Fourth of July

Normally, on 4th of July, we go over to Malcolm's house for a BBQ.  But now that we're missing our fearless BBQ leader, we had to relocate to Henry's house!  =)

Henry's loft is AWESOME!  Everyone brought (or bought) a little something; everyone fit at either the dining table, fold out table or the couch; and it was nice and cool inside.  Most importantly, we didn't BBQ anything!  =)

This was the first 4th of July (in about 8 yrs) that Audrey and my hands weren't stuck in a giant bowl of ground beef, concocting some burger recipe at the last second, and forming burger patties!  It was also the first 4th of July (in about 8 yrs) that Haeli, Anita, Audrey and I weren't running around cleaning up after everyone!  And it was also the first 4th of July (in about 8 yrs) where we left to go to another BBQ.  Strange.

Russ and I 'made' crab cakes and sangria.  Anita said the sangria was strong!  oops.  sorry!  ;)  Anita made delicious ribs and corn casserole; Audrey made a broiled sushi dish; and Henry made smoked salmon sandwiches!  Haeli made a grape bruschetta.  We had tons of dessert too (like Beard Papas, pie, brownies, almond jello (henry's fave thing to make); grass jelly...)  =)  YUMMY!

And true to form, I forgot my camera!  DANG IT!

After we shoved all sorts of food into our bellies, we all just lounged and got food coma!  :(  Then we left to go home, make some more food and head over to Kelley's BBQ!

When we got there, the party was in full swing!  They had several fold-out tables out, the BBQ going, and tons and tons of food!  Looked sooooo yummy, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat anymore!  Russ ate a slider and a few other things.  He said it was really delish!  We also brought sangria to Kelley's BBQ and it was gone in a split second!  I guess that batch wasn't nearly as strong as the batch at Henry's!  oops!  ;)

After hanging out, talking to Euri, Kendra, Tianyi, Steven & Carmen, and snacking on food, we headed to the front yard for a fireworks show!  Awesome!  Brings back memories of when I was little and we would buy TONS of fireworks and put on a show for all the adults!  =)  The only thing, though, was that the fireworks seemed much smaller.  It must be b/c I'm bigger now (or else the fireworks shrank)!

Kelley's bro and bf stacked the fireworks pretty high.  It was hilarious b/c then Russ started chanting "jenga."  hahaha.  What a dork!

Before we knew it, the show was over, the food split up amongst all the attendees, and we were heading home!

We had a great time on 4th of July at Henry's and at Kelley's!  We're so lucky to have such good friends to share the 4th with!  Yay!  =)