4th of July Fun!

We had a wonderful 4th of July holiday.  In the morning we did a bunch of yard work, and in the evening we joined some friends--the Allen, Baker, and Tomlinson families--for dinner, swimming, and fireworks.  We had a great time! 

A very happy 4th of July!

July 4th was a wonderful day!  We got up "early" and headed to the stake center for the annual 4th of July program.  Several children in our stake performed songs and dances to tell about the history of our country.  They did a fantastic job!   It was fun and patriotic with a lot of heart!  Loved it!

(The activity was open to all kids, but ours weren't interested.  And that's okay, because I wasn't in the mood to force them into it, either!  Maybe another year!)

We enjoyed catching up with friends and hung around to help clean up a bit afterwards, and then we headed to the fireworks stand closest to our home and STOCKED UP!

I think Rhiannon's expressions tell it all!  Sparklers are the BOMB!

Driveway fireworks are where it's at!  Thanks, Daddy, for the fireworks show, and
THANK YOU, Howard and Sandi, for sharing your Wyoming fireworks stash, too!

We enjoyed dinner together with Howard and Sandi, visiting, and enjoying the perfect 4th of July weather. 
And check out those layered 4th of July Jell-O squares!  They took a little time to make, but I had a BLAST doing it!

Where have you been all my life?

Last week Wade and I broke out the ice cream maker that Howard and Sandi had given us.  We tried the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream recipe and discovered that

a)  the recipe made a LOT of ice cream
b)  it called for 6 CUPS of heavy whipping cream...so, yeah, we'll be careful how often we make/eat it!)
c)  it. was. so. good!

Today I made a little batch of this with the ice cream maker:

Strawberry Sorbet from Our Best Bites blog

I'm going to use it as part of our 4th of July "special dessert" tomorrow--YUMMY!  The idea is to put a scoop each of the sorbet and vanilla ice cream over broken sugar cookie pieces, then top with blueberries.  I'm a little excited about it--can you tell?

Here's the link to the recipe on the Our Best Bites blog:

Strawberry Sorbet Goodness

Happy 4th of July!