once upon a time, it was the 4th of july.

this fourth of july will forever be the year i will remember as the one where chase went around burying his head in our shoulders so he couldn't see the fireworks.

but when each firework would pop off,

you'd see his little eyes curve over to the side of his head to watch,

just out of the corner of his eye.

with utter trepidation on his face.

it was my favorite thing of the entire day.

just so so SOOOO cute.

this year's menu:

baby back smoked ribs

homemade french fries

bacon wrapped cheese stuffed hot dogs

soft serve ice cream cones

snow cones {with or without ice cream, however you fancy}

homemade corn dogs {i will never eat a frozen on EVER again. WOW.}

grilled corn

broccoli salad

avocado dips #1 and #2

chicken skewers

watermelon

desserts a'plenty

...

basically, we pulled out ALLLLL the stops in the food department this 4th of july.

ladies and gentlemen,

without further delay...i give you,

The 4TH Of JULY

FAMILY YARD FEAST!

EXTRA SALT.

i swear to you, you've never tasted any combination as good as this.

not even peanut butter and chocolate could top this.

which is saying a lot coming from me.

word to the wise: don't try to drink the melted ice cream after.

basically like drinking the ocean, but worse.

had to get myself a 5th bowl of ice cream and fries just to recover.

totally worth it.

{note: it's days like these where i really appreciate my 90/60 blood pressure.}

{mmm mmm mmm. i promise, they're supposed to look that way.

if you don't light them on fire, they won't taste right. delish! 

when they're popping on the grill, you KNOW they're done.}

{above: the corn dogs i CAN'T stop thinking about.}

i

will

never

have

a

frozen

corn dog

EVER

again.

UHHHH--MAZE--ZING GRAAAAACE.

{aka: homemade corn dog.}

{note: somewhere between above 

and below he lost something...}

{i was in love with max's 4th of july nails.}

{above: when you try to grab a sparkler 

from the wrong end one too many times.

you're BANNED. so rough to be 2.}

 then one of the fireworks blew out of its side, fell over, 

and shot at keaton one way, and grandma gigi the other,

and that pretty much wrapped up the night in a jiffy!

no one's fault, even though keaton thought it was his at first,

just a bad egg so ta speak.

the firework, not keaton;)

we couldn't find brennan for 20 minutes because he was hiding in the big yellow slide,

and max and chase ran inside to grandma carol's house.

good times in the land of the free.

i just love america's birthday.

it never gets old:)

the end.

raspberries on a 91* july summer night

 91* at 8:14pm on a sunday night.

i promise you,

it's the only time i EVER love 91*.

OHHHH utah at night in july!

it just never gets old.

{above: naked bum, and a belly full of berries.}

and then he found out the raspberries were all out.

happy monday!

25 cloves of garlic, 2 tbls chili powder, 7 cups water, & 3 squirts of dawn

MAYDAY

MAYDAY

MAYDAY

my tomato plants are in bad shape.

completely and utterly infested.

we are talking black beetles, white beetles, white mites, worms.

you name, our tomato plants have 'em.

so this morning,

an hour before church,

i walked out to my yard in my pajamas and morning breath,

and in my horror of discovering how many new bugs had multipled over night,

went swiftly to pinterest for a homemade rememdy.

25 cloves of garlic,

2 tbls chili powder,

7 cups of water,

and 3 squirts of dawn in the ninja blender later,

i had the most repulsively smelling homemade fertilizer on the planet.

after i doused my five tomato plants,

i had andrea pass me some cornstarch over the fence,

which i sprinkled around each plant to ward off vampires and such,

and we both ran inside to make ourselves presentable for church in thirty minutes or less.

we are so good:)

and now we pray.

that the bugs and worms will go away.

also, that the spray and cornstarch won't kill my plants overnight.

anyone have experience in this matter?

green thumb help

STAT.