Family Fun Month - National Night Out! #HormelFamily

August is a busy busy month.

Trying to get it all in while we can, before the back to school rigamorole sets in...

It's also Family Fun Month!

Time gets away from us...and before we know it - the best laid plans haven't materialized.

But one thing that we DO make time for, each and every year - 

Is National Night Out - 

now known as Night to Unite ~

And since we consider our neighborhood friends our family ~ 

It's like spending an evening at a big ol family reunion!

Amazing friends, that we consider family.

Amazing food.

Does it get any better?

Bacon wrapped chicken with jalepenos! YUM!

Pam, Rob & Dave...sampling the above delish bacon treats!

There was no shortage of amazing foods to eat.

Salads, meats, desserts, pasta!

It's a great time to share our favorite recipes or try out new ones......

Mouth watering slow smoked ribs!!

We may have to get in the car and drive for hours to visit with our biological families - 

but just steps outside of our front door has us hanging with our surrogate family!

It doesn't get too much better than this...honestly.

Does your family attend National Night Out?

Do you have a favorite dish that you make & bring to family or friend gatherings?

*** I am a Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger - I am occasionally given coupons to try Hormel products or given the products themselves. The thoughts/opinions/pictures shared in this post are my own. ***

Night to Unite

Formerly known as National Night Out - Everyone comes together and hangs out - meeting one another...

Well, as you know - we do this in our neighborhood pretty frequently, not just once a year...but it's always a good time!

Everyone gathers in the cul de sac and brings a dish to share...


The kids eat mostly cookies!


D puts two together and tries to eat them that way - cuz then it's like he's only got one cookie!


I can hardly believe how big these two are getting...seems like yesterday they were 2 year olds going for a Mustang ride on a Friday night!


Pam brought the shots...






And the kids all sat good and pretended to eat -

We got totally hosed on the 'public service vehicles' this year - every year since we moved in - EIGHT years ago...We've had not only a fire truck but a police car as well - this year - I guess because of budget cuts - we got some city councilman (or something) and a police man who hopped out of a suburban...(or some other regular old family car!)

No squad car, no fire truck...What a bummer -

The kids still thought the cop was cool - but still - not even a squad car? Sheesh!

The policeman WAS nice enough to give us a couple of beach balls - courtesy of hmmmm....?

And they were pretty fun but clearly - two beachballs and a dozen or more kids isn't the greatest of ideas...

We got out our bounce house but since it's little - and there were a zillion kids - that didn't last too long - but it was fun all the same...



I've said it time and time again - our neighbors are the only reason we are still in this house eight years later - five years was the max...but more and more lately I want to convince my hubby that MSP isn't for me, for us...

The kids are getting older...and so am I...is this big busy metro really where we want to be?

I guess for now it is - until our neighbor friends start moving out...then the decision gets easier!