4th of July

We started our 4th of July celebrating by going down to the car wash for a BBQ. Jason provided the burgers, hot dogs, chips and drinks, while the employees contributed salads and desserts. It was a yummy lunch.

I saw this star braid on Pinterest and had to try it on Abree for the 4th of July. 

It turned out so cute she asked if I would give her doll, Piper the same hair-do. 

Later Taylee and Rylee joined the star club when they asked if I would braid their hair also.

That evening, we went to Grandma McKinley's neighborhood park for a family BBQ and fireworks.

Micaela

Lizzy-Taylee-Dean

Dean brought some little known facts about the United States that he shared with us.

Tyrel and Lexie.. the newly engaged couple.

Treyson and Sterling wrestling.

After a great dinner, we gathered for a firework display by Dean. You could say that some of us may have been a little nervous about how close the LIT fireworks were to the UNLIT fireworks.
We had at least one exciting moment, that had the kids and adults moving back a few more feet. I don't remember the details, but I do know that Chanel ended up with a welt on her cheek and Taylee got something in her eye. :)

Dean-Grandpa Waite

Candice-Jason

Treyson-(Brinton)-Jackson

Taylee-Micaela-Jackson-Treyson-Abree-Lexie

Jackson-Levi-Dean

The kids liked the POPS.

Abree-Lizzy-Rylee-Micaela-Taylee-Daisylyn-Amber

And they took turns with the roman candles. 

I was NOT put in charge of any sparklers this year...I think I may never have that job again...I have a bad reputation. :)

Happy Birthday America!

Happy 4th of July!

On the 4th of July, we gathered for "dinner and a show", in my mom's neighborhood park.

We hovered in the bits of shade from the little trees and the big red umbrella we brought.

For dinner we had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, chips, watermelon, fruit salad, Candice's delicious potato salad and dessert--cupcakes, flag cake and red, white & blue Rice Crispy treats (with Fruit Loops) made by Amber.

Tyrel brought a friend, Deidra, to celebrate with us.

After dinner, I cut into the cake to reveal the flag inside.

Yay, it worked.. mostly. :)

When there was the slight hint that the sun might start setting, Dean ran and grabbed the fireworks from the car.

The kids enjoyed popping the SNAPS on the pavement.

Dean organized the firework stash and couldn't resist doing "just a few" before sunset.

Notice the big, black spot, to the left of the snake.

There's a story behind it...

I had a job. I was designated the "Sparkler Lady". Dean put me in charge of distributing the sparklers to the anxious kids all around me. I had a handful of sparklers in my left and the lighter in my right. As I was trying to keep up with the demand of lighting and distributing sparklers, something happened. I didn't actually see it happen and can't recall the details, but somehow a spark from a lit sparkler jumped over to my handful of sparklers and lit the whole bunch on fire!

At first, I thought "Oh good, there's only a few that got lit." But just as I though that, the flames got bigger and engulfed the rest. It got so hot and bright that I had to drop it, to avoid getting burned. It excited the kids (and possibly a few of the adults). As the heap of sparklers burned on the ground, some of the kids cried, while others got crazy and excited.

Our handful of sparklers, now equaled a big, black spot on the ground.

Sorry kids.

No more sparklers.

I think I worked myself out of a job.

I don't know that I'll ever be trusted again to be "Sparkler Lady".

Oh darn.

Dean put on an entertaining show (only trying to burn up the whole lot twice, by getting a lit firework too close to the stash) that lasted several minutes.

We had a great view of all the neighborhood fireworks too.

We ooo-ed and ahh-ed at our fountains, as well as all the BIG airborne displays around us.

We decided that we liked the "fish fountains" the best... bright colors and cool sparks and flames.

Happy 4th of July!

Surprise Cake

I found instructions on the internet, on how to make a "flag cake". It looked so cool I decided I had to try it for our 4th of July celebration.

It required 2 boxes of white cake mix, divided and colored.
With the EXTRA batter, I made cupcakes.

