The Walkers: July 4th Extravaganza!

Our July 4th was full of fun and visitors. It started off on Thursday night, when Jeremy's Uncle Matt and PawPaw Walker came for a short visit. They had been to California and were driving back to Tennessee.

They were only able to stay for a short while, since they were really ready to be home!

On Friday, Madison came over to play while her mom had something important to do. I thought it would be a perfect time to get started decorating some cupcakes in red, white, and blue!

James is staying with us for a few weeks to do an internship here, so he joined in the cupcake fun!

Madison absolutely loved Ivy and Win and they loved her! She had a blast playing with them in the backyard!

Later on Friday afternoon, David, Cynthia, Deborah and Delancy came to stay with us and visit OKC. They were pretty tired from their trip, so we hung out and made an amazing 4th of July Feast!

We had steak, chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pasta salad. Of course, the cupcakes were for dessert!

Here is the pasta salad recipe that I borrowed from this blog.

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

adapted from Ina Garten

Dressing (makes more than enough; spoon leftovers over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers)

1 7-oz jar sundried tomatoes, drained

4 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

Salad

16 ounces corkscrew pasta

1 jar Kalamata or assorted olives

1 pint rip cherry tomatoes, halved

Several (10 to 15) basil leaves, chopped or julienne

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare dressing by blending sundried tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar until tomatoes are chopped. Blend while drizzling in olive oil; continue blending until mixed together.Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cold water until no longer hot. Pour 2/3 of the dressing over the pasta, add olives, and toss together. Add remaining ingredients, tossing together and adding more dressing until the salad is coated to your liking. Serve on a big platter with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

What a spread!

Deborah and Delancy also wanted in on the cupcake decorating action!

On Saturday, everyone wanted to see the sites of OKC. Our first stop was the Myriad Botanical Gardens.

They had some very beautiful plants and flowers.

We wanted to kiss the frog . . .

He did not turn into a prince.

We also took the ferry boat ride on the downtown river. It was very pretty and only a little bit hot!

On Saturday night, as we were eating our leftovers that we made into steak and chicken fajitas, a horrible storm came in. It was windy and lightning and thundering. It was crazy.

We played games, the electricity went off and finally, the Walker family decided to head home. We had a great visit with them!