An extended holiday weekend

Ah, the smell of fireworks being blown off all around you. What a beautiful thing.
This past weekend was full of family, food, good
times,laughter, fireworks, and memories made. My boyfriend and I flew down to Kansas on Thursday night and stayed through Monday. We had a great time!

Friday was a perfect day spent with my family. In the morning, the four of us went to the golf course and hit a bucket of golf balls. We had a lot of fun! When we headed back to my parent's house, Rachel and the girls had just arrived. We enJoyed a morning of good times with them and then went to pick out fireworks! At lunchtime, we celebrated my older sister's birthday. See pictures below:

Here you can see Elaina, Birthday lady (Rachel), me, and my boyfriend, Grant

Elaina helping Rachel open presents.
She got a bunch of K-cups (coffee) for her Kerig coffeemaker. :)

In the afternoon, we just enJoyed hanging out with the girls and unraveling lots of black cat fireworks. After a bit, Kelly joined us and my mom's brothers & sisters and my grandparents. It's been a while since they've all been together - and it was really good to see everyone and have them meet my man! :) We had a great time grilling out, blowing off fireworks, eating great food, and just hanging out. Definitely a memorable trip! After they headed back to Mac town, we retreated to the air conditioning where we played Catch-a-Phrase with my grandparents. Good times. In the evening, we said goodnight to the two cuties and us adults headed outside to blow off fireworks and Roman candles....and eat some more yummy food! See some more great pics from the day:

Mimi and Isabelle Ruby hanging out in the shade.

My beautiful niece Elaina Marie :)

Me, my boyfriend, and Mimi chilling

Auntie Tina reading Elaina a Dr. Suess book in the afternoon

My sis, Rachel laughing with Mimi about something while Isabelle sprawls out and Uncle Mick looks on at the cutie pie. :)

Yay! I love this one of all of us. The two couples. :)
Kelly & Rachel and then Grant and me.
I have a great sister and brother-in-law. Love them a Lot!

The rest of the weekend we spent with my boyfriend's extended family. We had a lot of fun. Saturday was full of golf in the morning for the guys and pedicures for us ladies. :) Naps and a meat fest for the guys. Hanging out...buying boxed fireworks for the night show! And then we went to his Aunt & Uncle's place and enJoyed some food, played washers, hung out, ate homemade ice cream (yum!), and then had a nice little firework show there. Sunday we went to Journey the Way in Wichita and heard his cousin, David Campbell speak. It was excellent! Afterwards, we visited Mead's corner - a beloved coffee shop that I miss from living in Wichita. Then Grant & I went to visit his Grandpa. That was a great time...he's an onery fellow, but it was real fun. In the evening, we had dinner with his brother, niece, and mom. That night we just relaxed and watched a movie, which was very nice after a busy couple of days. On the actual holiday, we packed up and visited my brother John and then headed back to head to the airport.

Overall, it was a great weekend! I loved visiting Kansas, but am glad to be back in the big city of DC now. :) See some other photos from the weekend below:

Me and my boyfriend's niece, Kaylin on Saturday night.
She's enJoying some yummy chocolate sheet cake. :)

Me and my brother John. It was so good to see him!

Well, dear friends that's all for now. I'm thankful for our country's freedom! I hope you had a lovely time celebrating...and hopefully relaxing some too. Let's see what the rest of the summer brings!