4th of July Party

Our July 4th Barbeque and Fireworks Gathering is the 2nd largest Party we have on the farm  (Barn Tree Trimming being our largest).

This year we had 52 family and friends join us for the chaos festivities.

The cuteness started arriving at 6pm.

This is Noah.  He kept teasing his Aunt Dawn and covering his face when I tried to take his picture... but I won!!  Look at the cute tee his mom made him.

And his baby sister, Eden, was not exempt of the red, white, and blue.

Check out those firecrackers, adorable.

Eden caused quite a stir when she showed on the scene with those booty ruffles, Oh DEAR... I think she was just wishing everyone would quit staring at her ;)

Kenadie was her usually cutey patoot self although she wasn't much interested in posing for a photo opt because she caught sight of her older sister, Carden, whom she adores....

...and the fact that Carden, at that very moment, was on a 4wheeler made Kena neeeeed her big sis even more!!

4 wheelers are always the main attraction.

Where ever a cluster of Mayfields are gathered, you will always find a soccer ball.

Nate brought a new game too.  I have no idea what it is called but it looks like two sets of ladders and you toss roped balls at the ladders trying to wrap a rung.  I never quite figured out the details of the game but it took the kids 1.2 seconds to figure it all out and it was a hit!

I had to set my camera down shortly after everyone arrived because there was a Grill Master, aka Shawn, to assist in feeding this huge crowd.

Menu:

Hot Dogs

Sliders

Beef & Bean Nachos

Grilled Chicken Nachos

and all the sides and desserts were

provided by family and it was so plentiful it more than covered

5 serving tables that I had, AMAZING.

The biggest hits were fresh fruit and dip, pasta salad, potato salads, banana pudding,

and icecream.

Fireworks were done by the dads and children.

The names of different fireworks make me laugh... my favorite this year?  

"The Nagging Housewife"

And what's a family gathering without some drama at the end?

We had thought we were thorough in taking care of the animals knowing that we were doing fireworks.

Barn animals were safely tucked in the barn where they would feel protected.

But we had forgotten about the possible effect the fireworks would have on our puppy, Cooper.

After all our family and friends had left, we could not find Cooper.

When he was frightened in the past he had always gone on the house back porch in the corner.  

But he was not there.  Savannah was terrified.  

Her first dog, a beagle called Bella, and a stray beagle that had adopted us, Shiloh, suddenly came up missing last December.  They were never found.

Shawn and Savannah went out in the truck looking for Cooper, up and down the road, looking around nearby farms.

Shawn later even went out on the 4wheeler so he could go in the woods and ravine.

After hours of looking for Cooper with no sighting, we were all very upset.

Poor Savannah made herself physically sick, I've never witnessed swollen eyes like she had the next morning.

We prayed our hearts out that Cooper would find his way home and that loosing another pet would not be a trial we had to face right now.

The next morning, I was the first one up and outside to see if Cooper was there.  No.  He wasn't on the back porch where he always is.

So I called his name like we did hundreds of times the night before...

and there he was, trotting towards me from the back pasture.

Poor pup, I think he was startled by the reaction he got... is there such a thing as toooooo much lovin'?

I screamed upstairs for Savannah, startled a tad at her swollen eyes, bless her... and got out of the way of the reunion of a gal and her pup.

Next night when the surrounding neighbors lit fireworks since it was the actual 4th, we were sure to let Cooper in the house garage.  Even then it was shocking how very scared he was.

He herds fiesty hens, huge horses, kicking donkeys, and billy goats with huge horns... but the sound of fireworks is just too much for him to handle, now we know!!