Happy Birthday America!

When Martha Stewart invites you to a party, you go.  Well, my Martha goes by the name of Krista, and the same rule applies.  You do not want to miss out on anything planned by the fabulous Krista!  The Lindhorsts invited us to join them and their family (we're talking the whole shebang) for the 4th of July festivities.  Besides the fabulous food ( I found a new love in chocolate covered licorice),  the over-the top decorations and the games, she had a bike decorating station and gave us quite the amazing fireworks show.

Rumor was going around that there would also be a hot-dog eating contest.  When everyone had sufficiently stuffed their bellies with their regular meal (mine was stuffed with chocolate-covered licorice), there wasn't much interest left for an all-you-can contest. Still, my boys had their hearts set on it, so they had their own little brother to brother face off.  Each one went into the the contest with their  own philosophy, but only one came out victor.  Layton tried to eat small bites really fast, while Will tried to eat the entire hot dog at once.  Not only did Will finish his hot-dog first, but he also won first place for being the messiest kid at the party.

 We were quite the crew with all the Lindhorst families and ourselves.  Plus, we brought along a couple of extras.  We got to have Rachel and Katie Perkins stay with us for a few days while their parents were off touring Europe for 3 weeks.

We really finished off the night with a BANG!  I was so grateful for men that love to play with fire so that I could sit way up high on the lawn as far away from the fireworks as possible.  Two of my greatest fears are balloons and fireworks...something about the insecurity of never knowing when they are going to explode I guess.  But it was a show that rivaled any professional one I have seen with the addition of fun little "sparkler intermissions" for the kids.  

It was fun to celebrate the land that I love with people I love!