It’s been a while since I participated in 5 on Friday, and I felt like it was a great day to do a 4th of July roundup with tomorrow being the 4th and all!

ONE

Last week I shared 4 Things to do on the 4th of July along with a casual outfit idea! I’m definitely going to be casual this weekend because we will be cooking out by the pool! What are you wearing?

TWO

My little Rae girl turned 2 months old this week. It is going by too. fast. Someone please make it slow down! I’m trying to soak up every minute with her and make sure I don’t miss a single moment. I’ve had so much fun planning her 4th of July outfits! It has been a lot of fun dressing a little girl!

THREE

Have you checked out my Patriotic S’mores Bar and recipe for a Caramel Macchiato Spread? It is delish! We will be using some of this same decor for a big 4th of July party at my parent’s house tomorrow! I can’t wait!

FOUR

This weekend is so special because we celebrate my aunt’s, 2 cousin’s and mother’s birthdays along with America! We go all out with tons of delicious food, decor and a pool party! I am so excited to see everyone I can’t hardly stand it! The last time I saw my cousin (who is also one of my closest friends) was the day after baby girl was born! I’m so ready to see her again!

FIVE

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th! What are your plans this weekend?

Linking up here!

Watch Fireworks


Grill out or BBQ


Hang out by the pool, beach, river or lake


Wear Red, White, and Blue

We are a very patriotic family. My husband works in politics (womp womp I know) and honestly I never really understood what all goes into making this country run and how stressful it can be. How many people are involved in making these decisions and how much passion these people have for our country. Sure, no one, and I mean no one agrees on politics. Every one has their own opinion because no two people think alike. But that is what makes our country great! Sometimes, politicians can get a bad reputation. When I tell people my husband works in politics, they always have a smart comment to make or simply look down and nod. I get it, because I used to be the same way.

Oh, how my views have changed. Not only do I support my husband in his work, I love meeting others who have such a strong passion for our country and who are willing to step out to try to make a difference and try to make the United States run smoothly and continue to be – united. That isn’t an easy job, especially when you are constantly in the spotlight.

When special holidays roll around where we celebrate our country, we like to go all out. We decorate our house in red, while and blue, my mom always throws a July 4th party, and we of course dress the part. Honestly, I wish we dressed patriotically year round. Not just 2 or 3 weekends out of the year.

I have a great respect for all of the people who protect our country, pass laws that keep us safe and all of the volunteers who help out in any way they can just because they love their country.

How do you celebrate the 4th of July?

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and enjoyed your time off! We celebrated lots of family birthdays, laid by the pool, watched fireworks, ate bar-b-que, and had a lot of fun spending time with family. My favorite thing about the holidays this year is that they are Hampton’s first. I loved dressing him in patriotic outfits and seeing his face watching fireworks for the first time. It is all so precious. I just can’t get enough of him.

 

 

red bikini: target here
navy clutch: charming charlie here
navy wedges: here
essie polish: here
jewelry: charming charlie
navy striped bikini: target here
sunglasses: target here
hat: modcloth here
earrings: charming charlie here
navy sandals: target here
red tote: charming charlie here

I am so excited about our upcoming July 4th weekend! My whole family gets together most every year and hangs out by my parents pool. We cook out and have so much fun with all of our cousins and all of the babies. We laugh, grill, eat, swim, talk and have a great time. I always look forward to spending time with everyone and seeing how much the kids have grown. I’m also excited for the time off of work and being able to relax. It will be wonderful!

I love all of these 4th of July accessories and thought they would be perfect for the holiday! I am bummed that I just ran across that hat because I would have definitely ordered it for myself if it could get here on time. Is it not adorable?

What are your plans for the 4th?

Here are 10 Reasons I Love America and you should, too:

One.
Freedom of Speech. Pretty obvious, no? Not only do I love the fact that as Americans, we can speak freely, but we can do so on national television while making absolute fools of ourselves a.k.a., reality T.V. That brings me to my next point.
Two.
You didn’t hear? Anyone can be on a reality show! Just marry rich, have a bunch of kids, get divorced and, bam! Reality show. Our freedom of speech rights create a lot of entertainment, that’s for sure. Thanks, reality T.V.!

Three
Football. This may be more of a southern thing, but when football season rolls around, it’s okay and even acceptable to avoid certain friends and family members because they pull for the opposing team. In fact, if you’re nice to them and invite them over for your Iron Bowl party, everyone will hate you for it. There will be trash talking involved. Maybe a few thrown chips…either way, things are sure to get interesting. Football is life during the fall season, and year round for some. Wear your team colors proud.

Four.
Holidays. Did you know we have a day dedicated to most all food, drinks, and inanimate objects as well as people? Every day on Instagram I’m finding out from someone that it is national hotdog day, or national white chocolate mocha day. Who knew we had so many holidays?

Five.
Speaking of hotdogs, that’s reason enough to love America, is it not? Add a little ketchup and mustard and your good to go!

Six.
Everyone works out. Everywhere I look someone is jogging, on their way to the gym, swimming, climbing things, jumping off of things and calling it “exercise.” Women (and some males) are pinning workout tips and gear on Pinterest which makes working out so tempting and seem so glamorous. I can wear pretty tanks and leggings and take selfies at the gym? Sign me up! After all, everyone is doing it!

Seven.
Our portion sizes are nearly (or maybe are) double the size of every other country’s. I had to go to a McDonald’s in Paris because the little French cafe gave us hardly any food on our plate. I have been really spoiled being brought up by women who cook – a lot. They prepare food for what looks like 10 when only expecting 5 and worry about not having enough. We rarely have leftovers. Maybe this is why everyone is obsessed with exercising? I can’t imagine why we have an obesity problem.

