4th of July in Memphis

Friday, July 1st
We headed to Memphis for the 2nd year in a row to celebrate the 4th of July with our best friends Keith, Courtney and their precious girl Maggie Lynn! They are always awesome hosts...we always fill our time together with lots of laughs, yummy food, hanging out and movies! I've added A LOT of pictures and I'm breaking down our time there by day. The picture of above is right before we left. Last year, Jack was awful in the car. He has improved a lot but it's not without everyone putting forth effort to keep him happy. We are very thankful for Praise Baby, snacks, music and his sister Allie!

Saturday, July 2nd
We had planned to get up and go to the zoo in the morning, but we had a hard time getting everyone ready and happy. Jack had to lay down for a morning nap (he hasn't done that in months) and ML was tired too. So, then we decided that we would go swimming after lunch at a friends pool that was close by. We had so much fun...and the pool and area around it was awesome. Allie got to improve on her swimming and jumping in skills, Jack played in the water and our "men" acted like boys! Fun, fun, fun! We ended our day with naps and yummy food.

Everything is better with snack cup in hand!

I'm pretty sure this is the only picture I got of Jarod...priceless!

Sunday, July 2nd
We went to church on Sunday and then over to Keith's parents house for a yummy cook out lunch...hamburgers, guacamole, watermelon, baked beans and of course dessert! Then we headed back to the house and we all took naps. The boys were running in a 5k that night at 7. Courtney and I decided to opt out of dragging grumpy kids in the horrible heat. We just lounged around and hung out with the kids.

Allie and Maggie Lynn

Jack LOVES him some Maggie Lynn! He was so excited to hold her, hug her and kiss her. Sometimes she wasn't sure what to think about it. They are 9 months apart in age...Jack looks like a GIANT next to her:)

Monday, July 4th
We had again talked about going to the zoo, but I thought it would be horribly crowded so instead we headed off to Shelby Farms (huge park) and checked out their very cool new park. It is not your traditional park which made it so much fun! We had fun playing, then had a picnic lunch which seemed to help put everyone in good moods, then we went and slid down these awesome slides! I had not had that much fun in a long time. We got some great videos of us all going down and laughing...really so much fun!
After the park, we went home for naps and the grown ups had time without the kids. Then the men and the kids went to buy fireworks and food to cook. The guys grilled out and Jack and Allie played in the sprinkler. Jack was not a fan of the sprinkler and instead splashed in ML's pool. He thought it was okay. The water was really cold and it wasn't very hot outside (strange). After dinner we had a dance party and waited for it to get dark. Once it was dark enough, we headed outside to shoot fireworks. Jack and ML did really well until the boys shot off something incredibly loud that none of us were prepared for. After that, he sat in my lap and never moved or made a sound (not like him at all). All through the neighborhood, people were shooting fireworks so we go to see a good show!

These swings were awesome!

Love this picture...notice how tan my child is? Crazy!

ML and her sweet mommy

Jack loves to watch you cook so Keith obliged

Sweet ML was tuckered out and missed most of the excitement

Me and my sweeties...both were exhausted!

Tuesday, July 5th
We headed home early that morning. We are so glad we were able to go and see our dear friends and spend time with them. They will hopefully be heading this way in November!