Our 4th of July celebration!

We had a great 4th of July holiday. My sister and her husband came up to visit us from Sunday through Thursday morning. They were in the later half of a 2-week trip up to Illinois and Michigan, visiting family and friends in addition to seeing some historical sites (my brother-in-law is a history professor and LOVES researching our past presidents!). My parents decided to also come for a visit, so they were here from Tuesday night through Thursday morning. We had a full house during the day, though mom and dad opted to stay at a hotel at night. We enjoyed our own fireworks celebration on the 4th and were surprised to be able to see so many other fireworks displays from our back porch. We sat out there for at least an hour watching the horizon for splashes of red, white and blue. It was so much fun...and Mallory slept through it all!

We ate good food, watched as much Wimbledon as we could despite all the rain delays, and enjoyed each other's company. It was fun to host a family gathering and were very thankful the freedom we have in this country to do so civilly and peacefully.

Here are a few pics from our holiday:

The grill master cookin' up burgers and dogs






















My mom and sister loading up their plates. What a spread!























Here's Mallory enjoying watermelon...one of her favorites! I let her get a *little* messier than I normally do...






















The fam