A patriotic celebration!

This morning was our breakfast at the park.  We started off singing The Star Spangled Banner a'capella with lovely harmony.  Such good singers we were. :-)

There was a LOT of food and everyone enjoyed eating and chatting, and then there were gunny sack races, throwing games, and a water balloon fight.  It was a great start to a wonderful day on which to be proud of our country.

Getting ready for the Independence Day breakfast

Tomorrow morning is a church pot luck breakfast at the park.  There will be games and fun in addition to a breakfast.

I like to make cinnamon rolls and decided to make them for this event.  Problem:  the breakfast will be at 8 am and I work from 4:30 am until 8:00 am.  Refridgerator rolls to the rescue!

I made the pans of rolls and put them in the fridge without allowing them to rise in the pans.

 The next morning I took them out.  You can see they are slightly risen.

 I popped the pans into the oven while I worked and you can see the hot and delicious results with virtually no work on the morning of the event.

My patriotic quilt

In June this year I decided I wanted a patriotic quilt.  Well, actually, I'd decided a couple of years ago I wanted one, but this June I decided to actually make one.

 

I came across a pattern I liked and thought I could make, but I didn't like the stars, so I left them off..

 

 While I was piecing the top, my constant worry was--how am I going to quilt this?  Tying it was out of the question because I don't like that look for any but the most casual quilt.

 

One day I was searching online for professional quilting services and eBay popped up.  I found a quilter I was comfortable with (in South Jordan, Utah, what's not to like?), bid on her auction, then sent it off to her.

 

Because I had nixed the appliqued stars, I decided to go with a star design in the quilting. 

I chose a simple red for the binding because the rest of the quilt was so busy.

 

Isn't it luscious after washing and drying?

I can't wait for it to get cooler so I can really use it a lot!

Independence Day!

"I love America,
Yes I do,
I love America through and through!"

From Brite Music "Take Your Hat Off." song 2.

The United States declared its independence from England on July 4, 1776.  At that time there were 13 states in the north east part of today's United States.  Today there are 50 states and the 50 white stars on the flag commemorate that.  The 13 stripes remind us of the 13 original states.  Our first president was George Washington and both the state of Washington and Washington, D.C. are named after him.

I love being an American!  (And am delighted to have friends from other wonderful countries who stop by my blog).

Independence Day

233 years ago we gained our independence from England. When I asked my 4th graders about that 10 years ago it took about 10 guesses for someone to finally guess England. ~sigh~ I need to talk about it more with my children too.

Our celebration involved adding a family member. Yep, we picked up dh's dd "A" from the airport. It was a pleasant trip and we managed to find a Waffle House. When we used the Albuquerque airport we usually stopped at Waffle House for a bite to eat after picking someone up, even if it was late at night. I had my usual which is two waffles with pecans. I did notice something new on the menu which was "Lite" waffles and the server said they were buttermilk waffles. I ordered them and they were really good with just a hint of sourness to them. Of course, slathering both little containers of margarine over the waffles negated any fat or calorie savings, I'm sure.

Our evening celebration was swimming and BBQ'd hot dogs, Jello/Cool Whip/cottage cheese/fruit cocktail salad, watermelon, root beer, and cinnamon rolls for dessert. Delicious. Then we went swimming again. A played games with the younger girls and came up with funny stories and ideas they loved.

After we showered off and the younger girls went to bed the other three of us went back out to the patio and finished off the watermelon, spitting the seeds out onto the lawn. Last of all was a fireworks show that we could just view through the tree tops.

Happy Independence Day and I'm glad the USA won the war. ;-)