4th of July Family BBQ

For 4th of July this year we got to spend it with tons of family which was so much fun!  We got together at Drew's parent's house for a barbecue with one of Drew's brothers and his family and both of his sisters.  My parents also came over with my sister to help cook and celebrate the 4th with us which was great!  My aunt, uncle and cousin even came over to eat with us and do some fireworks which was great!

We spent the afternoon cooking and having the kids play with water outside.  Drew and I helped arrange a water balloon fight for the kids in the back yard and even had fun getting into our own little water fight.  After playing with water balloons all the cousins got water guns that Mimi had and played with those for a long time.  My boys loved having time to play with their cousins and I am grateful that they get time to bond with their cousins!

For dinner, me, Drew and my Dad prepared a bunch of dutch oven food.  We made chicken and stuffing, orange rolls, dutch oven potatoes and apple crisp in 4 different dutch ovens.  It was crazy hot outside so I am grateful that Drew and my Dad did all the cooking.  It was really fun getting to do more dutch oven cooking and I enjoyed getting to share the food with all of our family.  I really am a person who often shows her love for others through cooking so I love the opportunity to cook big meals for family and friends.  We had a great day with family and it was nice to be able to enjoy the holiday.

I had so much fun dressing Eliza up for the 4th.  I loved her patriotic little outfit.

The little boys, including Anders, got their own bucket of water balloons and enjoyed throwing them at the fence.

It was fun seeing Anders just pop his water balloons against the fence.

The bigger cousins had fun throwing water balloons at each other and Drew while he stood in the middle with the hose spraying all of them.  The boys all had a blast!

I decided Drew deserved to get a little wet after spraying the boys with water so I tried to dump a bucket of water on his head.

I mostly succeeded in getting him wet.  It is definitely fun getting to relax sometimes and just goof off again like when we were kids!

Alden, Anders and their 4 cousins in Utah all lined up.  This is 6 of the 9 grandsons on this side of the family.

The boys had a blast playing with water guns since it was ridiculously hot outside!

Anders loved playing with the big kids and he was very happy with his tiny little water gun!

I just think my little girl is totally adorable (and yes I am aware I am bias and I don't really care).

Mimi had fun entertaining all of the cousins inside for awhile when it got too hot outside.

Dad and Drew cooking 4 dutch ovens full of food.

My cousin Kent enjoyed getting to have some time with Eliza after dinner.