Eight.
Everyone is so friendly. I can walk to any of my neighbors houses and ask for a cup of sugar, and they’d invite me in, fix me a cup of coffee and send me home with a whole bag of sugar and freshly baked cookies. No really, that has happened to me. People are so willing to help others. A woman passed out in church a few weeks ago and at least 10 people helped her up and took her into the lobby to check on her during the sermon. We go on evening walks and always get stopped at least 4 or 5 times to talk to neighbors who check on the baby, give him gifts, etc. It’s like Mayberry.

Nine.
Instagram. We live to take pictures of our food, coffee, kid’s, outfits, the sky, whatever! Our entire week is worked around what we are going to post for Throwback Thursday or Woman Crush Wednesday. #mcm #tbt #wcw #fbf  I can’t say it any better than this song. Have a listen, and #LOL

Ten. 
Finally, on a more serious note, we are patriotic. We have so many young (and old, I assume) men and women that sign up to protect us. They devote their lives to our protection and freedom so that we can do things like raise our children in peace, participate in #tbt, and watch our favorite reality shows without limits (unless you don’t have tivo). Our children are taught the pledge of allegiance as soon as they can speak and many children know it in multiple languages now days. The American flag is flown every where and Americans are proud of their country. We can disagree on politics, but we come together in tragedies and war. We come together to celebrate holidays like Memorial Day because we are proud of our troops. We love them and the hard work they put in to protecting us and the time they give up with their own families to do so.

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Lay out by a pool, eat a few hotdogs, sing songs about America and relax! I know I will be. 🙂

Why do you love America? What are your plans this holiday weekend? Will you be laying by a pool or going to the beach?

Hey y’all! I feel like I blinked and it was July. Wow. I hope you all have a wonderful fourth of July with family and friends! I will be spending mine by the pool. 🙂

I have a special guest post for you today! Meet Blake who blogs at One Eighty! Be sure to stop by her blog and say hello!

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Hey! I’m Blake, and I blog at One Eighty. I am a 23 year old Texan who likes to have fun, go on adventures, and then share my stories with the world. My friends will tell you I’m loud, quirky, and random. And, well, I don’t disagree with them.

I’m a little sarcastic at times, like in this post where I (by the way, I’m currently single… very, very single) imagine what I’ll be doing with my life in 5 years.

Let the imagining begin:

I will be happily in love and married to some man who is happily, whole-heartedly in love with me.

My husband and I will live in a small house with two bedrooms and one bathroom. And we’ll have parties, and he’ll love to BBQ and I’ll love to make the drinks and appetizers and desserts. Our backyard will be small, but spectacular–with a surround sound system. And my husband and I will spend quality time sitting outside at night having deep conversations and listening to Texas country. And sometimes he’ll surprise me by asking me to dance in the grass. And sometimes I’ll surprise him by blasting techno and hip-hop and dancing like an absolute fool. And he’ll laugh at my enthusiasm and join in.

There will be fresh white roses on my dining room table at all times. There will also be candy dishes around the house and our pantry will be full of bite-sized candies.

After spending the first three years of marriage enjoying each other and traveling, my hubby and I will start having babies. While I’m 28, I’ll announce that I’m pregnant with TRIPLETS!

My husband and I will switch our second bedroom from an office to a nursery. I will spend hours and hours each day flipping through magazines for design inspiration.

I will also spend too many hours reading Get Ready for Baby books. I will read chapters out loud to my husband while he tries to sleep. I will also make my husband watch baby shows on TLC, and I will get scared and intimidated, and he’ll laugh and tell me I’m fine.

Getting ready for the babies, my crazy hubby will have to sell his two-seater sports car. Although he’ll be sad to see his convertible go, he knows it’s all worth it. He’ll buy himself a family car. And as a surprise, I’ll buy him a new car accessory: three car seats!

After reading all those design magazines, I’ll decide it’s time to refresh the entire house. My husband won’t understand the need to repaint each room, including the laundry room, but he’ll chip in. I’ll come home from work with a case of his favorite beer and some paintbrushes. Once the painting is done, I’ll force ask him to go antique and garage sale shopping with me at 5:00 AM one random Saturday morning. He’ll be grumpy, but I’ll point to my belly and assert, “This, darling, is for our babies!!”

On regular days, I’ll come home from work and start laundry and maybe start some sort of dinner. My husband and I will eat and talk and talk and talk and then watch some tv. Or he’ll read a book while I’m watching TLC reality shows. Or I’ll read magazines or blog while he’s watching some car show. I’ll tell him my opinion about the things that happen on these reality shows, and he’ll pretend to care. He’ll tell me about the latest car gadget, and I’ll tell him something like, “oh just go buy it already.”

My husband and I will sometimes lie in bed tracing each other’s tattoos with our fingers. We’ll fantasize about tattoo designs. He’ll tell me about his latest idea, and I’ll be ecstatic and anxious to see it inked. Our families will think we’re crazy, but we’ll be excited to show them our newest additions each time.

My husband and I will spend some Sunday mornings strolling through memorial park with our puppy, Maxwell. We will also shoot hoops and have picnics. Some Saturdays we will wake up and decide to go on random road trips, spending the weekend in San Antonio, Gruene, Galveston, or Austin.

On Wednesday nights, my husband will have poker at our house with his guy friends. “Guys night in” he’ll call it. I’ll go out to eat with my girlfriends or family or stay upstairs in bed watching HGTV and TLC or putting together a scrapbook or working on the triplets’ room. I’ll go downstairs to get ice cream and pickles and my hubby will give me a kiss and grab my waist and politely ask if I can fetch them a few beers out of the fridge… “of course, hun!’ I will say as I waddle to the fridge.
Isn’t my future husband going to be a hottie?