Weekends Are My Favorite!

We had the BEST 4th of July weekend!  4th of July is one of my favorite holidays.  I love celebrating our wonderful freedom and enjoying this lovely country we call home.  This year, we enjoyed this lil country to the max. It was my first 4th in Colorado since I was about 6 years old.  I've been home the past 4 years to celebrate my niece's birthday {the 7th} and spend the holiday weekend with the fam so I wanted to make sure our weekend was jam packed with fun stuff so it could distract me from missing home.

Thursday night we had 3 other couples over for dinner.  D and I made these yummy lasagna cups that have been circulating Pinterest and Facebook, garlic bread and cheesy garlic bread, Caesar salad, and s'mores cookies. 

 {Ultimate Caesar Salad Kit}

 {Toasted Garlic Bread}

 {Lasagna Cups-this is the recipe I used but we doubled it and quadrupled the meat :)}

 {S'mores cookies}

We ate a ton of food, drank lots of yummy drinks, and played hilarious games.  One of my best friends stopped over to join us for the 'game night' portion of the evening so the 9 of us played 'Hollywood Game Night' {based on the hysterical TV show} and Cards Against Humanity.  D and I loved hosting our first dinner party/game night as a married couple and we had so much more fun {and spent a lot less money} than a night out at the bar.

Friday was all about the Red, White, and Blue.  We woke up an hour before we were supposed to be at the BBQ  slept in and quickly got to baking our goodies for the BBQ.  D was smart and started marinating his chicken at 2 a.m. after everyone left so he was set to go.  I made these fantastic Mini Fruit Pizzas {recipe courtesy of Natasha and her 4th of July link-up} and they were a hit!

We went to D's Uncle's house to BBQ and swim in the pool.  We invited tons of friends and family and had an amazing afternoon despite the overcast skies. 

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching Capone in his new pool.  We were worried it would be crazy hot out and bulldogs can get overheated real fast, so D went to a million different stores and finally found the perfect pool for our fur baby. He LOVED it.  He wouldn't let any other dogs step foot in it, although they could get a drink of water, and he would chase them around the yard if they tried.  It was the cutest thing!

One of the scariest parts of the day was when Capone fell into the big pool and sunk straight to the bottom. Luckily there were about 12 of us in there and one of our good friends went straight under and immediately grabbed him.  D and I were pretty shaken up though...this little guy is our world and just the thought of something bad happening to him is too much. 

We went to an awesome fireworks show that night with some of D's cousins.  They were hands down the best fireworks I've ever seen!  The town of Thornton had a huge setup at a park near our house with a live band, food vendors, parachute-rs, and unbelievable fireworks.  We loved it. 

By Saturday we were exhausted but we weren't slowin down.  I caught up on some cleaning and laundry in the morning/early afternoon.  We went to a bar to have a drink with a friend to celebrate his birthday and D played some outdoor bar games while I hid in the shade and drank my cold beers.  Then we headed downtown to City Park for a Sam Adam's festival.  They had beer vendors, not nearly enough food trucks, and they played Wedding Crashers when the sun went down.  They literally crossed off every food item we considered eating as we waiting in line so D called Pizza Hut and had them deliver to the park. :) That's my guy!

We ate yummy pizza, drank some beers, and hung out with friends while we watched the movie. It was a pretty perfect Colorado evening.

On Sunday we went to breakfast together and then headed to the mall to do some shopping for a very special 4 year old.  My niece was celebrating her birthday on Monday and my present is late...but totally worth it.  All things 'Frozen' and clothes galore.  I was so bummed I couldn't spend the day with her like all of her other birthdays {and birth} but I know she had the best time in her bouncy castle/water slide with all of her friends!

Needless to say, we had a fantastic weekend. D is off to California tomorrow for some Army time for the next two weeks so I'm hopeful we can have lots more weekends like this one when he gets back. 

Until next time...

-T-