Lets train

Another 4th of July is in the books & it was one of the best ones yet.

It is truly one of my most favorite days of the year!
For the past 5 years, we have had the same tradition.
Our day starts at our friends house for the Pre-Parade French Toast Breakfast.

Although this year, I needed a snack before we went to their house for breakfast, so of course I had Patriotic Pop Tarts that I found at the store last week.

I love going to the Pre-Parade Breakfast, it is a great way to get in the 4th of July spirit.

Our friends have a face painter at the party who does amazing face painting.

And, a balloon guy!

Love me some Americana bunting.

Patriotic Baby Bump:

Our friends live a few blocks from the parade, so we walk from their house to watch.

Gotta love a small town parade, complete with a lawnmower brigade,

Gotta love old men doing a choreographed number with their lawn mowers.

Small town parades are the best,

The parade is cheesy, but it's tradition to go!

This old fire engine is a part of the parade every year. When I was a kid, my soccer team rode on it after we won the State Championships.

After the parade, we headed back to our house to get ready for our 4th of July Party.
For the past 20 plus years, my parents have hosted a 4th of July party called "The 4th of July Sausage Fest" and my dad, Jimmy (aka the Sausage King) cooks up an awesome meal with tons of sausage.
Last year, it was 100 degrees on the 4th, so we had the 4th of July Sausage Fest at our house so people could swim. After last year, my parents passed me the torch to host the annual 4th of July Party (and, how could I resist, you know I love throwing parties!)
My mom wasn't sure I wanted to host this year because I am pregnant, but, I insisted.
Almost 35 weeks pregnant & a party of almost 50 people? Bring it on :)
Here are some snapshots of the 2012 4th of July Pool Party & Sausage Fest:

I loved those hanging pin wheels!

You know I have to have a dessert table. It's a Larson Party staple!

I heart pom poms.

Close up of the Dessert Table:

Red vines & Sparklers (pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate & sprinkles)

I made these strawberries last year & again this year. Too cute & easy not to make!

Red Velvet cupcakes with some cupcake toppers I made:

Patriotic Flags lining our pool fence:

You can never have enough Red, White & Blue:
Lots of swimming.

Hanging out in the shade:

Let's talk about food...because that's what 4th of July is all about, right?
Appetizers:

The Main Course:

There is no shortage of meat..we had 3 types of Tri Tip:
And, it's not called the Sausage Fest for nothing...5 types of sausage!


For the kids, I also had hot dogs:
We also had a ton of salads!

Spinach Strawberry Salad Recipe Here.

Broccoli Salad Recipe Here.

And, of course, per tradition, we had my dad Jimmy's Homemade Ice cream!
This year, the 3 flavors (left to right) were:
Butterfinger, Cookies & Cream and Banana Coconut.

This was the first year he has made Banana Coconut and WOW. It was good. He made toasted coconut to go on top & I also made my homemade caramel sauce to go on top of that. SO good.

Ice Cream Sandwiches with Sprinkles?
So easy. Just dip your ice cream sandwiches in sprinkles! My girls love these!
Our court was also having a little block party/bon fire that night, so when it got dark, we gathered in the court to do fireworks. (Normally, there is a fireworks show, but it got cancelled this year. Boo.)
It was fun having a mini firework display right in our court.

It was another great 4th of July with family & friends.
I love our country, I love our Freedom & I love the tradition of 4th of July celebrations!

Linking up here:


***Speaking of Parties, my friend Becky, asked me to guest post on her blog this week in honor of her birthday. You will love Becky. I encourage you to follow along!
Her & her husband just planted a church and Becky's blog is full of delicious gluten free recipes!
I posted my Party Planning Tips on her blog. I am also doing a giveaway from my Etsy shop in honor of her birthday! 25 invites/envelopes, 25 cupcake toppers & 25 favor tags.
Click HERE to enter! ***

We had a great 4th of July!  We did have a pretty major hiccup - the day before we were supposed to go to the lake, I got a call over lunch (while I was getting patriotic nails done) from daycare that Bradley had a temp.  We took him to the pediatrician to make sure we could still go out of town, and his temp was in the 103s!  Poor little buddy!  We postponed our trip for a day so he could rest as much as possible.

Then we made it to the lake!!  Picture overload warning!  Bradley was excited to see his Uncle that he was named after, Jonathan Bradley!  They were twins at the lake. :)

My dad got all of us flag sunglasses!

We spent lots of quality time at the fair!

Tyler loved this cookie.

Our little lake baby!

Cousins in matching jammies!

Sprinkles also didn't sleep well - evidenced by her bed-beard.

We stayed back since Bradley hates his life jacket.  Love our little man!

Then we attempted some family pics!  Bradley with his great grand parents!

It is definitely hard to catch nine people looking good at once.  This is probably the best pic?  Haha

Grand parents and grand kiddos!

Papa always has new toys for the boys!  They all had fun bikes - Bradley needs a little more practice.

Trying again.

Ready to give up...

But Blakey looked great the whole time! :)

We all headed back to the carnival for the parade!

I posted this picture on Instagram and DisneyBaby shared it! :)

Of course, we had to go back to the carnival one last time!

More cousin jammies!  We didn't try that hard to get a good pic this time. :)

Chimi was exhausted on the way home.