Family on the Fourth

We were so happy to have Paul's sister Julie and her daughter Alexa come to visit for the 4th of July, and we ordered a lovely weekend just for them. After our fun run festivities Saturday morning, we headed to Fashion Island. Lunch at Cheesecake Factory and a little shopping, topped off with good times at the Koi pond--perfect.







Then we headed home and met up with Julie's other daughter, Brittney who came up from San Diego. Brittney, we've missed you! You need to come visit more often.



Every year on the 4th I make a flag cake, but this year I tried a Barefoot Contessa recipe. And Oh. My. Goodness. Just look at this beauty!



It was so good, and so enormous! It deserves two pictures, just so you can get the scale of this thing. I'll definitely make this one again next year, but maybe I'll half the recipe so we don't end up eating it every day for 5 days!



The night of the 4th we headed to Founders Park for the annual fireworks show. The show is always spectacular, but since it's the 10 year anniversary of Ladera Ranch, this year's show was beyond amazing. I've never seen such fancy fireworks! And it went on forever, like 28 minutes. The music, the lights, our family togetherness, and the thousands of people gathered in honor of our great country, all made for a fantastic 4th of July. God Bless America!