Happy Birthday to Dan (and America)!

We had an awesome time celebrating America's 234th birthday and Dan's 26th. Last year was pretty low key since I was less than two weeks away from Silas' due date. We just had it in our heads that Silas would be born on the 4th and daddy and son would share a birthday. Not the case! This year we HAD to do something to make up for last year. We planned a menu, weeded the jungle in our front yard (rediscovering our landscaping in the process), cleaned like crazy AND put our family room back together (before and after pictures to follow in a later blog post). Dan was in charge of shopping for the explosives until we heard that my brother, Kevin, had just spent a nice chunk of his paycheck on fireworks. One of the first rockets that he lit took a very wrong turn and exploded into one of our truck's back windows! It is completely shattered but hasn't fallen apart yet. Our brother-in-law, Kris, had a very close call with a wick-less rocket that he half buried in the ground and then lit. It basically blew up with him standing right there. He walked away with nothing more than a singed shirt. THANK GOD! We gave Kevin a big round of applause for the great fireworks display and ended the night with chocolate birthday cake and Modern Warfare.

I admit we're a little dorky but I did really love how Dan and Silas matched at church.

Up and away!

Most of the group including Angus the "jawa" dog.

Lana, Grace and Katelyn.

The morning after...