Best Fourth of July Ever - Reason #4

After late afternoon naps on the Fourth, we headed to the home of our friends Curt and Holly.  That means we were together most of the day - the Balloon Fest, the Parade, and now dinner.  Curt and Ben are in the MBA program together and they interned at the same company over the summer, but this was the first time our families had spent any time together.  We enjoyed getting to know them and it was so kind of them to offer to host a BBQ on the Fourth.  Another MBA family came to the BBQ as well - our friends Elena and Giglio, from Italy.  Ben and Giglio were in the same study group their first semester in the program (i.e., they spent hours a day together their first semester) and we've enjoyed getting to know them over the last year.  Giglio was interning in Salt Lake and we wanted to be sure they had a fun American Fourth of July experience, so we invited them to join us for hamburgers and hot dogs on Curt's grill.  I only took a few pictures, but it was a really fun evening.  All of the kids played really well together, the food was delicious, and the company was wonderful.

Eliza enjoyed the cupcakes we brought:

Frosting!

The set-up in the back yard.  Elena and Giglio are on the left, Holly is in the middle, and Curt must have been tending the grill when I took this picture so you can't see him.

Cupcake!

 After a fun and yummy dinner at Curt and Holly's house we decided to try to fit in one last festivity: the fireworks show at BYU's Stadium of Fire.  People set up chairs all over Provo to see this show, since the stadium is pretty high up and there isn't anything really tall enough to obstruct the view.  We decided we'd try for a great view of the show by going to the hill west of the Provo temple, close to the MTC.  We got there about 45 minutes early and weren't sure if we would be able to get a spot, but there was actually plenty of room still.

We had bubbles, which Eliza enjoyed for a few minutes, and then the kids just started running around.

Once the sun set we were sure the show would start any time, but all we saw was little neighborhood fireworks. 

By 10:05 the kids were driving us crazy, running around our blanket and jumping on us, and we were all pretty worn out from a long (fun!) day, AND we still had to get everything ready for Cat to go to Girl Scout camp the next day.  So.... we ended up leaving before the real show started.  We were disappointed, but, oh well.  We tried.

Cat took a minute to use a new birthday present and remind everybody of what was happening the next day:

And just as we got the kids ready for bed, what did we see out of Cat's bedroom window?  The Stadium of Fire fireworks show!

It hadn't even occurred to us that we might be able to see the fireworks from our Summer House, which was a block from the BYU campus.  But after all of the planning and waiting and frustration of trying to see the fireworks... we got to see them.  We caught the very end of the show, so it was only a few minutes, but still.  A tender mercy.

So, just to re-cap - our Fourth of July this year included getting up close and personal with hot air balloons, watching a cool parade, hands-on learning about our nation's history, fun with friends, AND fireworks.  It's gonna be hard to beat that next year...

And I can't think of a better day to spend out celebrating in the community.  We are so thankful to be Americans.  What a wonderful country we have.  Happy (late) Birthday, America!