July 4, 2008

I finally convinced my computer to recognize that my camera wanted to send it some pictures. I've got a lot of pictures to put up here, but I think I'll go one event at a time!

First up, July 4th!!

For this great day, we had a few friends over to celebrate - Wes & Shellee, Emily, Gary & Alicia, Harry & Barbie, and some school/baseball friends, Trace & Selena. With these adults (and Scott & I), also came 15 kids!! That's a lot of kid power!! Though now that I think about it, most of it came from us and the Powells!!

Anyway, this little party was lots of fun. The Earle's brought a "redneck waterslide" which was just a long piece of painter's plastic that had baby shampoo and laundry soap poured on it and then watered down with the hose!! The kids said it was so slick you couldn't even stand up on it!!

Next up was a water balloon fight -

Then came the go-carts! Kids and driving is a crazy combination!! They loved scaring us as much as possible!! And no, we didn't let the kids ride on the back of the go-carts like a couple of pictures suggest!! (at least not on purpose!!)

Alex, Joseph, Parker, Kendall, and Jordan (driving)

Anthony, Joseph, Me and Alicia (driving)

Shellee and Me (driving)

John Wesley and Shellee

Emily and Parker (not sure why it's blurry)

But, of course, the main attraction was the fireworks!! Most of the kids were right in the middle of all the action which made the mommas a little nervous!! But thankfully, there were no life-threatening injuries!! Not even any little injuries either!! The fireworks watchers had to always be alert for a stray spark or some other random something flying or falling our way. I managed to snap a couple of pics before it got too dark or I was too worried to think about taking pictures!!

The best part of the fireworks show was, of course, the Grand Finale!! Though this one was like none other that I've seen!! There was much drama made about the fact that this was, indeed, the Grand Finale. The guys started shooting off some big ones and we were all amazed, yet again! Then, evidently one of them fell over and instead of going up, went into the yard. There was a loud bang and a big flash of color to the left. It scared us a little because it obviously wasn't supposed to be on the ground. Then another bang and flash of color to our right a lot closer to where we were sitting really gave us a scare! All the women screamed RUN!! and we jumped up and started running to the porch! Just as we left our chairs, I looked back and another bang/flash almost right where we had just been sitting! I'm running and carrying Landry and Emily's running and carrying Luke who happens to be dressed as Batman!! Luke, who scares pretty easily, screams to Emily - This is the WORST Grand Finale EVER!!! By this point, we are all laughing so hard at the crazy show our amateurs put on for us! It was definitely an experience to remember!!

It's always fun to party with good friends! God has totally blessed us with some good ones who make our lives a lot better and certainly more interesting!!