July 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!

I love this holiday. I love celebrating our country, all of the red, white, and blue colors, the fireworks, spending time with family and friends, and this year - the 4 day weekend! I also love having parties at our house...I mean, I really really love having/hosting parties. I like to get the house ready, decorate, plan the food, cook/bake the food, have our friends over, and host a party ~ especially when it's a themed or holiday party! So much fun! #bettycrocker/marthastuartinthemaking

Since we are in our house this year and had grass (woo!), we decided to have our first July 4th party. (I'm hoping we get to do this every year.) Thursday (after the gym) we spent the day cleaning, working outside, and cooking to get ready for the party. Everyone came over around 6 pm. Since our deck is a pretty good size and nothing says 4th of July and America like grilling out, we did just that! We grilled brats, veggies, stuffed mushrooms, and fish. I made a corn casserole, Kate brought a green bean casserole, and Tami brought a pasta salad. I had made a few appetizers and desserts (all read, white, and blue - of course). It was a great night for eating outside and our new deck furniture fit all 8 of us well!

After dinner, we played bags (I've always called it cornhole - until we moved here), got out all of our chairs, and started up the fire pit for s'mores in the driveway. The boys played bags until about 1 am - seriously. Some of the girls played a few games, but the boys dominated the bags games. Those men... Us girls enjoyed sitting around the fire, my 4th of July Sangria, and lots of girl talk. Some of our neighbors (from the "mansion" neighborhood that is attached to the back our our neighborhood) even had some pretty impressive fireworks! Apparently, in Iowa you have to have a license to set off fireworks. We knew that UNI was not doing fireworks this year, so we were surprised when the fireworks starting going off and they were the "big booming" ones. Nice! Overall, it was a great night and we are so glad everyone came over to celebrate with us!!

Hope everyone had a fabulous 4th as well! 'Merica!