Back Yard of Not-so-Much Fire -or- Happy 4th of July!

This year's Back Yard of Fire started with so much promise.  The invite this year was inspired by this year's seemingly never-ending political campaigns:

"My dear fellow Americans,

Are you dreading the traffic and the crowds you have to deal with for the city's fireworks display?  Do you like to have 15 side dishes and desserts for your barbecue, but your spouse is only willing to make two?  Do your kids whine all day about wanting to play in the sprinklers, but once you set it up they whine about not having anyone to play with?  Do you like to see grown men giddy with the thought of blowing things up?  

Then Back Yard of Fire is the event for you!

Back Yard of Fire promises you'll get to: enjoy a yummy potluck barbecue, spend time with and/or meet really great people, watch your kids have hours of fun in the sprinkler, and witness the best (very) amateur fireworks show ever!  Back Yard of Fire's opponents can't make these kinds of promises; in fact, Back Yard of Fire's opponents vote for gross food, boring people, kinks in the hose, and a terrible fireworks show.  Back Yard of Fire allows you to have the convenience of a fireworks show without the expense of buying all those fireworks yourself. Other candidates would make you buy all the fireworks, and that's a lot of money that could be spent on other patriotic things.

Vote Back Yard of Fire in 2012 by rsvp'ing to (email address) and sending in a $15 campaign contribution (a.k.a. the fireworks fund) by Monday, July 2nd. 

We hope you can make it!

Maren & Lance Madsen

**We're the Madsen family, and we approve this invitation.**"

I tried to design an invite that looked like the infamous Obama Hope poster, but there was too much info that I needed to put on it, which kinda ruined the whole thing.  So I stuck with a basic fireworks in the back yard design.

A week or two passed.  It was hot.  And dry.  Really dry.  And the county decided to ban consumer fireworks.  The horror!  What is Back Yard of Fire without fireworks?! (Back Yard.  Back Yard of Fire without fire works is just Back Yard.  Lame.)  But, we decided to still have the party anyway because: a) we Madsens like a good party, and b) my freezer and fridge were full of food that someone had to eat.

So the following Q&A email was sent to everyone attending:

"We here at Back Yard of Fire Headquarters have been receiving many questions from the public concerning certain controversies that have crept up in the media lately.  This informative (and hopefully entertaining) email will answer any and all questions you may have.

Question #1
Are we still having Back Yard of Fire even though consumer fireworks have been banned?

Answer #1
Of course!  Our freezer is full of hamburgers and hotdogs, our storage room is flooded with buns, and our fridge is filled to capacity with soda - somebody has to come eat all of this food!  Back Yard of Fire has a contingency plan, though: in lieu fireworks we will pass out glow sticks and have an evening of fireworks-themed interpretive dancing.

Just kidding.

Instead, if the ban is still in effect we will start the barbecue at 6pm (instead of 7pm) so that people will have plenty of time to eat, mingle, and play in the sprinklers and then still make it to the city's fireworks display.  (Because what's the 4th of July without fireworks?!?)

Question #2
Couldn't we still just shoot off a few fireworks and pretend that we didn't know about the ban?

Answer #2
Back Yard of Fire doesn't believe in breaking the law, you hooligan!!!  Plus, Back Yard of Fire doesn't want to pay the $2500 fine.  Back Yard of Fire is cheap.

Question #3
We've been getting some rain - what if the ban is lifted?

Answer #3
That would be awesome, but Back Yard of Fire is not holding its breath.  But, if it does happen, we will send out an email to let you know, push the start of our barbecue back to 7pm, and send a very happy Lance and Paul out to buy a ridiculous amount of fireworks.

Question #4
So... should we still make a contribution for the fireworks?

Answer #4
Nope.  Back Yard of Fire isn't out to make a profit.  Let's just wait and see what happens.  If the fireworks ban is lifted, please bring your contributions that evening or soon after.  If you keep "forgetting" to pay, Spencer and Josh will come to your home with a baseball bat and brass knuckles to collect, and nobody wants that.

Question #5
What if we've already sent in our contribution?

Answer #5
If you have already given us your money for the fireworks, don't worry - we haven't spent it.  Back Yard of Fire is very careful with its funds and will return all contributions in a very timely manner.

In all seriousness, we're still really excited to have you all come to our party - with or without fireworks.  If you have any other questions or concerns (or even suggestions!), please let us know. 

