7.07.2011

Scenes from the 4th

The 4th of July is honestly my favorite day of the year.
Our celebrations always start on July 2nd because that is my dad's birthday.
For his birthday dessert, I made 2 patriotic pies for him.
This blueberry & cherry pie:
And, this apple pie with star crust:
The day of the 4th is busy for us because we have a packed day, starting with a French Toast breakfast with 50 other people at our friends house.
After the party, we headed down to the parade in our town.
My favorite float? The Trader Joe's float!
Love all the red, white & blue.
My friend Kelly & I:
Waiting to spot Uncle Jason in the parade......
There he is!
After the parade, it was time to get ready for our 4th of July Party.
My parents throw a 4th of July Party every year but a few days before the 4th, we found out it was going to be 100 degrees on the 4th, we decided to switch the party to our house so that people could swim.
I am always up for hosting a party :)
I did buy these flags this year to make our pool fence look a little more festive.
You can never have enough flags!
Seriously, I just love this holiday!
Here is my 4th of July party table:
My older sister made the appetizers.....7 layer dip,
Spinach Dip,
and, of course Corn Dip!
I made some dipped pretzels, aka "Sparklers"
Of course, I had to make some cupcake toppers for the party:
I made Julie's puffs for the occasion...yum!
And, festive dipped strawberries.
Yumm....homemade popsicles:
At the party we swam:
and socialized:
While my dad, Jimmy manned the grill:
The 4th of July party is also referred to as the "Sausage Fest" because my dad grills up tons of sausage. Here are this year's Sausages & some labels I whipped up the night of July 3rd:


Not only is there Sausage, but there is Tri Tip:
(We don't have any vegetarians in this family!)
There were salads galore....
This is my favorite Broccoli Salad...it has Bacon in it. Yum!
Gotta love the Red, White & Purple Potato Salad.
Patriotic Rice Krispy treats (that I forgot to hand out to all the kids, which is a good thing because I added too many Rice Krispys, so they weren't as soft as they should have been)
Then it was time to head to my parents for my dad's Homemade Ice Cream & to watch the fireworks.
Jimmy's homemade ice cream is the best. Each year he makes cookies & cream, reeses pb cup (or butterfinger) and then he makes a new, 3rd flavor.
The 2011 flavor was pistachio (because my sister's husband Jason loves that flavor).
It was really good!
My sister Elyse, the official radio holder for the fireworks.
It was another great 4th of July & we had so much fun hosting my parents party.
Can't wait to do it all again next year!
Hope you had a great 4th!

33 comments:

  1. What a fun 4th!I have been craving blueberry pie since you posted those pics on instagram! and now ice cream?!! sheesh. Guess an ice cream maker is on my list now too ;)

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  2. All of your food looks so beautiful and tasty!

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  3. What a beautiful set-up you had with all your patriotic colors! love it!

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  4. SOOOO stinking cute! :-) Where did you get your "food labels"???

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  5. Those pies are beautiful!!! The 4th is my favorite too. Glad you had a good one: )

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  6. Reading your post makes me never want to do "nothing" on the 4th ever again! I thought that's what I wanted, since I'm so busy all the time, but I love all this!

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  7. Awesome pictures. Looks you enjoyed the holiday. :) Could either email me or do a post for the 7 layer dip and the broccoli salad? They look SO good! :)

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  8. You sure know how to host a stylish themed party! :) All the little details right down to the cupcake toppers are so creative!

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  9. What beautiful pictures! That apple pie looks amazing.

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  10. @Elizabeth- Yes, I did make all the cupcake toppers & food labels!
    @Katy - recipes coming soon! Stay tuned!

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  11. I'm exhausted all over again just watching your 4th, lol. So much fun! Love how festive you are. :)

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  12. wow, what a fun celebration. our neighborhood is so quite. today i planned next year. a celebration. kids, music, fun. what great memories you are creating. love it!!!

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  13. when, on earth, do you have the time to do all that? Amazing!

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  14. That looks like an amazing tradition. So glad you got to host and others were able to enjoy your pool. My husband would LOVE that party as he loves sausage. I need to try pistachio ice cream because pistachios are my favorite!

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  15. what a party! it looks so fun and the food looks so yummy! i don't know how you find the time to do all of that, but great job!
    So happy you had a fun 4th!

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  16. Looks like great fun!
    All that food looked so good. I'm hungry for sausage and tri tip now at 7:30 in the morning! :)

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  17. How fun! Everything looks so YUMMY!! :)

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  18. I want to come celebrate at YOUR house sometime! Those pies are amazing, and everything was so creative and lovely! Oh, and you looked beautiful!

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  19. I'm coming to your house next year for the 4th! Wow! What a spread and it looks like you guys had so much food. I'm super impressed with those 2 pies. Now I want a fruit-based pie (:

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  20. loving all your delicious treats.

    you sure are giving my grandma a run for her 4th of july decorating money! you have that flag everywhere!

    it looks awesome! SO festive :)

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  21. Wow, what a spread! Everything looks so good, but those pies look amazing! You throw a great party! {And I love the labels!}

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  22. Oh my goodness! Your Pies! Your strawberries! All of your food... looks amazing! What a great 4th of July celebration! Love it!
    PS...looking forward to meeting you at Blog Sugar!! :)

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  23. Your party looked awesome. Table is adorable. Just found your blog today and so glad I did. I will be following along. Be blessed :)

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  24. Everything looks amazing!!! You throw the BEST parties!

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  25. Super cute!! Love it all! The food looks great - and like a TON OF WORK! wow! And, LOVE the plantation shutters!! Where did you get them at? Been pricing them out for our house.

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  26. What a fun party!! I LOVED all of your decorations. Your girls little outfits are so cute!!

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  27. Wow your party looks amazing!! All the food makes my mouth water!!

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  28. What a spectacular party! I love all the flags and the food looks so delicious. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays too!

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  29. Oh my goodness! I don't know how you all stay so thin...the food is amazing!!! I could die for that apple pie!

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  30. LOVE that there was a trader joe's parade. it would be my favorite one too. ha! :)

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  31. this party looks FABULOUS!!

    every detail so thoughtfully considered.

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  32. where did you get your food tags??

    i have 50th coming to america celebration in the works and i'd love to steal this idea for it!

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