As I started to assemble the cake, I read and re-read the instructions, but something wasn't turning out right. My blue layer was too tall, making a hole in the middle of the cake. My kids kept saying, "Mom, just fill the hole in with frosting and you wont' be able to tell the difference." I like frosting, but that didn't seem like the best solution to me. I finally decided I would cut the blue layer down, making it even with the inside layers. That's not what the instructions said, but I wasn't going with the "frosting solution".

Don't know if I messed up somewhere or if the instructions had some fault. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it would turn out.

On second thought, maybe there wasn't supposed to be EXTRA batter. Maybe I was supposed to have baked another layer to fill in my "hole". Oops.

I finished it off with vanilla frosting and made a cute little red, white and blue banner for the top.

I brought it to our 4th of July celebration and waited to reveal the surprise inside... please work out, please work out, please work out. :)

Gift Exchange

I'm doing another on-line gift exchange through "Craftaholics Anonymous".

My exchange partner mentioned (with the exception of Christmas), 4th of July was her favorite holiday.

I hope she meant it, because that's the direction I went. My idea was to create a "party pack"... everything you need for a successful 4th of July celebration.First thing I created was a red, white and blue banner for her mantle (or where ever she wants to put it). Next, I saw this awesome flag cake on-line, so printed off the picture and directions on how to make it, along with the cream cheese frosting recipe.Because I'm kinda banner-crazy, I made a flag cake banner to top the cake. I also made these firework cupcake toppers, just in case she wanted to go in the cupcake direction instead.

I gathered several yummy summer salad recipes that could go with her 4th of July BBQ dinner. And Tootsie Rolls, just because they were so festive and cute.

I hope she enjoys it.

Can't wait to see what's coming my way. :)

Happy 4th of July!

On July 3rd, we celebrated Independence Day, by participating in the neighborhood kid parade.

For the last 2 years, we had family in town to celebrate with us. Jared, Teresa and family had planned on coming this year, but things came up last minute, so we were on our own to decorate scooters.

Treyson went All American with a USA sign and blue stars.

Abree had my help to cover her scooter and herself, in some of the extra fabric and rag garland we had made for decoration.

Taylee was creative (as usual) and used some flag tissue paper (her Primary teacher had given her) and tinfoil (for stars) to make her scooter sign.

Rylee thought she was too old to participate, but was a good sport (as much as a COOL teenager can be) going to the parade with us.

It was uncharacteristically cool that morning. We all brought our jackets and kept them on until the very end. Brrrr.

When the fire engine showed up, the kids got excited!

As is tradition, we followed the fire engine on foot, bike, wagon and scooter.

Rylee and Abree kind of hung in the back.

While Taylee and Treyson rode the bumper of the fire truck the whole way.

When Abree would get tired of scootering, Rylee would push as Abree rode. What a nice sister!

After making it through the neighborhood and around the common area, the fire truck stopped.

Kids gathered at the pavilion for Otter Pop Popsicles, while the firemen prepared their hoses.

Then they let the kids take turns shooting the hoses across the grass.

Don't look like you're having ANY fun Abree! Good job.

Last year it was HOT, the mist from the fire hoses got everyone wet and it felt SO good.
This year was chilly, I didn't let Treyson get wet even after he begged and begged and promised me he wouldn't complain about being cold. Ya, right. He cheered up when it was his turn to shoot the fire hose.

On the actual 4th of July, we took a family walk around the neighborhood, when it was starting to get dark. We enjoyed watching everyone else's fireworks.

That's the way to go! Lots of firework watching at no cost to us!

We kept walking until we came to the really BIG (like professional grade) fireworks at the edge of our neighborhood. Some friends from the ward offered us chairs and invited us to watch the BIG show. They were amazing! --We found out in conversation, that the big fireworks were coming from a ward member's house (our former Stake President). We were told he had only spent $1,000 this year, instead of $3,000 (darn economy!). It was better than going to the park or fair grounds. Up close and personal and NO traffic to get home. :)

We had a happy 4th of July!