The 4th of July!



Everyone woke up on the morning of the 4th of July dry and fairly well-rested.  And definitely ready to party!  We had some very special visitors come that morning.  Grandma Candy had driven all the way to Rexburg to pick up our niece Megan, and brought home her roommate, too!  Grandma Candy, Megan, and Aven came to our house in the morning to hang out and help get ready for the day's festivities.   I think Megan had missed being around all her younger brothers and sisters, cause she was delighted to entertain my kids for me!  They started out with some cute patriotic face painting...

 

 

...and somehow were transformed into a litter of patriotic puppies! :)

 

While Megan and Aven were busy with the kids, Grandma Candy took over everyone's favorite job...Luke duty! 

 

 

After face painting and playing with the kids, it was time to get to work.  I had big plans for this year's Fourth of July BBQ!  Although I'm not well-practiced, and I'm certainly no "Pinterest Mom", I really do like to do all those cute holiday-oriented foods and occasionally crafts, too.  And life was starting to stabilize for us, which left me with a serious hankering for handimade fun!  Megan, Aven, and the kids got started with the most darling mini ice cream cones.  Dip the edges of these little crunchy pieces of adorableness and then add red, white, and blue sprinkles and candies and BAM!  Edible cuteness. :)

 

Once our ice cream cones were done, it was time to dip strawberries!  This was by far everyone's favorite activity.  Claire had been waiting for days to dip the strawberries, and she took her job very seriously.  She also produced some very nice strawberries!  It was a two step process.  Dip the strawberries in white chocolate three-quarters of the way up the strawberry, so some of the redness of the berry was still visible.  Then, while the chocolate was still wet, dip the tip of the dipped strawberry in blue sugar crystals.

 

Red, White, and Blue Dipped Strawberries!  They made my heart happy. :)

 

Our last culinary activity for the morning was Pretzel Sparklers.  The kids thought these were very fun!  And who is going to argue with pretzels, white chocolate, and candy?  Certainly not me!

 

Around lunch time, the previous night's adventures left everyone ready for a nap.  Grandma Candy, Megan, and Aven headed out to do some shopping while the rest of us rested for a bit.  But not for too long...there was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon of swimming ahead of us!  We met Danny's family at the school for our traditional 4th of July swimming and BBQ.  I don't need to say it, but I will.  We had a blast!

 

 

Poor Luke was always left at the pool's edge to observe everyone else having fun.  In honor of Independence Day, we gave Luke a little independence from his bouncer and let him play in the water a bit.  He was a little cautious at first, but really warmed up to it!

 

And, of course, at least one child ended up air born.  This year is was Ruby Rae's turn!

 

Grandma Candy, Megan, and Aven met us back at the school for dinner.  I put them right to work again!  They handled cutting stars out of my multi-layered Jell-O creation, and arranged them prettily on a silver charger.  Yes, a silver charger.  It's all in the details, people! :)

 

 

Then it was time to display all our festive creations!  This was by far my most favorite part of the day.  Even seeing the pictures almost takes my breath away with giddiness!  I know it sounds silly, but I rarely am able to pull these ideas off and have it look exactly like I wanted it to.  It did my heart loads of good to see this beautiful 4th of July table.  I have to say, I think the Jell-O stars might have been my favorite part!  In years past, I have spent the day making "firework wands" with my kids.  Last year's turned out so cool that we kept them and used them as part of the décor.  I loved that, too!

 

The strawberries ended up not only looking gorgeous, but they tasted amazing, too!  They've just put themselves in the "tradition" category, along with the Jell-O stars.



 

Papa got into the holiday spirit, too!  Usually, we stick to the typical burgers and dogs...which never disappoint.  But this year Papa upped the ante with ribs!  Yes...ribs.  Claire was basically beside herself!  We ate better than we had in a long time.  This year's 4th of July BBQ was epic. :)

 

And hot!  After eating, everyone found ways to stay cool without getting completely wet again. 

 

Before everyone left to either hit the fireworks or put the kids to bed (we were in the latter group), we took our traditional kid picture.  I love seeing them dressed up in their red, white, and blue!  My kids look a little beat up in the picture this year, thanks to some wet and partially rubbed off patriotic puppy face paint. :)  They are all still adorable, and I can't believe how much they have all grown!  And I love Grandma Call's arm holding Luke up. :)

 

 

And with that, we called it a night.  Well, almost.  We realized after everyone had left that we forgot to have our adorable mini ice cream cones!  So we dished up some ice cream for our kiddos and saved the rest.  Turns out, they keep in a Tupperware for quite a long time!

 

 

And with THAT, we called it a night! :)  Our 4th of July celebration this year was off the hook for sure.  I know we were compensating a bit for all the months spent in the hospital, but it was still awesome.  We will treasure the memory of this holiday weekend for years and years to come.  How grateful we are for the blessing it is to live in this country.  We recognize the privilege it is to worship how we may, to raise our kids with our morals and ideals, and to be able to celebrate how we want.  Happy Birthday, America!