had to head back home so he could go to work the next day and me and the kids stayed the night. The evening ended with Matt killing a copperhead by neighbor George's house (right where we had all been popping fireworks), another neighbors baby getting choked by a candy wrapper (he ended up being fine), and part of the debris from a firework ending up in my eye and burning it (it felt awful for about 30 minutes and then I was fine too). Never a dull moment!