The Fourth

We had a pretty fun fourth of July this year . . . except I forgot to take any pictres! This year we went to Janet's (Brett's mom) for a BBQ with bunch of their friends. It was SO good! There were all kinds of chicken tha everyone brought, hot-dogs, ect.

I was going to make this ice cream cake with angel food & layer of blueberry & strawberry ice cream . . . got a special pan for the angel food cake too . . . the directions said NOT to grease the pan, so I didn't. BIG mistake. The whole cake stuck to the inside of the "special" pan . . . so since my cake was pretty much messed up at that point, I had to make another plan. I was freaking out and Brett was trying to tell me it was okay, and I was like, "How is it okay the cake is demolished!". I have to hand it to Brett, 'cause everytime something doesn't go right I tend to get way anxious and prob. a little mean. So I racked my brain trying to figure out how o fix the mess. If ever one of my moms cakes would go wrong she'd turn it into a trifle. A trifle is layered cake, pudding, berries, ect in a clear punch-bowl looking thing. So that's what I did, only with the ice cream . . . also had fresh berries. But, mind you I had to call my mom (she lives in Florida) to ask what order she thought I should layer everything, I call her for just about everything, usually cooking related, the conversation goes, "Hi Mom, how are you? Hey, how do I . . ." When we were first married I was a freak about cooking & raw meat & making sure things were abslutely done, so she got a lot more phone calls back then. Brett laughs at me all the time and said it's a good thing she always gies such good advise! And it is! It turned out WAY yumy & everyone said it was beautiful too.

After the BBQ everyone headed up Leigh Hill to watch the kids set off their fireworks. Now, when we went to Brett's Moms we brought our little puppy, Jewels. Janet always calls her, "my grandaughter" & loves to see her. So Jewels was busy making friends with just about everyone, especially the kids. She was the center of attention. So when it came time for fireworks I didn't want her to be left alone & scared. So I brought her with us . . . NOT such a great idea. The minute the first one went off, she was still on her leash & she cried & cried & started running. So I decided to hold her, while Brett and I watched. Not so grand either, she kept clawing & climbing her way up me & scratching the heck out of my neck. The solution? I zipped her inside my jacket, where she stayed pretty-okay, with her nose nestled in my sleeve. I looked pretty funny too, like some sort of deformed preg lady, but hey it worked! Also, this adorable little boy who had played withehr earlier wandered over to "comfort" her. He was only about 3 or 4, and very friendly! He kept petting her, kissing her, rubbing her neck & covering her eyes, "So she won't get scared." I said, "You are doing such a great job, making her feel better." and he said,"Yeah, because she loves me." By the end of the night he was bascially sharing a chair with me, holding Jewels. One of his last questions was, "When is her birthday?" I told him February 9. And he said,"Can I come to her birthday?" lol what a cutie! If ever we had a birthday party for Jewels, he'd be top on my list :)