7.08.2013

The Fourth is my Favorite.

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!

10 comments:

  1. 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 ;)

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  2. What a great celebration!
    think your dad will share his ice cream recipes? ;) they look so good!!

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  3. I always get excited when I see you post another one of your wonderful parties. I love all your decorations and your dessert table.

    I 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!

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  4. What fun!

    And was that Mary Poppins in the parade? We love her around here :)

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  5. 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. :)

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  6. Ok, 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!!

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  7. oh my goodness...i LOVE all of your party details!

    & our holiday picture really went basically as well as yours did; Elyse was NOT interested in smiling for the photo!

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  8. These traditions are great! I love the french toast breakfast with friends!

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  9. Awesome! 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?

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  10. I love all the details. I agree with Olivia - do you have a potato salad recipe? yumyum!!

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