This year Shay and I invited family and friends over for dinner and fireworks to celebrate the 24th of July, Pioneer Day. We were so excited to have everyone come!
Fortunately, because I am a teacher and have the month of July off, I had all day to prepare for the big event. I was really excited so right after my fun 4.5 mile walk with my friend Kim, I decided that I needed to pick up some fireworks for our party. I stopped at one of those firework tent stands that are set up in the grocery parking lots and had the lady pick out what fireworks she thought would be fun (I had never bought "big" fireworks before and felt extremely ignorant):
After purchasing the fireworks, I ran to two different stores to pick up what I still needed for the event.
Once I got home I prepared what food could be prepared hours before the party and started scrubbing the house. When the house was somewhat clean, I took a break and started to prepare the tables for everyone. I was planning on 17 people for dinner, and a few more friends later on for fireworks.
When I started to set the tables, I couldn't help but think of what I could do to make it look really festive for the 24th. Luckily a few weeks before, Walmart had their 4th of July stuff on sale for fifty cents. I ended up getting out some ribbon and going to work on the place settings.
This is what they turned out like:
Once all three tables were set.....
....I decided to make the kid's table a bit more special
(We love our nieces and nephew, along with our younger cousins!).
So I spent some time on the computer and this is the final product:
With the tables all set, the house finally cleaned, and the food ALMOST ready, the party began!
My grandparents came with my aunt, my uncle, and my cousins about 1/2 hour early so that they could chat and help out. They were so helpful in cutting up the fresh fruits and helping to set all the food out!
Here is the picture of the whole gang:
In the picture above you can see my uncle Talt to the right of Shay's half seen head (I can't believe what a poor photo I took...Yikes! Sorry everyone!). Talt and his family were up from California. We were so excited to have him come with his two twin boys! We were so sad that his wife Kelly got sick and she and their daughter Olivia were unable to make it. Hopefully, next time we can get them all together! We sure think they are amazing.
Next to my uncle Talt is my Grandmother Winnie, who I am named after. Yep, that's right, her name is Winnie as well.....but the Winnie name doesn't stop there on my maternal side of the family.....if you look directly across from my grandma you will see my Aunt Winnie, who of course was named after her mother. Family reunions are always a treat with all 3 Winnie's together. I am usually referred to as "Winnie Ann" (Ann is my middle name) or "mini Winnie" when all 3 of us are together ("mini" because I am the youngest. My Grandmother is sometimes referred to as "big Winnie" and my aunt "middle Winnie"). It does get a bit crazy at times, but I am so grateful for the name I have. These two women are amazing and I have always felt a deep obligation to live up to my name.
To the right of my Grandmother is my Grandpa, my older brother Paul, my friend Trevor, and Talt's twin boys Oliver and Emerson.
To the left of my Aunt Winnie is my S.I.L. Cynthia, my friend Patty, and my two nieces Hallie and Ilene. Our nephew Nathan was unable to attend due to a tubing trip with friends....we missed you Nathan, but hope you had a blast tubing!!!
Here are pictures of the food we ate. I needed to document it because the night before Shay was hesitant that I hadn't planned enough food for everyone. This actually shocked me because I tend to make TOO MUCH food when we throw parties. Well, I definitely proved Shay wrong! We had more than enough food for everyone.
I even had to spread the food out onto 3 different locations within the kitchen for it all to fit.
Here is a view of our center island.
Just to the right of our island, our guests were able to make yummy pulled pork sandwiches:
Oh my goodness, I just realized that I totally forgot to take a picture of the counters to the left of our island.
Shoot! Well, on the other side of our kitchen our guests were able to choose from 4 different types of chips and 5 different types of dips (see Shay we had PLENTY to eat!) and a cake Patty brought to share (Sorry I didn't get a picture of it Patty!).
I did take a picture of the corn Shay barbecued before they were all eaten!
It was only Shay's second time ever cooking them on the grill and he did an amazing job! I love that Shay is willing to help me out in the kitchen when I ask him. He makes a mean ham and wonderful pork steaks.....keep up the great work Shay! :-)
After we ate all we could, we were able to chat, enjoy each other's company, and play games. Later on when it was sufficiently dark, we headed out to see the fireworks. At first we were all disappointed in the fireworks, some had been duds, others were just OK,...but when the Beyond It All fireworks were lit, it made up for the others--it was awesome!
While we were setting off fireworks, our friends Mike, Ryan, and the Cunningham girls showed up to help out and enjoy the fireworks.
Once our fireworks were lit, my family left to go home.
Mike, Ryan, and the Cunningham girls ended up staying till 1:30 am. We ended up lighting off additional fireworks, watching others' fireworks, and playing Settlers of Catan.
We love having time to spend with our family and friends!
We sincerely hope they did as well!
Hope all had a wonderful 24th celebration!
