fourth of july

The 4th of July in our family is ultimately about two things...blowing things up and FOOD!!!! Since you can't really start fireworks until dusk the daytime ends up being a lot of waiting and eating! Ha! Oh and shooting guns, of course! We slept in as much as we could with the kids waking up excited about the 4th of July. My mom and I started cooking mid morning and made appetizers and snack foods instead of a big lunch. We made homemade salsa, homemade guacamole and had a fruit and veggie tray.

We had our big 4th of July meal mid afternoon. We had SO MUCH FOOD!!!! Brandon grilled while my mom and I cooked all the sides. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled corn, grilled sausage, pasta salad, potato salad and beans! Oh goodness! I'm getting hungry all over again just thinking about it and looking at these pictures! SO yummy!

The kids spent the day swimming and shooting and playing outside. Oh! And putting on some lovely 4th of July tattoos as you can see! Ha!

Just before it was time to start setting off our supply of fireworks we set out the desserts. This was my first time to make homemade angel food cake and it turned out awesome! I loved it! We also had fresh strawberries, homemade whipped cream and cheesecake with blueberries.

The older the kids get the more daring their daddy, grampa and uncles get at teaching them crazy things to do with fireworks. Let's just say they learned some very interesting things this year...

After all the craziness...blowing up plastic ducks, throwing lit fireworks into the pool, making a homemade firecracker blow gun (not recommended...) and a rogue flying firework that burnt holes in Uncle Casey's shorts we enjoyed the biggest of the fireworks we bought! They were beautiful! Elia was still a bit nervous around the loud noises this year and spent much of the night sitting right inside the back door watching from the window and Ash did shed a few tears when a firework was particularly loud but we had a great time! It seemed to go by too quickly.  It's always kind of sad when you blow your last firework and realize it's time to clean up the yard and clean up the kitchen...

What an awesome 4th! I love having family over and spending time together! Eating good food, having good conversation and blowing things up with the people you love! Ha! Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!