Independence Day!

This is our first 4th of July as a married couple, and it was especially fun being on a military base that goes all out to celebrate! We both thought about home often, since we have such fun memories of the 4th of July in our hometown- the parade, carnival, Buckeroo, bbq- this is our first year missing all the festivities, however, we were able to experience all sorts of fun times this year and were really happy to get to be together!

Last weekend they were having a wine tasting on base, Alex and I had never been wine tasting before, and some of our friends were going, so we tagged along! The place was packed full, and we were given voting cards to fill out because the winner was going to be chosen as the Aviation Units celebratory wine next year (when Alex graduates) to celebrate 30 years of Aviation at Fort Rucker that will be given and served at the Ball next year!

The highlight of our evening was getting to visit with General Crutchfield  (2 Star General in charge of Fort Rucker) and his wife, Kim. We chatted for about 15 minutes, about Freedom Fest, he asked me about housing and we swapped stories about cocroaches, and by the end of our conversation, he invited us to Freedom Fest and told us to make sure to find him at the concert so he could let us in the VIP tent! We were surprised at how gracious and down to earth both he and his wife were (we got hugs at the end of the conversation:)

On the 3rd of July is when Freedom Fest began. We parked at one of our friend's homes, who lived just a couple of blocks away from the fields so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic. There was lots of food, and Alex and I tried Aligator for the first time! (tastes like chicken) There was lots of lightning and thunder, and it did rain, so the Lt.Dan band concert was delayed a couple of hours, but we were in good company! The concert and festival was open to the public, so there was about 30-40,000 people there for the concert and firework show. In case you were wondering what his band sounds like, it is a good mix of country, Kelly Clarkson, Journey, etc. The 2 songs that got people out of their chairs and onto their feet were "Proud to be an American" and (you probably guessed it) "Sweet Home Alabama" (which was the first time I heard that song since we've moved here 2 months ago (2 months already!??!)

The band was good, but I think the nicest thing is that the Gary Sinise and Lt.Dan band volunteers to play, he travels the whole world playing for our troops, and at his own expense. The firework show was very beautiful and lasted for quite a while, so that by the end of the show, we were too tired to head to the VIP tent, but some of the group we were with did end up going, and General Crutchfield remembered, and let them in!
On the actual 4th of July, we slept in and just had a relaxing day at home. We had BBQ at our house and had some friends over, it ended up pouring down rain around 5:00pm so we ate inside and retired for the night by watching a movie together. We hope you all had a great Independence Day this year! We miss you and love you!
P.S. We bought a bed for the guest room, so now we're all ready and excited for our guests!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

I have made these cookies twice now, because 1. they are so much better than I thought they would be and 2. I had lots of lemons leftover from making home made strawberry lemonade and needed a recipe to use the lemons up! I found this on pinterest (surprise!) and read that it was an award winner and tested it out, and they were scrumptious!

Lemon crinkle cookies: via pinterest
Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened (or melted)
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.