two birthdays {sue + america}.

the first couple of years travis and i were together, we spent the fourth of july at his parents' house setting off fireworks.  the past several years, we've gone to edmond for sue's birthday.  this year, everyone celebrated sue's birthday and the fourth at the lears'. 

happy birthday, sue!

the amazing seana helped us out with yet another beauty of a cake.  she complains that the icing cracked a little more than she would have liked, but everyone thought it was beautiful. i think it adds to the antique-y vibe of the cake.  aren't those vintage buttons gorgeous?  and completely edible.  sue is a chocoholic, so instead of the typical chocolate that we usually get from seana (which is far, far from typical), we purchased a delicious double-fudge cake.  it was incredibly rich, but excellent for all your dark chocolate fudge lovers.  since my mom shares a birthday with a holiday, i try to be sensitive to sue's birthday as well, and make sure that her portion of the day is special and doesn't truly compete with the red, white, and blue of the holiday.

in addition to the birthday celebration, we had a great cookout in the backyard to celebrate the stars & stripes and our independence day.  justin had to work, but lindsay and parker came to visit and parker's sweet smile quickly stole the hearts of everyone.

parker loves his uncle vit (and vit is pretty smitten as well).  these two guys have become fast friends, and grow a little closer all the time.  i love it.

 

there were lots of fun slip and slide pictures too, but i believe they are on our phones.  i'll have to try to upload those later.

happy birthday, aunt sue!  we love you and can't imagine our lives without you and your family.

happy birthday, america!  a special thanks to all our troops who work so hard and sacrifice to much so we can continue to enjoy the freedoms and independence we have.  we can't thank you enough and there will never be enough words to express how much you mean to us.

{and thanks to phillips 66 for giving us yesterday and today off work to celebrate!}