Let Freedom Ring!

I LOVE the Fourth of July.  I also love that you can't change the colors from say, red and green, to hot pink and lime if the mood hits.  It's red, white, and blue all the way, baby. 

Our party included:

1. Wildness.  At the beginning when everyone came and the kids were all hyped up there was a bit of wildness, which always leads to crying by someone.  Because I didn't see it all I just got mad at everyone.  Not a good way to start the party and I wish I could do that over and be all calm and sweet and sparkling unicorns.  To my credit, after my little breakdown, I pulled it together and, I think, went on to host a super fun party.

2. Food.  We had hamburgers and hot dogs (of course!), chips, fruit, and salads.  We ate and ate, then later we ate some more when we had dessert.  For dessert I made homemade lemon ice cream, which I am absolutely certain with every fiber of my being will be served at my welcome home dinner when I go to heaven.  So good.  Otter pops were a hit, as were the ice cream sandwiches that you were welcome to dip (but not double dip) in red, white, and blue sprinkles (which Katie Anne calls sprinklers).

3. Water.  And not just for drinking.  The creek behind our home has been running this summer, which is a change from our previous summers.  I think there's just a whole lot of water coming out of the mountains this year.  It's not running super fast so lots of the kids and dads and some moms got in there and made, what else, a dam.  These are dam boys, I tell ya.  You could put a tea cup full of water in front of them and they'd make a dam in it.  Anyway, they had a lot of fun and now there's a nice swimming hole.  Poor Preston slipped and hit a rock while in the creek giving his eye the look of a mountain on a mole hill.  He said it didn't hurt, but it looked really bad.  He took a break but then got right back in, just going to show that somethings really do look worse than they are.

We set up a kiddie pool too, that saw a little action.

4. Toys.  Outside the trikes and bikes all got a fair share of riding.  Inside the chess game, stratego, and a limited amount of electronics took center stage.  I had a little craft basket just in case and the kids made USA bracelets and straw creations.

5. Visiting.  The deck was a hot spot for taking a break and chit chatting.  It could be John's folks set up camp there, or it could be the food table that kept people coming up. Either way, good times. My parents stopped by after a visit to my sisters town (like 2 minutes away) for a parade and breakfast.  It was fun to have them stay a while as well.

6. Work.  Lowe's picked Independence Day to deliver our new freezer which was kind of a pain at the time they brought it (lunch!) but was nice to have all those big, burly brother's-in-law to help move the new one in and the old one out.

Everyone left by about 5:30 except for Andrea, who was here most of the day as well.  She helped me a ton and brought me the cutest apron I have slated to show in a future post.  Her brother, Brian, came over for dinner.  We had kabobs (funnest food to say) of perfectly marinated meat (thanks John!), onions, and red peppers.  Of course we had salad (lettuce coming out of our ears!) and bread that we found when switching freezers.  We headed down to Pioneer Park where we had a great spot for viewing the fireworks, even if Brian did get hit by a falling firework!  I had fun taking pictures of the fireworks...

In the end, we still have 4 boxes of sparklers but we'll get to them. Sunday the 3rd we cornered our neighbors who were walking by to stay and watch our homemade show of fireworks. We had a good time with those as well, thanks to my pyro hubby.

I am so grateful to live in this wonderful country!