annual fourth of july tradition

Well, the portrait session on the downed pine tree isn't the tradition -- but a cookout at the Chizbachers' is what we do each year on the holiday. How cute are Jaime and Brian up there? That tree fell during the storm a few weeks back, and you see the yellow in the top left corner? That's their house! The tree missed them by a few feet (thank god).Our favorite part of the annual 4th of July cookout has got to be Brian's mother's homemade carrot cake?? with cream cheese frosting. You guys? It's the best I've ever had. And we rave about it so much that this year she brought EXTRA and sent us home with a carrot cake care package. SO DANGEROUS (and delicious).Other than that, we went and saw World War Z today and have pretty much been taking it easy. I haven't blogged yet about my illness, but I've had one hell of a chest infection for the past two weeks, and I don't have near the energy for fireworks tonight. We'll probably walk the dogs and then settle in for the evening like we're senior citizens -- which is a-ok by this girl here.