The 4th of July is Spencer's favorite holiday! My first 4th spent with the Jenkins' family gave me a glimpse as to why Spencer loves it so much! It's always an elaborate celebration with delicious foods, hanging out with friends, and a LOT of fun! Spencer gets SUPER bummed out when we don't do something awesome to celebrate our country's birthday! Last year, Spencer and I had a very memorable 4th, bringing Madilyn home from the hospital! She had been in the NICU for 4 days, and had not yet been home with us. So, while we didn't get to participate in the traditional Jenkins' family 4th of July festivities, it was a VERY special day!
Since last year we spent the holiday at home, enjoying Madilyn, we wanted to make her real, first 4th of July a BIG day! And what a FUN day it was! We started off the day going over to the church for an early morning Patriotic program and pancake breakfast. What a GREAT way to begin the day- with singing and inspirational words reminding us of how lucky we are to live in such a great nation! Here's Madi and I in front of Grandpa Al's Scout.
Following the breakfast we went over to our friends, Adam and Lora's house for swimming and sun time! We put Madi down for her nap and had 2 hours of relaxing "grown-up" time (I can never fully enjoy laying out with kids around)! Around noon Madi woke up to join us in the pool! Unfortunately we payed for our hours in the sun later that evening. With Spencer's back and stomach not having seen the sun for a LONG time, he's been in TONS of pain!! And even with all the SPF 50 that I lathered on Madi, she still managed to get red shoulders. While it didn't seem to bother her at all, I felt SUPER bad!
After swimming, we headed back to Spencer's parents' house to eat lunch. Dad, mom, and Jocelyn had already headed over to the beach, so we quickly packed back up and left to join them. With already having had enough sun for the day, we put our clothes back on and added another layer of sunscreen!
We returned home about 5pm, giving us an hour to get ready for dinner. Madi happily went down for a late nap while Spencer got right to work brewing his famous homemade root beer!
While Spencer brewed, I joined mom and Jocelyn in making the the buttermilk onion rings! They are seriously HEAVENLY to eat and SUPER easy to make too! It's as simple as onion slices dipped in buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, saltine crackers (with a little seasoning), and then put into the deep fryer to cook for a few minutes! We made over triple the amount shown below!
Along with homemade root beer and onion rings, another traditional Jenkins' 4th of July food, is homemade ice cream (which unfortunately I didn't get a picture of)! With Spencer's dad on the grill barbecuing tri tip, the rest of our dinner included: several other salads, corn on the cob, french bread, and watermelon! What a scrumptious meal!!
Madi actually woke up just as we were about to eat (always prefect timing- she's good at making sure I eat a cold meal)! She was happy to join us for dinner though and watch all the other kids who had come over to play. The Lassen and Lovstedt families joined us for dinner, making our group somewhere around 20 adults and 6 kids!
A little after 8:00pm we headed out to watch the fireworks! We got a perfect spot! I was excited to see Madi's reaction to the fireworks. At first she just stared in complete AWE! Then she started to get nervous and would lay her head down on my shoulder away from the fireworks. She'd cuddle with me for a few seconds and then would want to watch again. Then she'd get nervous and want her daddy, so into Spencer's arms she went! She's cuddle with him, watch for a minute, and want to come back to me! It was hilarious! She went back and forth from Spencer to myself several different times. About half way through the show, she actually wanted to watch. She sat down in the chairs with me, pointing into the sky and joining me with my ooohhhs and awwwws!
Left to right: Mom and Dad with good friends: Mitch Tao, John, and Debi Lassen
Madi with mama and Aunt Joci
What a HAPPY 4th of July!!
14 comments:
Looks like you guys had lots of fun! I see its cold enough for pants and jackets! HOW COOL IS THAT! i love your firework pictures too! So cool!!
I always have fun with family on the 4th, but that just means a BBQ and fireworks. After hearing about your family traditions on the 4th, it makes me want to do something a little more extravagant on the 4th. Looks like you guys had loads of fun!
What a fun day! I couldn't believe when I got down to the point where you had lunch....and you had already had such a full day. Glad Madi enjoyed her first 4th!
Sounds like you guys had a blast. I loved your blog... Madi's outfit is so cute. She is the cutest patriotic baby! I wish I was there to eat all that yummy food.
So much fun!!! My family does homemade rootbeer on the 4th too. Love it! Madi's outfit is sooo cute. It sounds like you guys had an awesome day!
What a fun 4th! When you coming to Boise?
wow--looks like you guys had a blast! we miss you :o) you'd better be here for the 4th next year!!!!
call me when you get a chance... we need to chat :o)
give madi a kiss from b&e!
Anie- You are a crazy blogger! I love it! So fun to read and it'll be awesome for you and your kids to look back and read. Looks like you had an awesome 4th! In that picture of you with Madi coming out of the hospital I can NOT BELIEVE you just had a baby in that picture. You are such a twig! haha! We need to catch up. NC is lonely without friends like you guys!
It seems that Spencer has a lot of 'specialties' in the kitchen! Tell him he better plan on making his specialty root beer in Bear Lake! That sounds yummy! Sunburns always put a damper on the day. It must've been pretty hot!
Looks like a fun 4th though! We watched fireworks with Emma and Jake and their baby Ethan LOVEd the fireworks too. It was pretty funny.
what a fun 4th! your family is so cute. I love Spencer's family traditions! Between the Jenkins and the Rudds families, you guys will be loaded with stuff to do for the holidays. Love you guys!
Independance Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I'm glad you guys lived it up!! That first firework picture is awesome! Did you take it?
What an awesome day! So so fun. Can't wait to see you- we got the reunion stuff all squared away. It will be so fun to see Maddie in real life- I already feel like I know her though. :) Be in touch old friend!
Erin
We missed you guys this year, but had a great time in New Hampshire! We will need to do a repeat of the "fourth" meal sometime before you guys leave! I'm craving some of those onion rings, rootbeer and ice cream! What flavor did you make?
Looks like lots of Summer fun! And OH my goodness! What a pretty, pretty, pretty little girl you have...complete with dresses and bows galore! I love it!!!
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