We had such a fun July 4th weekend! Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays, not only because we are a military family, but also because it is such a great excuse to hang with friends and family and celebrate this great country we live in! The weather was actually pretty overcast and cool all weekend, with a few storms throughout the southwest. We never complain about cooler days in the desert summer, it was perfect!
We started the weekend with date night. Date nights are so vital to a relationship. We are lucky to have sitter who loves Luke and that we trust. I feel so invigorated and revived after a good date night. We aim to do two a month, sometimes that means waiting to eat our dinner until after Luke goes down, and sometimes that means going out on the town. Ryan and I went for drinks/dinner and then saw Jurassic Park! I am a huge Jurassic Park fan, this one was fun, but not up to the original. And also was anyone else totally bummed there wasn't a Jeff Goldblum appearance?
I love having people over and I have also learned that surrounding yourself with friends during the holidays is the best thing do when you don't have too much family close by. We live super close to a casino, and they always put on such a good firework show. We have the perfect view and we just recently finished our backyard, so we thought it would be fun to have friends over for a cookout and to watch the fireworks. I went simple on the decorations and menu, but everything turned out perfectly. It was so much fun!
I found the perfect USA tank top for the party at SweetTsDesignShoppe, you can find some other cute shirts here! They even have a sale going on currently, check them out!
S'mores by the fire!
My little sister and her fiance also came into town for the weekend. Her trifle was a huge hit at the party. So patriotic and yummy, also really easy. I am hoping I can talk her into doing a trifle guest post for me (hint hint)!
We were all pretty tired Saturday, and tried to sleep in as much as possible with a 2 year old in the house! I woke up to a huge mess in my pantry, somehow a big bottle of bubbles had leaked all over. It was a sad morning of having to throw out food and mopping up a sudsy mess. After an afternoon of naps, we decided to stay in that evening. We made yummy hamburgers with french fries, had a friendly cornhole competition and played some Cards Against Humanity late into the night! It was the perfect July 4th!
Sunday I woke up to a yummy kitchen, filled with scents of bacon and pancakes. Earlier in the week I had noticed that the International Wildlife Museum was doing free entry for military all weekend. I love when museums and parks do that, so after Rachel and Zach left, we headed over to see the animals. It is an interesting place, filled with all sorts of taxidermied (is that word) exotic animals, that have been donated. Luke loves it and Ryan had never been with us, so it was fun to see them run around!
Needless to say I was not wanting to spend much time in the kitchen after a long weekend of entertaining. Thankfully I had popped some chicken into the slow cooker Sunday morning, so we came home and had yummy chicken tacos for dinner. It was the perfect ending to a great weekend. You can check out that chicken recipe here.
I love holiday weekends! This holiday was extra special and it meant so much to me to be surrounded by family and friends. Of course we missed "home" and the family we weren't able to see, but this year I am definitely counting my blessings!
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