Happy 4th of July

always loved the Fourth of July. It's I don't know, there's something so American about it, so Americana, so like days of yester year gone by, and it's always sunny and warm, and there's the fireworks, and oh the excuse to wear red, white and blue. I mean, you save your outfit, you know that one Fourth of July outfit you have that you're like, oh, I'm definitely gonna save this and wear for the fourth of July. I've done that.

I do that, Red white and blue. Gotta do it. Today, I'm gonna share some of my favorite summer memories, and we're going to talk about how holiday tradition shift as our kids get older, and of course I will share how I am choosing myself this holiday weekend. So grab your iced tea. Actually grab your sun tea. Did you ever make sun tea? You know when you put the tea bags in the water and you set it out in the sun for a few hours. Oh, it's the best. So grab your sun tea, get comfy, and let's just

light up this episode like firecrackers. Okay, first, I'm going to tell you what I love most about Fourth of July. Ever since I was a little girl growing up in the Midwest, it's always been just a huge gathering of family.

And when we lived in the Midwest, we had so many relatives, so many cousins, so many aunts and uncles, and we had the farm where everybody would come and everybody would bring food and would be a giant like picnic table put together with the red, white checkered tablecloths, and it was just the best time because it was summery and you just felt free. Some of my favorite memories of fireworks in general, because I don't know, I forget a lot of things, but I can remember a

lot of fireworks shows. I think, you know, the bang and the sparkle of it all really has an impact in my brain. But there was one year when I was in Illinois and my sister and I were driving and the fireworks started going off, so we literally pulled the car over, went out into the middle of a field of grassy stuff, like hey, put down a blanket and laid and faced up under the fireworks. The biggest

fireworks I've ever seen, and it was so magical. It felt like you were, I don't know, in another world and it was so glorious. Another time I remember a really cool Fourth of July was we just were in Pennsylvania.

I was doing QBC, so it wasn't that long ago, and we came across this like county fair thing and we just spontaneously went and we had the best time, petting the cows and seeing all the award winning fruits and vegetables, and there was this great fireworks show and we sat like on a little hill and it was front row fireworks. Just small towns, so good, so good.

I think I loved the food the most. When I was a little girl, I you know, I would eat burgers and my dad would grill, and there were hot dogs, of course. And the thing about pot looks that I love is everybody brings their best, you know, they bring that one dish that they're going to make and everybody loves it, so it's always full of asserole dishes upon casserole dishes of your favorite things. I think one of the things for me is obviously potato salad. That is

a winner. My mom always made the best potato salad. And the other thing I loved so much was the Fourth of July cake. Have you guys ever made like a pudding cake right in a rectangular pan and then you poke the holes in it with a wooden spoon, and then you put the pudding on so it like seeps into the cake so it's super moist and yummy, and then whipped cream icing, and then you decorate the top of it with red and white and blue sparkly things and it looks like the flag and it's such

a memory of mine. I feel like I've got to make that this weekend. I gotta do it. But now as a vegan, it's a little more challenging, but not really because there's garden burgers. I know that probably doesn't sound that good to you, but if you're a vegan and you miss hamburgers, a garden burger kind of tastes like a hamburger, at least in your mind. You really try to make it taste like a hamburger. And the other thing is the hot dogs they make fake what

are they called, well, fake hot dogs. I can't really think of anything else, but they are just like hot dogs now, so I don't even know what's in there. I don't want to know, but it looks like a hot dog and it tastes like a hot dog, so it must be a hot dog. You can really make anything vegan if you just use the right substitutes. So we make potato salad every year. We use vegan sour caream, we use vegan mayonnaise, and it's just as delicious and yummy.

So maybe try it, like give cutting out dairy a try this Fourth of July weekend and see if you feel better. I think you might. As the girls get older and we are celebrating as a family, still it's always the best. Just getting everybody under the same roof is such a monumental feat. I feel like, so when

that happens, I'm so so happy. But what's been happening lately as the girls have gotten older, we will spend the day together in barbecue or whatever and hang out outside, and then the girls usually peel off and go to their own parties or whatever their plans are, and I just lay at home and worry about them. No, Dave and I have found the perfect place in our house to watch fireworks from our bed. It is so crazy,

you guys. I figured this out because I went to bed early before fireworks one year, and I was laying in bed, and all of a sudden, I just started to see this amazing fireworks show out our window, like a little bit in the distance, but you could see it perfectly from our beds. So that is Dave and My favorite place to watch fireworks from our bed. I sort of wish I could go back to the way it was when I was kid and do Fourth of

July like we used to do it. I know, we would go to the lake and we would just camp out and dog our boat like tie it to a tree and just hang out in lawn chairs, and you know, eat fresh tomatoes, fresh corn on the cob. Oh. I can taste it now, the tastes of summer. Very excited about that. But it just seems so simple and so American and so free. I want to go back to that because things are different now, you know. For a

lot of people, especially this year, everything is different. But actually America is turning two hundred and fifty years old next year. So this year we're two hundred and forty nine years old. Noxture, You're going to be two hundred and fifty years old as a nation. And it makes me feel like going back and looking at how it all started, you know, and the history of America and the Fourth of July and how it turned into what

it turned into. It's really interesting. I love history. So anytime you can kind of look at the past or make sense of the present, I'm into it. And one thing I know about the Fourth of July this year and every year moving forward, is that I am going to take a moment to choose myself. I am going to take a nice bath, I'm going to lotion up my body. I'm going to do some stretching, and then I'm going to get in bed and I'm want to watch the fireworks from my bed with my husband. Happy

Fourth of July everybody. I hope whatever you're doing, however you celebrate it is the best of the best. I love you, and stay safe.