Rock Island Fourth of July!

I love the fourth of July! This year we celebrated by going with some friends to Rock Island State Park. It is about an hour and a half from our house. I thought we had been recently but looking back it looks like we haven't been since 2010! Which is a shame because it is amazing! Look at this place!

It actually wasn't as crowded as we were expecting for the holiday. It was PERFECT out! About 85 degrees and sunny, 0% chance of rain. It was probably the best day I've had all summer. Here is a little bit of a photo overload. Crystal came with us, and she has a really cool waterproof digital camera!

The best swimming hole is to the right of the main trail. It is a pretty treacherous hike to get down there. Especially with a cooler!

We found an easier way on the way back, it just involves a short period where you have to walk through waist high water. We brought two other couples with us, and happened to run into some more friends in the parking lot!And look at Travis carrying that cooler. Bless him.

We found the perfect spot right down by the best rock jumping area. The lady in red is my new friend Ashley! She is the one who did taxidermy with us recently. She brought her husband Justin and her friend Christina.

Summer nails, summer cider, and my Sharon Needles coozie! 

Here is the spot everyone was jumping from. Not me! I'm too much of a chicken! The water is so cold and clear, and you can't even touch the bottom!

Marc in mid air! 

I spent most of the day floating with my Super Noodle! I love that thing. I've already gotten my three bucks worth out of it!

Crystal enjoying her float. Look at that beautiful light! It really was a perfect day.

Here is another less scary place to jump from. I'm still not into it.

Here is a view of the rock you jump off of from out in the water. Scary!

And here is where we were hanging out right next to it. It was great, there are tons of ledges to sit on, and some under the water too so you could sit in the water without having to swim.

Travis in midair!

I hope we can go back at least once before summer is over!

Our Fourth!

I love the Fourth of July! Mostly I think because I love a holiday with a color code. It thrills me to walk down the street and see everyone in red, white, and blue! Usually we try to do something big for the day, like the year I had a pretty great party, and last year when I dressed up the pugs! But this year it POURED rain all dang day!

At least I was able to make a festive breakfast! I saw a picture of toast like this....somewhere. I don't remember now! But isn't it cute?

We were all really excited that we were off work (it is HARD to get all four of us off at once! Crystal and Marc are our best friends!). We planned on going to Rock Island but we couldn't in the rain. Hopefully we'll be able to make it sometime this summer. Instead we decided to go to the Frist, which is the big art museum in town. Their big exhibit right now is Art Deco cars and I thought it would be boring but it was awesome! Buuuut I didn't take any pictures for you. But you can see some of it here. And if you are in town I recommend it!

 I did take some pictures in Art Quest! It is the little kid area upstairs but they are nice even if you are almost 30 and want to make some projects. This window where you draw portraits is always funny.

 I made a little contour drawing with some cute rainbow scratch paper. 

 I love the little stop motion studio! It is so fun! You can see my video on instagram. It is quite a masterpiece I can assure you!

Annnnnd after I took this photo of Travis using all the blocks at the kid's table, my battery died! It always surprises me because my camera battery is a marvel. I charge it, MAYBE, 3 times a year. Oh well. After the Frist we went and got Mexican food and I ate too many chips.

 I learned that platform shoes have an unexpected advantage on rainy days. Your feet don't get soaked because the water is shallower than the soles! Perfect! I got those silly rainbow platform Converse last week and I really love them!

We spent the rest of the night just hanging out and eating cherry pie and playing Settlers of Catan and watching movies. Our patriotic pics were Tropic Thunder and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It made sense when we were picking them out! When Travis and I drove home our street was so full of firework smoke you couldn't see the houses! It was weird!
So our Fourth of July didn't turn out how I planned, but it was still pretty fun. Here's hoping we'll make it out to Rock Island sometime before the summer is out!

Happy Fourth!

I hope you had a fun fourth of July if you are here in the states! I had to work most of the day so I didn't get to go all out like I usually do. But I got home a little while before the sun went down, so the girls and I hung out in the back yard and waited for Travis to get the grill going. 

They were suitably decked out of course.
Killing me!

Do you like our new tiny grill? Haha. Our old one got rusty outside because we don't have a garage to put it in. so we got this tiny one this year that we can take inside. Travis grilled some smart dogs, then we had baked beans and potato chips and arnold palmers! Perfect fourth of July dinner!

We watched the 21 Jump Street movie finally and it was actually much better than I was expecting! I LOVE the tv show and the movie was pretty funny. The Johnny Depp cameo was just PERFECT. I don't want to spoil it, but if you liked the show, you should see it. I made Travis rewind that part because it delighted me so much! Now I'm just killing time on the couch with the dogs waiting for all the fireworks to stop so they won't be scared. 

Fourth of July!

a fourth of july family portrait!


i really need to invest in a tripod so i can get us all at once.

we spent the day with our bffs crystal and marc.

we went to captain d's because it was red white and blue!


we could not stop laughing about how crappy it was. thomas met us there and was like 'this place is so expensive!" and we were like yeah, and the fish isn't very good. neither are the fries. or the mac and cheese....or even the hush puppies. haha. look at that yellow plate!


thomas brought over this game he got when he was a kid. it is called FORBIDDEN BRIDGE!

it was so fun! we kept changing what it would take to win because we were having such a good time. you are an explorer and you have to get across that bridge, get a jewel, and put it in your canoe. if you press on that tiki idol thing it shakes the bridge and throws people off. we were laughing so hard we were crying! we will definitely bring that game out again.



i made a cake. it was really good if i do say so myself. it was a martha stewert recipe that calls for whipped egg whites in the cake. so yummy. and vanilla cream cheese frosting. i was going to make it so there was an american flag inside when you cut it, but i turned all of the second batch of batter blue instead of just half. maybe next year.


we made apple/green pepper/pesto pizza and it was perfect! then we watched deathly hallows part one. we didnt even try to see any fireworks, or shoot off any of the ones i brought. it was a low key fourth of july but it was a great day.

Fourth of July!

this is one of my favorite holidays! i'm bummed that I don't have exciting plans this year. I thought we were doing inventory at work today so I couldn't plan a party. so here are some of my favorite pictures from my awesome party last year!

A Fourth of July Party

i love the fourth of july. This is the first year i hosted.

crystal was the only other one in a crazy outfit. everyone else looked normal.


crystal did eye makeup for me. because i have no idea how to do it.


there is a little bit of badminton playing. i tried to play with jamison but he couldn't ever hit it so it was tooo borning.
everyone looks pretty cute in their red white and blue.
travis and marc man the grill. we had hot dogs and brats and veggie dogs and handmade black bean burgers.


i made pasta salad too. it was really good. i also made coconut macaroons! they turned out perfectly! i couldn't believe it!


brittany brought this amazing red white and blue trifle! it was so delicious!
once it got dark we went back outside to play with sparklers and listen to people in the neighborhood shoot fireworks.





this was supposed to be a space scene.
the boy who lived vs. the dark mark.
marissa cut my bangs for me. they were SO LONG. there was a moment of screaming when seh cut them really short but crystal and cara assure me that it looks good. haha.

of course we had to do that.

so i think the party went pretty well.

so i went to bed around two, and got up at 5 to do inventory at work. i'm so tired! hopefully i'll fall asleep fast tonight.