always playing catch-up

I'm horrible at staying up to date with my blog. Blame it on the job I guess. Anyways, this is all from this past week which includes FOURTH OF JULY! Oh how I love the 4th. Honestly, it could very well be my very favorite holiday. It started on the 3rd when we had our annual BBQ at Uncle Randy's house. I snapped some pictures but mostly just of the volleyball game...

I love this picture of Hannah with her nose pressed up against the netting around the trampoline. She's adorable.

(Notice how cute and photogenic Craig and Cori's kiddos are)

Then fireworks at our house! I had fun with the shutter speed on my camera and these sparkler pictures turned out pretty awesome.

On the 4th I went up to the Idaho Falls parade with my mom and Ky like always. Just a few shots that I thought looked neat...

Then last night at dad's house we used up the last of the sparklers. I'm pretty proud of this one because I wrote my name out backwards instead of flipping the photo. =) Talent.

I believe I originally named this a "Tube of Sparklerness" but my dad also called it a Sparkler Slinky. Either way, pretty cool lookin'.

Last night there was also an AMAZING thunder and lightning storm. SO PRETTY. I remember when I was little I would go downstairs when I was scared of the lightning and my dad would always be sitting in a chair in front of the big kitchen window just watching the storm. I never understood it back then but now I see why he did, lightning is such a beautiful act of nature. But, I learned how stinkin' difficult it can be to snap a picture of it. My arms starting hurting from standing on my mom's back porch with my camera ready to catch a picture. I need quicker reflexes! I did nab this one though...