4th of July!

What a beautiful 4th of July weekend we had.  I look forward to this weekend every year.  I think this is one of my family's favorite holidays.  We all try to get a couple days off from work, head up to the lakes and enjoy the weekend as a family at my parents cabin on Silver Lake.  We had a great couple of days boating, swimming, skiing, wake boarding, tubing, sun tanning, doing crafts, having water wars, playing bean bag toss, watching fireworks and so much more.  I have an amazing family & I feel so blessed to have had the three days off that I did to spend it with them.

Here are SEVERAL pictures from this weekend that I tought I'd share with all of you.

Charlie, Jamaica & Coyer having a water war

Boat, Swimming & Beach Time

Charlie skiing

Coyer making "Pizza Pies" as he calls them ;)

Coyer having fun with Uncle Charlie

Myself skiing

On Saturday Mom decided she'd rather spend her day in the ER

(Ok not really...but she did go in at 4 a.m. Saturday morning and wasn't released until that evening)

She had sharp back pains, so they did multiple blood tests as well as a CT scan & couldn't find anything :(

She's looking a lot better here than she did earlier that day

(Our WHOLE family decided it would be a good idea if we all went to visit her...we were quite a big clan)

Charlie & Jeff spent Saturday morning playing in a golf tournament with a bunch of other guys including

Kelsie's boyfriend JD...sounded like they had fun-looks like Kedren wanted to go too.

Us girls, Danny & the nephews decided to hit

"Pirates Cove Beach" for the day

Picnic at the beach

Charlie & I took a fishing boat up, so we all took turns out on the fishing boat

Guy time

Girls Craft Night...while the men are out fishing

Coyer decided he wanted to join us and make his own little craft too

Kelsie's finished product (side 1)

Side 2

Mom & Jamaica's (Side 1)

Side 2

Mine

Kansas' (side 1)

Side 2

 Kasondra's (side 1)

Side 2

 

Bean Bag Toss Time & Relaxing

Dad & mom relaxing on the swing outside after being released from the hospital

Us girls decided to take the boat out on the lake

for the fireworks that were being

shot off on Silver Lake the night of the 2nd

(The guys took the fishing boat out)

Some quick family pics. before church Sunday morning

Mom & her girls

Charlie & I

Charlie had to work Monday (the 4th) so we headed back home Sunday night.

But...I just couldn't stand missing the family tradition of going to Arnold's Park & watching

the fireworks on the beach as a family.  So as soon as Charlie got off we headed back up for the night!

A little "cha cha slide" on the beach

Sisters (missin' Kels though)

Beautiful Sunset

We hope you all had a safe & fun 4th as well.  Tonight Charlie & I are looking forward to heading to Paulina when he gets off work as we have the Zomermaand Reunion "Camp Out" there this weekend.  We look forward to lots of swimming, fishing, bonfires, outdoor games & fun spent with the family.  Hopefully I remember to take some pictures to share with you from the weekend!

Rise Fest, Jamaica's Birthday, Father's Day & Coyer's Adoption Day

This past weekend my sisters & I had the opportunity to perform at Rise Fest in Orange City, IA, as well as walk, run & stroll in the Rise Fest Road Race that took place on Saturday morning.  Charlie also ran in the race along with my entire family.  It was a beautiful morning for a race.  The weather was perfect...a little cool but really no wind and it sprinkled briefly before the start of the race but then it did not rain again the rest of the day surprisingly.  Everyone did a great job and several in our family even placed in their age categories. 

The crew

Jamaica & Kasondra...running buds

Donut Kabobs to keep the boys occupied on the walk

Kansas strolled the boys for 3.1 miles...they ditched her

at the end though & decided the wanted to run across the

finish line like everyone else-it was so cute

Coyer runnin hard to the finish line w/ uncle Jeff next to him helping him along

And little Kedren was adorable...he took a little fall across the finish

line and just got right back up

Kelse & Kedren after the race

Charlie & I after the race

We all quick ran home and took showers and got cleaned up to be back at the festival by 1:00 p.m. for our performance.  We were excited as we had several new songs to share as we recently released our newest albums about 2 months ago.  We had a great time and everything seemed to go very smoothly.  Our dad helped on stage adjusting the levels of monitors (as he knows our voices a little better & can pick them out easier than someone that doesn't know our voices), Jamaica had fun watching from backstage, our brother-in-law Danny ran sound from the front of house, and our Mom, spouses & nephews were all out on the grounds watching our performance.  It was so nice that our whole family could be there and be apart of the event.  The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed taking in the event and supporting the other artists that performed.

Getting ready to perform

Prayin' it up

Kasondra & I with our wonderful parents

Dad helped set and adjust monitor levels for us during the concert

(It helps when someone can pick out each of our voices...it's a little difficult for others)

Our Brother-in-law Danny ran sound for us from the front of house

Our little sister Jamaica hanging out backstage during our set

Dad running our Merch table following our concert

Meet & Greet time

Jamaica joined us for the meet & greet

(she feels so special when she gets to sit by us & sometimes sign a CD or shirt)

 

Supper...I think our family just about took the entire 2 tables up

Jamaica won meet & Greet Tickets w/ Go Fish as she won 1st place

in her age category at the RiseRun that morning

Sitting on the hill listening to the other artists perform

Our biggest fans & supporters...dad & mom

That night Charlie and I headed up to the lakes at about 1:00 p.m. after he got off work.  My sisters and I sang at Round Lake the next day, and we had to be up bright and early, so we figured we could just as well head up that night instead of getting up super early.  We lead a service Sunday morning and that concert went great as well.  It looked like it was going to rain that morning and the service was supposed to be outside, but due to the fact that it looked like rain, we decided to move indoors in a big metal garage/shed.  We wondered how it would sound and if it would echo a lot, but it worked out just fine.  The rest of the afternoon we celebrated several special events in my family.  We celebrated my little sister Jamaica's 10th Birthday, Father's Day (as the weekend before did not work for all of us to get together), as well as my nephew Coyer's Adoption Day.  It was nice to spend a few hours enjoying the day and celebrating the events with the family.  Now we're looking forward to this coming weekend.  We will be spending most of the weekend up at the lakes with my side of the family, and then hopefully getting together with the Zomermaand side of the family on the night of the 4th!

Coyer's Adoption Day, Father's Day & Jamaica's 10th Birthday Celebration!

Kedren & I enjoying the lakes