4th of July Weekend

Fourth of July weekend started off with Dad off of work on Friday....which 3 day weekends are always a treat and looked forward too!

Dad and Ryken making a sandwhich! Ryken was helping spread the mustard and mayo!

We had lots on our To-Do list this weekend!

1st) was to wash the deck before staining it!

We had done the top of the railing Thursday night once the kids went to bed...but we were excited to see the main part of the deck cleaned...because we knew it was dirty!

2nd) stain/seal the deck!

3rd) mow and edge 

4th) pull weeds

Once we got it all clean, it had dried and the kids were napping, Chris and I starting staining/sealing the railings!

It was fun seeing the major difference and we looked forward to the finished product!

I sure enjoyed working on a project together!

The perfect spot! :)

Chris had smoked more beef brisket today too, so that was a supper we were all looking forward to...and it was the best yet! 

After eating too much, we took a walk around the neighborhood!

This is the new section of our development that has this nice water retention area! Because of all the smoke around, it made for a beautiful sunset over the water!

And right on the other side of the water retention area is our communities park!! YAY!! We have been waiting for this and it looks like a very nice size one! There is a park, swings and basketball hoops from what we can tell so far! It will be so nice to have it finished and us able to all use it...plus, it is a nice walk too!

A big grader was on the side of the rode and we stopped to check it out of course!!

The big boy (who wasn't so sure about it) sitting on the bit wheel!

Little Sunshine Raya!

Found these three reading Saturday morning!

Daddy had gone to the church around 2 - which was when the cookout was to start, but we let the kids nap and then come later. 

But before we left, we had to get some pictures in their cute little 4th of July appeal! 

Ryken's shirt was the same shirt he wore last year and Sorraya's dress was a hand-me-down and I so hoped it would fit her when July came around and it did! Perfectly!

It was bright and they both just woke up...so this is what we got! :)

We got to the church around 4pm and we flew the kite right way! 

All the men around the grill!

It was a small group this year, and someone thought to bring the table together so it was one big table! 

It was a nice time being around the table with family!

Ryken got to sit on the lawn mower and Matt said that maybe sometime he can ride it around with Matt! :) 

Once we came home, we had some left over fire crackers from last year to use up this year!

Ryken enjoyed them much more this year! So it was fun seeing what we had in our bag of tricks!

He liked the snaps, because he could do them himself!

Smoke bombs!

With this one, Ryken said "It's like orange juice!" we all laughed! 

We still had some left over sparklers from our wedding that we let Ryken try out! 

He sure liked them!!

Watching her big brother!

One in each hand was more fun!! Of course!

Since they were from our wedding...we had to make some fire! ;)

It was a great weekend of productivity and fellowship with friends and family!