Fourth of July

Since Danny was going to be gone and I had a three-day weekend for the holiday, I decided to spend some time with my mom (my dad had gone to Utah for the weekend to see family and work in the family history library, but my mom didn't have enough vacation time).  So it was a much needed girl's weekend.  We did all the usual things, played games, watched movies, went shopping, baked cookies, and just talked, etc.  We also got to spend some time with my brother, Michael and his wife Meghan (they had made cookies too, so there was lots to go around).

... my attempts at making patriotic checkerboard cookies ... they turned more pink and teal than red and blue, and the logs weren't really the same size so they had a hard time fitting together, but they still tasted great nonetheless.

Michael and Meghan's cookies - they did a much better dye job getting them to look red and blue, and I really liked the firework burst ones too.

For Independence Day, we got to see a concert in the park in Plano that was really well done and had some really nice arrangements of patriotic and fun songs.  We were planning on going to see a parade like the year before, but last minute as we were getting lost and not really sure where the parade was even going to be (they changed the routes), we decided we'd rather just go shopping.  :)  And then that night, we were planning on going to see some fireworks, like the year before too, but we'd done so much all day and again weren't exactly sure where the best place would be that we decided to just stay in and watch some fireworks on tv... something I hadn't actually done in a while.  We kept flipping back and forth between the shows in Boston, NYC, and DC.  They were really cool, and we didn't even have to fight for a parking space.  In the end, it was a great weekend.  Of course, way too short as far as vacations and getting away from the office is concerned (I had just been switched departments at work and was having a hard time adjusting to the new people and workload and proceedures... or lack thereof), haha, but still really needed and really nice.

fireworks from tv ... so pretty! :)