4th of July Weekend

I had the best time over the 4th of July weekend! We went to my aunt's house, she lives on Lake Murray in SC. They have a boat, and we spend most of our time on the lake! My family and I arrived there on Saturday afternoon and everyone was already out on the boat. They came back to lay the kids down and then we all went out back on the boat. Just to clarify this is the first time that I have seen my cousins and their kids in years. My cousin Jenna just had another little boy named Harper and he is the cutest thing in the world. I loved getting to hold him, and play with him. I really wanted to take him home with me. Saturday night there were fireworks on the lake, so we all piled on the boat to go watch them-they were beautiful. Most of you know that my cousin Justin and his family were trying to get out of Germany to get to the United States. So there were a few more flights Sunday and they were able to get on one. The bad news is that because is was a holiday weekend all the rental car places were closed and so my aunt and cousin Josh drove 11 hours to New Jersey to get them! So Sunday we went to the church where my uncle is the pastor and had lunch there. When we returned home we laid the kids down and some of us went to the mall. My aunt Kaye had no idea that we were planning her a surprise 50th birthday party for Monday afternoon. It really worked our perfect for her to be gone all day on Sunday because we were able to get a lot done for the party! We went swimming in the lake Sunday afternoon and just relaxed the rest of the night. My aunt and Justin's family arrived home from New Jersey about 10am on Monday morning and we immediately hit the lake! We went back to the house around 2 to lay the kids down and Jessica and I stayed back where we could get some things ready for the party. We put up some signs and some decorations. Everyone else returned around 4 and we had aunt Kaye come in last and we screamed "SURPRISE!" She had no idea-success! We ate, and we ate. The cake they had made for her was amazing. The first layer was strawberry, the second vanilla, and it had peanut butter filling in the middle...yum yum! It was a great time with family. I am so thankful that I got to see everyone and all their kids. You all know that kids are my thing so I thought I was in heaven being surrounded by so many all weekend! Here are some pics from the weekend...

cousins

new baby cousin harper

jenna

jessica

jenna and whit

hayden

aunt kaye

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!