July Fourth 2013

Ben flew in Tuesday night, which was the most hectic day of them all.  After I picked the kids up from soccer, I noticed that my car said something about low air in my tires.  I called Ben and he said he would check them when he flew in.  I had a lot of laundry to do so the kids would have enough soccer clothes for the next two days of soccer, so I decided to get that done, before I took them to Boondocks. When we finally got out to the car, I had a flat tire.  Luckily I called my service rep from Infiniti and he gave me the number for the Infiniti Roadside, and they sent a guy out to put on my spare.  Then my service guy, Matt, called around to find out who was by Boondocks that could replace my tire, if it needed it.  So I raced to Boondocks, and paid for the kids, and than ran over to Discount tire.  Luckily it just had to be patched.  I was out of there in an hour, and then I picked up the kids just in time to head over to the airport to get Ben.  After we picked up Ben, we headed back, since Boondocks closed at 11:00 and we had day wristbands.  The kids had fun doing more laser tag, and go carts, and then we finished up with a round of Golf.
   The next day was more soccer, and then we spent time at BYU and went and saw the Lone Ranger. The moviwe finished in barely enough time to get over the OWLZ baseball game.  Our hotel was giving out free tickets, so we got a few extra, and we invited Hans and Priscilla.  It was fun catching up with them, and seeing their daughter Bianca, who I had never seen.   Our tickets came with free meal vouchers, so it was a sweet deal!

   The Fourth we had big plans, that DID NOT include the Provo parade. This year Grandma and Grandpa didn't go, so most of the family didn't go either.  We wouldn't have gone anyway.  I'm not a big fan of small town parades...looking at school band, after school cheer teams, followed by cloggers, and police and firetrucks.  Instead, we slept in and watched the famous hot dog eating contest on TV, until we headed to Dave and Marilyns for the 4th of July BBQ.   Within minutes of being there, Boston got stung several times by a wasp, as he was trying to get a basketball out from under a truck.  The old truck had a nest in it, and Boston was their victim.   He was pretty tough about it, and soon he was out swimming, and having fun again.  The kids had fun with their cousins in the pool, playing basketball, and the little ones had fun diving and swimming with Aunts, Uncles, etc.
After a few hours, we left to get ready for the stadium of fire and dinner.   This year the Stadium of Fire included a performance from  Circ-du-soleil, Carly Rae Jeppson, and the main performer was Kelly Clarkson.  All the performances were great.  We really loved Kelly.  She was so friendly on stage, and her voice really is amazing live!
Friday the kids had one more soccer day, and I forgot to set my alarm, so they got there an hour late.  They were over at noon, and after Ben walked out of there with a huge amount of BYU soccer clothes for the kids, we rushed back to the hotel, so Aubrie could get ready for her patriarchal blessing.   Steve and Lorriane took the other kids mini golfing, while we stayed with Aubrie for her blessing.  It was a beautiful blessing, and some of the things in there were things I had recently been telling her.  She mentioned that to me afterward, and I told her the Lord uses many venues to relay personal things to us.
After the blessing we picked up the kids from Trafalga, and headed over to get dinner where Hans is the chef. The food was really good there.  I had some delicious Salmon, and the pies there were very good!   Hans was so nice to pick up the bill.  While there, Ben recognized one of the guys from Kid History having dinner with his wife.  After he was done eating, Ben grabbed him and asked if Boston could get his picture with him.  He was super nice about it.  After dinner, we headed to the mall to try and see Despicable Me 2, but they were already sold out.  We walked the Mall for a bit, and then headed home to  pack up for our early departure the following day, but not before we got one last scoop of BYU ice cream:)   It was great trip!  I love Utah in the Summer!