Our celebration of Independence

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. It was such a treat when I was told I got two days off of work!! I have been hoarding my vacation hours since I started working full time...first for Christmas time so I could stay in Northern Utah for a friends wedding, then for the honeymoon, and now for a family vacation. Any time off is very nice.

This great event called for a trip to Elk Ridge, Utah, to visit my family. It was such a fun weekend!! On Thursday, we were still livin' in a heat wave. Ugh. We made a trip to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy and had a really great time. We touched sting rays and sharks....it took me a few minutes to work up the courage. During the few hours we were there we saw the sharks, anaconda, and penguins all get fed. Good stuff. There were otters (who like to show off, and sleep), glow in the dark scorpions, an octopus (those things are creepy looking!), and lots of fish, of course.

After the aquarium we had a BBQ at my sisters house and drove to Orem to watch the Stadium of Fire firework show. We saw a few other shows from the houses around the neighborhood. Lots of people and lots of fun =)

On Friday, the main event was a four wheeler ride up Hobble Creek Canyon. The loading of the wheelers and drive to the trail was long and hot, but so worth it. David had TONS of fun driving the four wheeler, singing operatic versions of Home on the Range and She'll be Coming Round the Mountain. He also made his own video game style background music when we started going fast. He's such a goof, and I sure love it. We had a awesome view from the top of the mountain, where we had a picnic and suffered an attack of killer flies. Only about 10 minutes after loading up the rain hit, and it hit hard. That was great to curb the heat, and also because David gets almost giddy when it rains. It was about dinner time when we got back, so we wiped the dust off our faces and legs and got going to Senor Moose. Weird name, huge burritos, and friendly people.

Saturdays events seem to slip my mind and David's. Shopping, mostly? Which David only partially participated in. Good thing I've got a good brother to keep him company. Also, softball practice. I went to help my mom and David thought he could sit at the house and study economics...nope! Wonderful brother to the rescue! So they played video games, yay!

The rest of the weekend was filled with games with the little sister, and odd shows about wedding dresses or bizarre foods. We took left overs and strawberry jam home =) and look forward to a weekend with the family again!