Independence Day

Our 4th of July was pretty low key. This is actually the first Independence Day we have been able to celebrate as a family in a few years. Last year Jacob was working the night shift and the year before that he was on stand-by and he wasn't allowed to go anywhere. I can't ever remember doing anything to celebrate when we were living in Germany either. So this could have been the first time we've done anything since we've been married. I know it's the first time I've seen fireworks since we lived in Germany when the Germans would light them on New Years Eve. This was also Chels' very first time ever seeing them. So anyways, here's some pictures of our weekend.

I can't remember which day this was, I just thought it was a cute picture. She falls alseep in the weirdest places.

Chels and Jake set up the tent and slept outside one night. She was SOOOO excited, this was her first time sleeping outside. She was ready to go to bed at about 5:00 so we had to keep telling her to wait until it was dark. Well as SOON as the sun went down she was ready! I opted out of the campout but Jake said she did good and fell asleep quickly. He, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Our neighbors were having some sort of crazy party and he didn't fall alseep until late.

Chels standing by the tent after they set it up.

The flowers of Lompoc are in full bloom right now, and it's so pretty. You can't really get a good idea of the beauty from this picture but it really is a gorgeous site to see. They are all colors and there are just fields and fields of them. I sometimes make Jake take me for drives around the farm country just to see all the pretty fields!

We went to our church to watch the fireworks since Lompoc was lighting them off from the High School which is right down the street. It was a good view. We bought Chels some sparklers and she was TERRIFIED of them. She wouldn't even hold one when it wasn't lit. There were no tears or anything, just a lot of nervous laughter. Needless to say, we have a lot of sparklers left over.

Jake trying to get her to hold one.

And trying even harder. It looks like he has her in a headlock but he really doesn't, haha. She was just squirming away by this point. She loved the actual fireworks though. Lompoc put on a pretty good show, it was about 20 minutes long (perfect amount of time in my opinion). We all just cuddled together on the Church's lawn and watched them, it was very nice. I'm so thankful for our country and for the people who defend it. I love America and I will never take it for granted. We are so blessed to live here.