July 4th-Part 2

Now I will share a few pictures of the decorations from our Independence Day backyard bash. Hopefully they will inspire you to be creative the next time you entertain!!

(Our wheel barrow beverage cart! Crafty, ain't it!?)

(Good use for our potting stand. You can't have enough flowers — or citronella!)

(Our final patio set-up w/ everything in place)

(I even borrowed a bunch of plants from my mother-in-law!)

(Everyone should have a nifty drink dispenser. Sorry this pic is dark — it was raining! Tip: I used frozen lemons to keep the drink cold)

(My new obsession: paper poms!)

(Our festive backyard!)

(One more view. Confession: J spent forever putting the poms together and hanging them from trees. Then it rained a lot and now they're but soggy reminders of the fun we had!)

(Here's me pretending to help)

(One more of us in our backyard)

Stay tuned!

July 4th-Part 1

Jonathan and I had a LOT to celebrate this July 4th — like our nation's independence, almost a year in our house and our incredible friends and family. And we celebrated in grand fashion.

After a year of hard work — more like yard work — we feel like we have a home we can be proud of. This was our first big party in our home, and so it felt a little like a belated house warming.

Even though it rained almost the whole evening, we all had a lot of fun. Jonathan and I were grateful to everyone who stopped by! Here are my first round of photos from the big event:

(The soon-to-be Nortons!)

(The Kotrlas w/ their backward drinks)

(Strike a pose — not bad for a woman who only gets 30 minutes of free time a day!)

(The Barnards, Almons & Wallers all watching the parade with their kiddos)

(Backyard fun!)

(The hosts!)

(Here's a better view of my patriotic dress! Shout out to Carolyn for loaning me the shoes!)

This blog post will be followed by a blog detailing our decorations and a blog sharing a few recipe favorites from the evening. If you couldn't make it to this party, make plans to see us soon!