We had been in our house for exactly 1 week and 2 days when the 4th of July rolled around. Ryan and Heather had the Parker's in town for the sealing and wanted to use our lakefront to take them out on the boat. We still had some extended family from Utah in town for the sealing and we needed a place to party for the 4th... looks like it was going to be us, ready or not!! Since we were already having so much family coming, why not just invite anyone that needs a place to play for the 4th? So that's exactly what we did!! Bring your own chair and bring something yummy to share! We broke in the new outdoor kitchen and grill, provided the hot dogs and hamburgers and had the most fun day! There was a ton of food and drinks left over from the reception Saturday, including paper goods, that Heather brought over. Ryan had his boat and was taking people wake surfing. We had spike ball going on, corn hole, paddle ball, a game of football at one point, people paddleboarding. We had bought a huge floatation device from Sam's club that the kids played on in the lake. There was something for everyone and was a huge success. I remember looking around at one point, seeing everyone busy doing something somewhere with friends, family, people visiting, laughing, playing, etc... and my heart was so happy!! Just exactly what I wanted for our house to be. The weather was perfect and no one ever even needed to come inside. We had at least 80 people!! Isn't that crazy?! Didn't seem like it. But it was perfect... a few plastic spoons stopping up the pool vacuum and maybe I had to look the other way when I saw a young child dump a cup of Diet Coke into the pool... but all in all, it was a great holiday. We saw some pretty amazing fireworks from across the lake and lit some sparklers of our own.
