Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July everyone! This past weekend we had our '2nd annual'4th of July cookout. We (especially me) had a great time hosting and hope everyone had fun! We are so lucky to have such great friends that all live close. Since we never really had officially celebrated Kellen passing his PE (YAAHOOOOO), I also decided to surprise Kel and also celebrate that in addition to the 4th. Stacie made his favorite cake, people brought surprises (thanks Meg for the carnivorous squirrel), and I got balloons and had his official certificate framed for everyone to see. Here are some pictures of the night and some pics of my attempt at creativity.

All ready to go!

We had tiki torches lit on both sides of our driveway so no one would go to the wrong house :)

Fire pit set up in the back

Food tents anxiously waiting for food!

Kellen's certificate finally arrived that day while he was at work! So I framed it as part of his surprise.

You can't see it very well here, but I had sand buckets everywhere for decoration (stuffed with multicolored tissue paper) or for trash; by the bottles I had one for bottle caps.

The drink table all ready to go....
complete with the sparklers in a vase wrapped in a bright red bow for some color.

Summer mantle

I had an old Uppercase Living expression I hadn't used yet, so I found an old wooden crate, stained it, and applied it to the bottom. It turned out pretty cute!

The centerpieces were made out of baby watermelons!

Another view

Captain sporting a fashionable tye-dyed red, white, and blue bandanna

Great friends

Group shot of the ladies

Kel is so proud (or embarrassed of me, not quite sure)
As you can see, this was the 1st balloon I tried to write on, as evidenced by the mangy 'P'

We tried to get couples pics and didn't get very far...so sorry if we missed you!

Jason and Gretchen

Leo and Megan

Michael and Liz

Okay so I know they aren't a couple..but beautiful ladies at least ;)

What 4th of July party would be complete without...
SPARKLERS!


Kel and his P.E. cake

Megan is so cute
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I had to include this picture...this is what happens when you bring a bunch of balloons inside the house! oops