Fourth of July

It's only been a week so I feel ok blogging about the Fourth of July. I love the fourth of July. I love going to parades, having BBQ's, being with friends and family, and I especially love fireworks. I also love the meaning of the Fourth of July and always feel so grateful that I get to live in this amazing country. I got Friday off which was nice. I love paid holidays!!!! I slept in, cleaned the apartment a bit, and then went swimming!! We have a pool by our apartment that our friends Mike and Lisa bought passes to, so we got to use two of their punches and get in a little cheaper than you normally would. I love to swim, so it was great. After we went swimming we went home and got ready to go to the Freedom Festival on Center Street. They pretty much close down Center Street and set up a whole bunch of booths and stuff. We got to see some cool cars and look at other neat things. Then we got to eat some delicious food and then have a funnel cake to finish the night off. The next day, the 4th, we got up and went to the parade. We sat along University Ave. to watch the parade. It was a pretty good spot. It rained a little bit, but we were under a tree so it didn't really get us. The parade was pretty good. After that we went home and just relaxed for a little while until we had a BBQ in the park. We bought giant steaks from Costco that Eric marinated. They were so good. I made crab salad and our friends brough fruit salad and this yummy dessert. Our friend Mike had two of his brothers come along too. It was a good time with great food. After that we went over to Ryan and Amber's house to visit with them for a little while. Some of Ryan's family was in town too so we got to see them. Eric and I weren't sure what we were going to do for Fireworks. Amber said the traffic in Provo gets really bad because of the stadium of Fire. It's a big 4th of July concert celebration. This year the Jonas Brothers were there. We definitely didn't go! Anyways, so we all decided to go together to Cabela's to watch the fireworks at Thanksgiving Point. We were up on a hill so we actually got to see a few firework shows. After we saw the fireworks, we stayed around in the parking lot and set off some fireworks of our own. It was fun. We should have bought some more. Good thing fireworks are legal again on July 24th. Eric and I are defintely going to buy more than we did this time. Anyways, it was a great 4th of July. Thanks to all of our friends for such a fun week-end!
Our Friend Lisa with baby Carter at the pool:


At the Parade:


Our giant steaks:


Playing with Sparklers while waiting for the fireworks:


Aren't we cute:


Fireworks:


The cute bag that Eric's mom sent to me. She's great!


One of the fireworks we set off:

Family Week of Fun

So a lot has gone on since I last blogged. The main thing is that my family was here for almost a week. We did a lot and had a lot of fun. If I went into detail on everything this would be the longest blog in history, so I will just briefly go over each day.

Monday: My family got here. We went to Five Guys so my dad and Jason could try it. Jason still likes In-n-Out better, which is fine. After we ate we went to North Park and met up with my Grandma and Grandpa Morley, Uncle Ken, Uncle Mike and Aunt Wendy, and their kids. We played football, threw a frisbee and talked until it got dark. Then we went to the Malt Shop for dessert.

Tuesday: I had to work but my family came to visit me. I had an ice-social for work which worked out perfectly because my mom is one of our students so my whole family could come. After that the boys all went to see X-men and the girls went to get some food for the rest of the week in Park City.

Wednesday: Got up and left to go to Park City. Checked into our place, ate dinner and then went to Deer Creek for an outdoor piano concert. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones who didn't bring wine to drink while watching the guy play. Then we went swimming for a few hours in the pool at our condo. After that we played games until late.

Thursday: Drove up to the Park City ski resort to check out the alpine slide. Walked up and down main street to check out all of the little shops. They had a lot of intersting things. We ate lunch and then played shuffleboard for awhile. Kristen and Matt and Tyler drove down from Idaho Falls and met up with us. My brother Chris couldn't come because he just got a new job. I was so excited to see those little guys. They are adorable. We all went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got a little snack, then we went back to our condo to swim for a few hours. Came back to our place to eat dinner and then went on a walk around this nice hotel at The Canyons. The kids went to bed and then the rest of us stayed up late playing Golf. It's a great game.

Friday: Drove up to the Park City ski resort to actually go on the alpine slide. We bought tickets for all of us to go twice, but some of us got stuck behind this REALLY slow guys, which defeats the whole purpose of the slide, so we got to go a third time. I hadn't done it in a long time and my nephews had never done it (I think.) The third time I went I had Tyler with me. He said that he didn't want to go fast, so I didn't go as fast as I normally would, but I still went kinda fast. He was so cute the whole time. He kept yelling, "WOO-HOO!" He later told everyone that the best driver of the day was me, because we had the best cart. After we were done we went to the Olympic Ski Park. We got to see some ski jumping (they are practicing by jumping into a pool. There is no snow right now.) Then we ate dinner and went to go swimming again but it started raining right after we got there. Good timing! Then we played games late into the night again!

Saturday: Packed up to leave. Went to this barn my mom wanted to go to. Went shopping at the outlets. Ate at McDonalds. Drove back to Provo. Went to the park while Jason and Eric went and shot his gun. Walked to Gandolphos. Saw pictures of Jason's mission.

Sunday: Everyone left and it was terribly quiet in our apartment. It was a nice quiet, but it's always sad when family leaves. Who knows when I will get to see my brother's family again. She is having a baby girl in August so probably sometime after the baby comes. It was a great week overall. I wish my family all lived closer so that we could do this more often.

Now some pictures. I tried to make it short, but I failed! Enjoy!