A July 4th to remember

It was rushed and hot and a lot of work - but totally worth it! We hosted our first ever July 4th party at the farm (Note: actual party date was Saturday, July 3rd). We picked up the kids from Sky Ranch, drove back to Dallas to unload a week of camp stuff, let the kids rest, Grant and I loaded up and then we drove both the Pilot and the truck to the farm. 

Things kicked off around 4ish with Joel and Elizabeth arriving with 6 of their 7 kids. It was great because they have a super helpful group and two of their boys are Eagle Scouts who helped me setup! We had about 30 family and friends, and even some of our new farm neighbors, for swimming, BBQ, fireworks, and smores. We got catering from the BBQ place up the street from the farm and it was delicious. Grant and Mitch (Hunter's Dad) did the fireworks show and it was awesome! So much better than I expected. 

The only sad part of the day was that Lindsay stopped by briefly, with Becky and Baby Lucas. We had just started letting the kids do a few small fireworks and a ladybug firework unexpectedly flew towards where we were sitting and triggered a panic attack for Lindsay. We stopped the fireworks immediately. Grant and I felt horrible that she didn't feel safe, and we will be much more cautious going forward. In fact, Grant and I decided that the kids are limited to sparklers and the Dad's can do the bigger fireworks for everyone to enjoy.

We cleaned after the fireworks and finally rolled into home around 1am, I think. It was kind of a blur at that point. Grant and I felt like it was an overall success and we are hopeful to make it a tradition. 

And then, on Sunday morning, I heard someone come in our back door. I walked out in my robe and it was COURTNEY JOYCE! What?!?!? She and Eddie had their travel plans change when it was so hot in Seattle that the dogs couldn't safely fly there. So they drove straight to Dallas. I was so surprised. Everyone thought someone else had told me about the change in plans. But nope. The timing worked out great though because I was off on Monday so I got to spend more time with them. We ate delicious brisket omelets made by Grant, did an Ikea run, watched fireworks from the top of the Snider Plaza parking garage, played Cards Against Humanity Family Edition (Papa was the winner!), went to the farm on Monday and let the dogs and the kids run around, and got Courtney and Eddie loaded up for the big move to Athens. It was incredible to be able to spend time with Courtney and Eddie.

Gonna be pretty hard to beat this next year, but I bet we try!