Fabulous 4th of July!

We headed to my parents' house for the 4th of July and we had a wonderful time! We spent Friday and Saturday enjoying family and LOTS of fun!! First, we walked in and found out that my dad had gotten 3 boxes FULL of nuts, pretzels, and trail mix. So, we helped him to seal them to freeze. We were able to help and in turn we have TONS of nuts for our family. Anli loved helping Pal with all the sealing. We even were given a seal machine from my parents so that we can freeze all our own foods too.

We had so many different types of nuts that we had to label them all after we froze them. There were smoked, salted, raw, mixed, and more! Anli did a great job working with Pal.

That night, we had a wonderful meal in honor of Jay's birthday. He picked the menu and he wanted steak, baked potatoes, and for dessert...roulage! Jay had never had roulage until he became a part of our family! So, this is his favorite Elliott family dessert.

Happy Birthday Jay!

The dinner was also in honor of Jay and I's 12th anniversary! What a blessing to be married to the love of my life and best friend for 12 years. We have actually been together for almost 15 years!

We also celebrated Pal's birthday too! We gave him a kettle so that they can boil their hot tea!

AFter dinner and a yummy dessert, we headed outside to watch Daddy set off fireworks! We had bought a bag of fireworks last year and never set them off. Since my family lives on 11 acre farm...we had lots of room to do fireworks!

The best part of us was sitting in the wonderful screened porch where we had fans, comfy seats, and NO mosquitoes! What a way to watch fireworks!

Jay did them out on the pool deck right in front of the porch! They were GREAT! We all ooooohed and aaaaaaahed over every one.

Then, it was time to do all the sparklers that we had. The girls ran all over the yard and had a wonderful time!

The next day we spent the WHOLE day in the pool together! We had so much fun swimming, racing, diving, and enjoying family time.

Dad did some tricks throwing the girls in the air! I love these action shots!

Go Virginia!

We also enjoyed some good old fashioned relaxing together! Jay found The Hobbit at their house and enjoyed reading an old favorite. My parents have this amazingly beautiful home with awesome land, pool, and screened in porch with fans and comfy furniture. We love it because it overlooks the pool, so the adults can talk and relax while watching and talking with the kids in the pool.

The girls decorated a tablecloth for the 4th of July! My mom is very crafty and loved for the girls to do art projects while they are at her house!

And then...there was the AMAZING food! My parents are the best cooks! Jay LOVES to go to my family's home because they feed him so well. Look at this feast...

Then, we headed out to play with the animals. The girls love to take carrots out and feed the miniature horse and donkey. They love to "train" them!

Nothing says country like capri pants and boots!

Virginia and Gabby...so sweet!

The horse whisperer!

Sadly...we had to head home all to quickly. It was a wonderful 4th of July and a great time for our whole family. We are so blessed that we have such a great place to visit with family. My girls love that they have a farm that is only about 2 hours away.

Thanks for such a great weekend Sassy and Pal!!