Family, Friends and Fireworks!



I love food. (If this comes as a shock to anyone, you apparently do not know me at all).
I love music. I love hanging out with fun people and having a good time. I love that BBQ picnics were created JUST for this purpose! So, Matt and I decided to host our first 4th of July Party at our house this year.
In order to make this the best Independence day BBQ ever, I skimmed a few web site ideas on-line and looked at a couple pictures to decide how I should go about decorating and cooking and what-not.

I came across the cutest picture of an apple pie with stars instead of slits on top! Apple Pie? Sure! Can't be that hard to make right?
When I told my boss I was making my first apple pie he said, "Well this is the first time I'm happy I wasn't invited to someones BBQ." Har har har, funny guy eh?

The next idea I got from some Martha Stewert-type web site was: brownie, marshmallow and strawberry skewers. I thought, Ok! Let's do this!

Well I scrambled around to 4 or 5 different stores after work for 2 days, trying to find a star-shaped cookie cutter and other miscellaneous 4th of July decorations. I have one thought on this...What is wrong with Southern CA?! Places are covered in holloween costumes from September on, but try to find some USA B-day supplies? Nothing! I'm still peeved.

So, what did I do? I got down to the basics of practical thinking mixed with Arts n' Crafts. I made my own dang cookie cutter. Out of card board and a knife.

Living proof you don't NEED a cookie cutter.

You laugh, but it worked. And I'd like to see you try!
So, after one phone call to my mom, and a quick peak on the BettyCrocker web site, I put the thing in the oven and out came a beautiful dish! yumm

We had such a great time at the BBQ and everyone showed up with amazing side dishes and desserts!



While Matt grilled everyone's food, some people played horse shoes, some sat and relaxed and the rest of us got busy chatting and catching up.


There is nothing like the smell of BBQ food! So yummy!
If we could eat like this every day, I would have no complaints! Ok, well if we could eat like this and not gain an inch anyway...

 Other than the pie, the brownie and marshmallow and strawberry skewer thingies ended up looking ok too!
I made the brownies too sticky, but with the help of Christina, Mom and Grandma Betsy, we got them all put together. The problem with having such pretty food though, is that you don't want to mess it up!...I still have 2 left overs that I've just been looking at.
 Matt however, had no problem making the pretty food disappear.

The center pieces for the tables were just empty wine bottles, decorated with red, white and blue streamers with flags and flowers sticking out the top. Very easy and fun to make!



It's days like these that make you truly appreciate your freedom and remind us why we work so hard, punching the clock from day to day. It's feels so great to know that we earned this day off and that we still have men and women out there defending our freedom so we can continue to enjoy our holidays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

The night ended with a great firework show! Matt put up his usual ladder set-up and let sparks fly!

I still think sparklers are the best thing ever... no matter how old you get, they're still so much fun!

After most of the crowd left, we sat out front around the fire pit that was still burning and made s'mores with friends while we all recited most of the lines from "The Sandlot".
                                        Such a great end to such a perfect day!