This year marked the first-ever 4th of July that Craig and I spent at home — meaning not at our friend Hunter’s family lake house, as we’ve done for as long as we’ve been together. (And Craig was on a 16-ish year streak.) While it was sad to see our longtime tradition end, it was nice to be in town for the long weekend and still get to spend it with several of our friends. We spent most of the day at our neighborhood pool and then had a cookout with friends at our house.

Craig got up bright and early Friday morning to start a beef brisket on our new ceramic smoker, and while it required a lot of attention, it was well worth it (I think so anyway).

Friends contributed with mac n cheese, baked beans, orzo salad, and cornbread salad. I also made bruschetta with basil from our garden and tomatoes from our neighbors’ garden — so good!

I love that our neighborhood is so festive and loves to get together. Everyone gathered up by the pool for a little fireworks show and lots of giant sparklers. Such fun!

We ended the night with s’mores over the fire pit. One of our friends had NEVER had a s’more before — so un-American, right? 😉

Our 4th was so nice — the most PERFECT weather, pool time, friends, great food, and fireworks. Can’t ask for much more. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!