The 4th of July.
Probably my favorite day of the year.
I love everything about Independence Day.
What it means and especially the traditions that go along with it.
Here is a snapshot of our 4th.
We started off at our friend's annual French Toast Breakfast
The first year we went, I was pregnant with Claire!
Luke's first 4th of July!
Then we walked down to the parade to meet up with friends!
Gotta love a small town parade. Americana at it's best.
Then we headed back to our house for our annual 4th of July Pool Party & Sausage Fest.
I am a little obssessed with decorating my yard & house with flags for the party :)
My BFF since 5th grade was in town with her hubby & 2 boys and we were SO happy they were able to come to the party! I can't believe I didn't get a pic of us. FAIL!
It was day 7 of our 100+ degree heat wave, so kids swam & swam!
It was actually SO hot & the kids were all zapped from the parade earlier that we turned on the Lorax in our family room & most of the kids watched it inside for an hour or so to get out of the sun for a bit. 7 days of triple digit heat wears out us wimpy Californians :)
Appetizers
7 layer Dip:
Corn Dip & Veggies
Red, White & Blue Fishies:
Festive Napkins & Plates:
The Dinner Table:
The reason we call it the Sausage Fest is because my dad, Jimmy is the Sausage King and for the past 20+ years, we have had a Sausage Fest on 4th of July.
This year's sausage:
And, hot dogs for the kids!
We also had Tri Tip:
We are not vegetarians in this family :)
But, we did have a bunch of wonderful salads to go with our meat:
Potato Salad:
Quinoa Salad:
And, of course....desserts!
You know me, I love a dessert table :)
USA Cookies:
Red Velvet Cupcakes:
Dipped Strawberries:
Pretzels & Licorice
And, of course...Jimmy's Homemade Ice Cream.
This year he made 4 flavors:
Oreo
Peanut Butter Cup
Coconut Banana and Blueberry:
We finished off the night with a couple sparklers:
It was another fun filled 4th of July.
So fun to have our family & friends celebrate with us.
I love America!
Hope you had a wonderful Independence Day!
I love 4th of July too, we have a party every year with family. Always so much fun! All of the food looks so good especially that dessert table ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great celebration!
ReplyDeletethink your dad will share his ice cream recipes? ;) they look so good!!
I always get excited when I see you post another one of your wonderful parties. I love all your decorations and your dessert table.
ReplyDeleteI am in Northern Ca as well and we hit 110 it was just crazy! At 9;30 while we were doing fireworks it was still pretty warm.
Your little guy is getting so big!
What fun!
ReplyDeleteAnd was that Mary Poppins in the parade? We love her around here :)
SO jealous of your family photo. Matt refused to wear the shirt and/or shorts I had picked out, lol. I'm with you, everything about the 4th is awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteOk, I am sitting at my desk drooling over all your yummy dishes! Such a great looking table. You always have such great parties as well as such cute displays. Luke is getting big!!
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness...i LOVE all of your party details!
ReplyDelete& our holiday picture really went basically as well as yours did; Elyse was NOT interested in smiling for the photo!
These traditions are great! I love the french toast breakfast with friends!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Did you make ALL that food or did different people bring stuff. Your parties are amazing! Do you have a recipe for the potato salad or did you buy?
ReplyDeleteI love all the details. I agree with Olivia - do you have a potato salad recipe? yumyum!!
ReplyDelete