Family cookout..the 4th and lots of fun

What better way to celebrate the 4th of July..Independence Day..than feeling free and running wild in the front yard at a family cookout :) We gathered today on the family farm of my Mom's family and had a huge cookout and tons of fun.
 The kitchen tables were stuffed with good food....sausages/hotdogs/hamburgers/red hotdogs grilled, veggie salad,deviled eggs,mac n cheese, chips, baked beans, cheesy potatoes with bacon,lil smokies, and corn. 

 

Kaya helped me make these tasty desserts. Patriotic jello cake with strawberries and blueberries. Elvis Presley cake on the right. She had a hard time resisting snagging a berry :)   

All of us gathered today and had a blast. The kids ran their legs off, played with the dogs, laughed, shared toys and hit the jello cake hard LOL

I absolutely love family time. There is nothing better than catching up with everyone, the laughs, hearing the kiddos giggle and hug. I realized yesterday coming home how truly blessed I am. I was raised in a close family and in many ways we are still very close. Do I get upset from time to time because noone visits me..yes..but I've also learned that when we need each other we are there for each other and we try hard to all get together in one location as often as we can. 

  I looked at the people sitting around the table and I realized how much of me is made up of those people!! The strong work ethic, the big hearts, the loud laughs, and the ability no matter what life tosses at them to try to always see the up side. I've been so lucky to have been a witness to that all my life and I've always tried hard to maintain those ethics in my own life.

  I see my aunties strong hands from working right along with the men but even stronger arms from always hugging on us kids. How we are not "this person's kid" but we were more communal kids lol as in every one helped with each others kids.....if my aunt got onto me I knew she meant it..and I knew not to push her!!! I see my uncles tanned arms from being in the fields and dirty workboots from their day jobs. My cousins who seems like not that long ago we were all learning to ride bikes and play in the barn....now raising their own kids and grew into good men and women. 

 I also see a group of people that have never had it super easy. Who've worked for everything they've ever had. Who all at some point in there life faced the reality of losing it all..whether it be the farm because the plant shut down and farm payments were getting harder to make...to cousins that have buried their tiny babies, to health problems that would have slowed others down....but they all have survived. They are strong people. I'm very proud of where I came from, who I am. I've never felt embarrassed to be an educated pumpkin bumpkin lol and I've never been ashamed of my family. We may live different lives, raise/have raised our kids differently, view politics and religion from different view points, and we may have at some point bumped heads...but we all honestly truly love each other.