4th of July festivities

It wouldn't be a celebration with out some form of cake, right?  I found THIS recipe and had to try it.  I just made a french vanilla cake mix (spiked it with raspberry extract) though.

 I will tell you that it took a lot longer than your typical frosting, but it was totally worth it!!  Preston, the dude who scrapes off frosting, when gave him a small sample on a cupcake, requested more.  NOTE:  If you ever do this, make sure you follow the recipe and times exactly or it will not set up.
  I refrigerated the (2) that were left over from the night before and they were even yummier the next day.  The icing was harder and cold, but melted in your mouth.  Oh my, just typing this I might need to make somemore!!  The cute little strawberries are the little nubbins left over after I made some jam (from my garden) :)

 The snack spread.  The steak and chicken are absent at this point, but we were kept busy. :)

 And yes, those ARE patriotic jello jiggler stars....

 Our pool is a little less cooler than the Thomson cousins real pool we were at 2 days prior, but it got the job done.

    Happy baby girl!

 I told him to act sexy

 We did our little fireworks in the cul de sac, nothing too fancy.  We didn't want to set anything on fire so we set the bottle rockets off upside down in a jug of water.  It was entertaining.  Last year we had sand castles and jell-o molds to blow up, we missed those this year.

 Be grateful.  I think this is the one time all of their shorts were ABOVE their cracks.  Usually there was a whole roll of white pookies staring right back at cha.

   Zach training for Baywatch

It was fun and low key with lots of yummy food and good friends.  That's what it is all about.