Yeah yeah yeah, I know, it's almost the end of August and I'm FINALLY writing about the Fourth of July. I've been slacking on my blog posts lately. I take all the pictures, but I just don't feel like actually putting them up. Well, I figure I should do so now while I have the time, before I start school and my new job. More on that in another post, though.

For the fourth, Dawson and I were invited to his grandparent's annual Fourth of July party, only this time, it was at their new house! I made dessert and my mom & I made salads. Dawson had fun, swimming and visiting with the other side of his family. He looked dashing in his fourth themed American flag jumper and flip-flops.



I bought a huge tray of strawberries at Costco because I was planning on making a whole bunch of strawberry things for the 4th. I made strawberry cheesecake, which was absolutely delicious, as well as white chocolate covered strawberries.



The biggest strawberry I've ever seen in my life!



Normal strawberry, and the HUGE one!



Cheesecake ingredients.



Mix mix mix.



Pre-baked.



Baked.



Strawberried.



Strawberry-glazed.



Sliced.



What was left after Dawson's grandparent's party and my family dug in.



White chocolate covered strawberry ingredients.



Decorated. Cute, right?



Pasta salad.



Potato salad with crab.



Dawson being cute.

On my 21st birthday, I didn't really do anything extraordinary. Many of my closest friends don't turn 21 until after me, so I pretty much wasn't able to go out, because who goes out alone? So, I ended up going to dinner at Sugar Factory, which was so yummy! And then I just walked the strip, leading to my first legal drink being a pina colada at Mandalay Bay.



My silly face & first legal drink.

Then, that weekend, my family took me out to a birthday lunch at Red Robin.







Mai Tai!



My fave! Spinach & artichoke dip!



Dawson's chicken fingers.



My burger. MMM provolone cheese!



I swear, the lighting makes it look pinker than it actually was..





Dawson loved the crayon.

In (late) celebration of my brother's birthday, we went to Cheeburger Cheeburger for lunch. We've been there about two times before and it's ALWAYS delicious! You basically get to build your own burger and add the toppings you'd like. They also have a lot of shakes, my absolute favorite being the Birthday Cake Shake! Have a peek:





(Birthday Cake Shake!!)










Dawson's kids meal


My burger!


My brother's POUNDER!


Yuuumbo!

Here's Dawson today:



And here's Dawson last year on my birthday at Cheeburger Cheeburger:



Craaazy how much he's grown, right?!

This would be me after we got home and I changed into some comfy clothes



Annnd this would be my first attempt and total failure of cheetah print nails



The light pink color is so pretty, but it was a pain to work with. It took 3 coats until it was finally as opaque as I desired. I don't know if I got a bad polish or if Color Club's formula has changed. But if so, they really need to fix it.

It's my second Mother's Day! We didn't do anything special. I just got me and D all dressed up to take some cute pictures. We were going to have Applebee's for dinner, but my mom offered to make my favorite BBQ chicken instead, and I totally couldn't turn that down!

Look at how much my baby has grown in just one year!

Mother's Day 2010:



Mother's Day 2011:











This one came out SUPER blurry and I tried to fix it.. but I didn't do a very good job, haha. :(



Homemade BBQ:




Now, my face: