Celebrating the 4th!

On Saturday we went to the Pharris family's 5th annual Independence Day BBQ. I think we've gone almost every year and it has become a great family tradition. Their family is moving to NC in August, so sadly this will be the last BBQ. I was too distracted chatting with friends to take any pictures, but I did snap a photo of the cute festive brownies that I made. As always, the BBQ was a lot of fun! We were glad we made the trek down.


On the 4th we decided to start our own tradition and have a small BBQ with a few families that live close by. My new summer goal for parties is simple and easy with not too much clean up. I chose my favorite easy recipes and then we had everyone bring some sides to share. We had tons of yummy food and hung out chatting and eating from 5:30 until almost 8:30.

My favorite dish was the brownie trifle with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries (to make it look a little more festive). So simple and easy, but looks so good... and we still have a few leftovers for today. Yum!


We also made a mexican bean dip, spinach salad with candied walnuts and dried cranberries, Liesl's special recipe hamburgers (which Kevin was especially excited about), hot dogs for the kiddos, and some delicious chicken with a new marinade (that actually tasted good- according to everyone). The fruit salad and dip and spinach & artichoke dip brought by our friends were also soooo good. I ate two plates full of fruit with dip and now need that recipe!


The little guys (there were two boys and two girls, but I only ever got a pic of three of them sitting still) had a lot of fun running around. The girls were especially darling together. All of them loved begging me for more and more popsicles. Andrew enjoyed torturing them and overall being a total grump (he woke up at 5:30am Sunday morning for no reason at all)... but we didn't let it bother us too much (unless it impacted the safety of the other kids :)).


Such cuties! I couldn't get Andrew to take a break from eating his healthy dinner (of a hot dog bun) to smile.


These guys also found three snails in the backyard and loved running around with them (yuck!).

After everyone left, we headed downtown to attempt to watch the fireworks. We parked by 9:25pm, walked to the field, found a cozy spot, and were seated by 9:30pm, just in time for the fireworks to start. It couldn't have been easier.

Andrew's "cheese" smile

I sat on Kevin's lap and Andrew sat on mine... and we all enjoyed cuddling and staying warm while we watched the show. I loved listening to Andrew yell "wow, that was a big one!" or "so beautiful!" Fortunately he totally snapped out of his grumpy mood for the fireworks and was an absolute dream.

Decked out in layers of warm clothes! Crazy it was so chilly in July!

Except when the fireworks would stop for a few minutes... and then we got a little whining :)


We loved celebrating our first Independence Day in our new house and neighborhood! It was so exciting to join with the tons and tons of people from the two towns nearby to watch the fireworks.


Next year hopefully the parade won't be right during church so we can actually go to that too.

Happy Fourth of July! I am so grateful for all the men & women, especially both my grandpas, who served in the military and have helped ensure that we continue to enjoy such wonderful freedoms in our country!