Independence Day!

We had an awesome 4th of July celebration... kicked off by some HUGE fireworks at Emerald Downs Racetrack - which were able to view from the comfort of my Grandma's deck - score!

On Independence Day proper, we spent a leisurely morning around the homestead... girls played with the neighbors... Thomas finished working on his sermon for his guest appearance tonight... and then headed to the Allan's for a barbecue with all of our favorite people!

The girls ran wild and only popped up when it was time for food or drink... love those kind of low-maintenance parties! Tori made her famous *Baked Beans with Cheese* - if you LOVE baked beans, you'll have to try her recipe!

We scooted home to catch the pyromaniacs in our own neighborhood... there were 3 different sets of so-huge-you'd-think-they-could-never-be-legal fireworks competing for best in show. I have to admit that my general attitude with on-street fireworks is "Bah, Boom"... they scare the bezeebers out of me. I stand close by, hose in hand ready to extinguish the inevitable fire in my hydrangeas. We escaped another Fourth unsinged... thank goodness!




The girls loved playing with fire and things that went *POP!* and *SIZZLE*... and I didn't have to turn the hose on them. The fun and games ended when Riley, with her sweatshirt covering her face, decided to take on the water bucket and ended up covered in muddy slightly sulfuric water and damp firework guts. But the neighbors got a nice chuckle out of it... poor girl, she's still little enough to provide entertainment at her own expense. *sigh*

Tori's Famous Baked Beans With Cheese

1 can pork and beans
1 can lima beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
4 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. ketchup
2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1/4 lb cheddar cheese, cubed
Parmesan cheese (grated)

Cook bacon until very crisp; saute onion with bacon. Drain fat from bacon and onion mixture. Crumble bacon into small pieces. Mix all ingredients (except Parmesan). Pour into casserole dish; sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top. Cook for 3 hours at 300.

For smaller family: use above proportions and cook in a smaller baking dish so beans will stay moist.

For party size: double or triple recipe above and use 9x13 baking dish. You may want to make extra sauce (ketchup, brown sugar, and Worchestershire sauce) to add halfway through baking if beans look a little dry.

The cheddar cheese cubes are what make this dish unbelievably good and will always suprise people at first... one guy asked yesterday if there were *peaches* in the beans! LOL!!