Hello July!

Well it looks like the Uninvited Guests realized they had wore out their welcome.

Thank God!

The past few weeks have been a little hectic. Last week Parker spent the entire week absolutely miserable in pain because of cutting his canine teeth. He wouldn't sleep or eat. He was just impossible to console. Finally around Friday those little boogers started to actually surface from the gum which made him a lot happier and he has been steadily getting back to normal.
I've been having a ton of anxiety issues lately. It seems like my control of them is steadily slipping away, which is a scary thing. I actually found myself crying a lot more, which is also not a good thing. I'm hoping I can get a grip on my anxiety soon, but how to do that, I'm not quite sure. Medicine, new doctor, Therapy...I dunno. I will explore my options and figure something out because that is my only option.
Because of a local burn ban there were no fireworks in our area this year. I was pretty bummed because I would love to see Parker's reaction and of course the girls love fireworks (who doesn't?!). So, we decided to throw a party!
We served: cheeseburgers, hot dogs, Linda's taco salad (which doesn't taste anything like a taco), oven roasted corn on the cob, watermelon, salad and a variety of chips.

We had close to 20 friends, family members and neighbors over for our little get together. We had a full house to say the least. I thought it would of drove me crazy having all those people in my house, but I LOVED IT! I didn't take a single picture, which I sincerely regret but I can't wait to do it again.

Want a recipe?

LINDA'S TACO SALAD

Ingredients:
-2 cans of large black olives, sliced
-Whole head of lettuce, chopped into bite size pieces
-6 green onions, chopped
-2 cans of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
-Whole bag of tortilla chips, crumbled
-Large Bottle of Catalina Dressing

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then add Catalina starting with a half of the bottle, and increase to taste. We usually use about 3/4 of a large bottle.
Serve immediately, or if you aren't serving this right away, wait to add both the chips and the Catalina to avoid the salad getting soggy.

Other things you can add to the recipe are halved grape tomatoes, chunks of avocado, green olives, shredded cheese or anything else that fancies you.

Enjoy!

♥ Kristin