Dinner party

The weather held for our backyard dinner with friends. It didn't photograph super well, but I sometimes think this is more a symptom of how relaxed an evening is; that photographing the event is secondary  to actually enjoying it. We had a casual dinner with everyone bringing a course, which allowed more time for the men to experiment with cocktails:

Heidi brought dessert and came dressed for the part of adorable baker in her apron:

Reid bee-lined for the cheese platter, Darrah went in for some portion management because we've learned from previous dinner parties that that kid can put away the cheese:

Enjoying cheese, crackers and fruit while the dinner is on the grill. Oh, and the kids are eating chicken nuggets, because we like to keep it klassy at the Culver house. We also like to keep it whine-free as much as possible and feeding the children before the adults makes for a more pleasant evening for everyone. And our new formula of starting up a Netflix video just as the grown ups sit down down for dinner is working well this summer.

Reid and Edie enjoying a quiet moment of "reading fairy books" together:

For our entree, I ordered a giant piece of salmon in advance and Jeff grilled it up. This is about one third of the salmon:

Darrah and Matt brought caprese salad with ingredients from their garden and we warmed up 2 big loaves of rosemary bread. We also made an Soy-based sauce for the salmon that is weird, but always a big hit (if you're wondering what's all over my salmon). I forgot to take a picture until I was midway through:

And the glorious lemon cake that Heidi made:

Reid and Edie enjoying the cake: