Independence Day!

What an amazing Fourth of July! I'm not sure why, but I was especially excited for this years' fourth celebrations, and I was not disappointed. The good times began when Phil got home from work early Thursday afternoon and had Friday off. I love long weekends. Friday night we went with some friends and watched the Houston Symphony perform various patriotic numbers in an outdoor pavilion. It was insanely hot but very much worth it. The concert didn't start until 8pm but it was still almost 100 degrees. You can see how hot and sweaty Livi was. Luckily they handed out fans at the door. The concert was incredible and we had a marvelous time. However, We ended up leaving at the intermission because Livi was starting to have a meltdown. The kids behind her pulled out some french fries and she went bonkers. After we left we went and got some ice cream to help us cool down.

ripping my earring out, her favorite past time

Saturday morning we headed over to the parade. Phil really isn't in to parades and neither is Livi (yet), but I really wanted to catch me some candy so we headed over. Once again we left about half way through because A) I had yet to see a single piece of candy B) it was becoming increasingly hot C) we really wanted to go swimming and D) all of the floats we had seen were pretty lame. There were what seemed like 50 different cars showing off a variety of Texas beauty queens and a fire truck and some political figures. I'm sure we left before all the good stuff came but I wasn't too disappointed because we were going swimming!

After the parade we met up with a bunch of friends from church at this sweet pool. They wouldn't let Phil hold Livi on his lap going down the slide so that's why it looks like he's about to launch her into the water.

She wasn't such a fan of the shower effect.

After the pool we went home where Livi took a 3 hour nap and I made a pink lemonade cake for the BBQ we went to later on that evening. If you are ever feeling the need for a refreshing treat I highly recommend a pink lemonade cake. It's an ice cream cake that is very simple and delicious. Here's the recipe:

1 pk Yellow cake mix

1 qt Vanilla ice cream

1 cn 6oz fz. pink lemonade concentrate

6 Drops red food coloring

1 c Whipping cream

2 tb Sugar

Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Bake in two 9x 1 1/2 in round cake pans; cool. Meanwhile, stir ice cream to soften;quickly stir in 1/2 cup of the concentrate and the food coloring. Spread evenly in foil-lined 9x1 1/2 round cake pan. Freeze 2 or 3 hours or until firm. Place cake layer on serving plate; top with ice cream layer, then with second cake layer. Beat cream with remaining concentrate and the sugar till stiff. Frost sides and top of cake; return to freezer at least 1 hour or till served.

We went over to a friend's house for a BBQ that afternoon and stuffed our faces. It was too hot to eat outside so they moved all of their furniture and put blankets down on the floor for everyone to eat on. It was just like having a picnic, minus the unbearable heat and the killer fire ants! I wish I would have taken a picture but I was way to interested in the plethora of food before me. I'm salivating just thinking about it. After eating and hanging out we all headed over to watch the fireworks

I'm sure you're all wondering how you can have awesome hair like me.

Our ward has a tradition of meeting at the same place every year to watch the fireworks together. So we met up with even more people in the parking lot of Pier 1. They set off the fireworks over Lake Woodlands and so thousands of people were packed into the parking lot of this strip mall a few miles away from the lake. We saw an amazing fireworks show while eating caramel popcorn thanks to Tonya. We finally made it home about 10pm after a long and event filled day. This was definitely one of the best fourth of July's of my entire life. On the way home Phil and I were talking about all of the people we have met and become friends with since being here. We have never lived somewhere that is as outgoing and accepting as this place. I love it here. I can't say it enough!