Fun on the Fourth

This year I got to spend the fourth of July with some of my best friends! I am so fortunate that I have such great friends so close to me since my family is so far away. I feel like I have my own miniature family here in Indianapolis and it is great to spend time with them!
We were all invited over to my roommate's boyfriend's house for a barbecue and then we made plans to go to downtown Indy for the fireworks. I was a little worried because it was pretty overcast and cloudy looking for most of the day. But thankfully the sky cleared up and the temperature rose in time for the fun!
Debra and I went to Jess and Nate's house to hang out for the day before we went over to Keith's for dinner and fireworks.

This is Jess and Nate's sweet new puppy, Roxy. She is just a tiny baby so she sleeps all the time. She's chubby and cute and we love hanging out with her!

This is a picture of Jess and Nate's dog, Sydney. I love playing with him when I go to their house! I wish so badly that I could have a dog, but until that day comes I just have to hang out with my "nephew," Syd.

We all had to bring food to Keith's house to go with kabobs. I freaked out at the last minute because of my non-existent cooking abilities and just decided to buy fruit. I still have faith that someday I will conquer my culinary fears and learn how to cook. It's a slow process with me though so I just decided store-bought, pre-cut fruit was the way to go. It ended up being ok because there was tons of delicious food brought by all of the other kitchen savvy party-goers.

Hanging out in Keith's backyard with Roxy.


Jess and Nate...

We spent a couple hours grilling out and watching as the guys lit off fireworks. I was a little nervous that they were going to explode my car with their insane pyrotechnic show but it ended up being ok. We left when things started to get a little crazy, avoiding a possible disaster.
Jess, Nate, Debra, and Deb's brother Tim and I all went downtown to meet Nate's parents and their friends to watch the fireworks. We weaved our way through the crazy city traffic and ended up finding parking in a public garage, (which was quite the accomplishment since most of the streets were blocked off by police officers and the parking meters were turned off.)
We walked through the downtown area which was jam-packed with patriotic hoosiers wearing crazy America-themed outfits and we ended up having a really good spot to watch the fireworks at the Indiana War Memorial.
And now I would like to take a moment to give a little shout out to Walnut Ridge Baptist Academy. All those years in the choir paid off for me as I joined with the Air Force band in singing every verse of the Armed Forces medley word for word (along with many, MANY other songs of American pride). Lets just say, my friends were a little shocked at my patriotism, and to think, I owe it all to Miss B and her Patriotic Program.

"You're a grand ol' flag, you're a high flying flag and forever in peace may you wave! You're the emblem of the land I love, the home of the free and the brave!..." (You get the idea.)

Jess and I as we waited for the fireworks to start.

Debra and I enjoying the show!

Jess, (Roxy), Nate and I before we left. Jess and Nate are such great friends and such an amazing couple! I absolutely love them!

It really did turn out to be a great night. What more could you ask for on the 4th of July? And I felt a sense of personal accomplishment as I arrived in the parking lot of my apartment that night because I successfully navigated my way through the downtown area (complete with lane closures and one way streets), out of the city traffic and home to my humble apartment in Carmel. I used to get stressed out driving in downtown Waterloo on the fourth, but now I am on my own and I'm stepping up to the plate. Ahh...the American dream.