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

-Maren & Lance"

I only include this because I think the writer that Back Yard of Fire hired is fairly clever.

And then the 4th of July dawned.  And it was HOT.  As in, literally, the hottest 4th of July on record.  Lance and I spent the morning getting the back yard ready and it felt like we had just run through a sauna.  So. Very. Hot.  99 degrees, 100000% humidity hot.

But no matter, because the back yard looked great!  Inspired by Pinterest, I made these pennant banners.  True story: everyone in Lafayette must have been making pennant banners at the same time because I could not find double-sided bias tape anywhere.  So I used single-sided bias tape, which worked but kinda shredded a little. Dang.  But still cute, right?

I also used Pinterest-inspired table decor.  (I'm kicking myself for never getting a picture of all the food everyone brought.  It. Was. Awe-inspiring.)

Cute and inexpensive - my favorite decoration combination!

I bought a few too many beans and filled this vase for our front entry, too.

That afternoon Tess got into the 4th of July spirit with a little red, white, and blue romper.  Not that she would let me take a decent picture of her in it.

Tess and Lance taking a little break.  She kept kicking him in the face and enjoying it thoroughly.

Here are the desserts I made for the evening.  First, my hopefully-award-winning s'mores rice crispie treats.  So yummy.  So s'morey.

I also made these watermelon-inspired rice crispie treats.  Aren't they cute?  And not really all that difficult to make.

The recipe called for chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, but I used chocolate chips cut in half instead.  Because who keeps chocolate covered sunflowers around the house?  Heck, I don't even know where to buy something like that...

The party finally started.  And I promptly forgot to take many pictures.  I was too busy gabbing and having a good time!  Maybe some year I should hire a photographer to take pictures of everyone.  Of course, this year everyone looked pretty wilted in the heat, so maybe it's just as well I didn't get too many close-ups.

We had lots of people.  Final head count was 35 adults and 42 kids.

That's a lot of kids.  Nice catch, Spencer!

Here's a good picture!  Kanien, your hair is always so cute!  The Wallins were super smart in bringing the umbrella.

All the kiddos had a grand time playing on the slip-n-slide, in the kid wash, in the sand box and water table, and, of course, swinging on the swings.

Tess made it quite clear that she did NOT want to go to bed that night.  (I tried.  And failed.)  So she spent most of the evening in my arms, stealing sips of my drinks.  I'm hiding behind her because my lips decided to have a fireworks show of their own in the form of a couple of nasty cold sores.  Seriously, lips?  Seriously?  Between those and my frizzed out hair from the humidity and sweat, I was feelin' pretty attractive all evening.  Sheesh.

Cole spent the evening sneaking desserts.  Aren't those cheeseburger cookies so dang cute?!  (Side note: notice the empty porch in the background?  That's where we usually keep the fireworks.  *sob!*)

And tasty.

(Side note: is it white trash to keep our drinks in empty Rubbermaid totes?  Oh well.  They're cheap and on hand.  And, most importantly, they work.)

Close to sunset we headed downtown with the Reams to watch the city's fireworks show.  In an effort to keep the kids entertained I let them take a few pictures.  This one is actually not that bad!  Good job, Spence!  (Isn't Tess so cute?!)

Our good friends the Reams.  Logan, you goofball!  (Gig, I think you look great in this pic!)

I also remembered to bring an old pack of glow sticks.  The kiddos sure loved them!  I think a combination of all the sugar they had eaten and the lateness of the evening contributed to their wildness.  Gigi, how in the world did our kids get so big so fast?!  Man, I love all those kids!

Cole the angel.  (HAHAHAHAHAAA!)

Silly Bergen.

"Take my picture, Mommy!"

Goofy Spencer.  He sure was sad the night before at the prospect of no fireworks in our back yard.  Tears and weeping and wailing and such.  Which is funny, because we NEVER had fireworks in our back yard while I was growing up - we always went to a show.  I think he got over it, though.

The fireworks finally started.  Tess was upset at first, but I stuck a bottle in her mouth and held her tight.  She eyed them very suspiciously for most of the show.  Cole, who was afraid of them last year, enjoyed them thoroughly and even consoled Josh when he got a little nervous.  Tres cute.

Despite the fact that we couldn't have a fireworks show of our own this year, I think Back Yard of Fire 2012 was a complete success!