High Five for Friday

What a great week it's been.  I love lazy, unscheduled July days.  Here are a few of the memorable things we did.

1.  Despicable Me 2

I absolutely LOVE going to movies.  And we ALL loved this one.  So funny.  So cute.  It was a great way to spend a belated Family Night this week.  

2.  Patriotic Hymns

I only get to let loose on the organ and play these loud, bold hymns one month out of the year, so this week I picked the BIG ones!  The Star Spangled Banner and Battle Hymn of the Republic.  I LOVE patriotic music at church.  And I have LOVED practicing these all week.  

3.  Festive Fingernails

I NEVER paint my fingernails.  It's too hard to pay attention to the music when I look down and see all that flashy color.  But since it was the Fourth of July, I decided to be festive and try one of those fun, funky ideas from Pinterest.  (The blue ones are supposed to be striped, but I can barely get the paint on without making a giant mess, so I knew stripes weren't going to be a success.)  I got lots of compliments on them last night.

4.  Masses of Cupcakes

I pinned this cute recipe from a blog I love and saved it for this week.  These are the cutest cupcakes and SO yummy.  There are crushed up cinnamon red hots in the frosting!!  And those fun little star shaped marshmallows on top.  Huge hit!  You can find the recipe here.

5.  Fireworks with Friends

Every year, our awesome neighbors have a Fourth of July picnic.  They make brisket and BBQ and provide drinks and chairs, and we bring all the sides and desserts.  And then as the sun starts to set, we throw kids, chairs, and blankets into cars and drive as close to McKinney as we can get, to watch their fireworks show.  This year our smart neighbors brought their truck and we all piled in the back of it to watch the fireworks in the distance.  It was a perfect night.  This unseasonably cool July weather has been such a nice change.

I love fireworks.  I love neighbors.  And I love that Dallas is flat enough that we can sit in Allen and watch fireworks shows in both McKinney and Plano.  It's the one time of year that I don't miss those Utah mountains.  

Hope your first week of July has been amazing and filled with fun, friends, food, and fireworks!

Fourth of July

"We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs, but to secure liberty for their souls."  - Robert J. McCracken

Allen Celebration

Fourth of July festivities start early in Allen.   Tonight was our 3rd annual Allen Celebration with the Rodriguez's.  We had so much fun...as always...at this amazing summer tradition.

All this is literally right in the Rodriguez's backyard so we always have an up close parking space, perfect seats for the entire night and great company.

 Here's how brooding teenagers spend their evenings outside in the gorgeous summer weather.  I finally got her to perk up and smile for one picture with me.

 McKay spent most of his night trying to track down people to play catch with him.  

 Isn't this the most adorable Rodriguez you've ever seen??

Emerald City...70s and 80s cover band.  Unbelievable.  Best local live band EVER!  They opened for Dennis DeYoung, who wasn't as good as these guys.  :)

 Star Spangled Girls

 Another adorable Rodriguez.

Fireworks!  I tried to practice with my manual settings...it's SO hard to hold the camera still without a tripod.  

We had an amazing night hanging out with our dear friends in the cool Dallas summer breezes.  What a great way to end June and bring in July.  More fireworks next week, too! 
I LOVE summer.

Happy Fourth of July!

Since we already did the big Allen Celebration last Saturday, we enjoyed a relaxing 4th of July today.  That's kind of a nice thing...

This morning the Scout Master took June, BFF, and Mack to the parade in McKinney and to a cute little general store for candy.

Everyone came home for lunch and all the kids went swimming (again...) and then at 5:00 we walked across the street for a BBQ at the neighbors' house.  Super fun, awesome food, really nice people!

All the kids played cards while the adults talked and ate...perfect!

As the party started to wind down, the Scout Master took all the little kids to our house to light sparklers!  I LOVE those things!!

 we have a little boy, so lighting sparklers eventually led to setting things on fire...

 and we ended the night with a glimpse of the McKinney fireworks...

Happy Fourth of July!!

Allen Celebration

In Allen, they have a huge celebration on the Saturday BEFORE the 4th of July.  

And by HUGE...I mean seriously HUGE!  

Like 50,000+ people.  Like live music on that stage in that picture.  Last year it was Foreigner.  This year it was The Bangles.  Like tons of food and jumpy things and amazing fireworks that last for 30 minutes!!  

Thank goodness I took a BEFORE picture of my outfit, because after spending the whole day and most of the night in 90+ degree weather, the AFTER pictures are a little melty and tired looking.  I SUPER love this dress.  Every time I've ever worn it, it's been a good day...like really good.  And it matched my pedicure, so I picked it for today.  (Sorry about the crazy messy bathroom in the background...)

We happen to have some pretty good friends (the Rodriguez's!!) who live right on the edge of the park.  Which means we can sit on the lawn beside their house and hang out with them while we watch an amazing show.  This is the second year we've gone and I'm pretty sure there will be many, many more.  It's the perfect way to spend the 4th of July (unless you're in Utah, in which case the best way to spend the 4th is at Sugar House Park with the WHOLE Thunell family.  Man, I miss those guys in the summer!!  I SO wish we were there this year.)  

I LOVE fireworks!  And I LOVE hanging out with family and friends on the 4th of July!