July 4th, 2014

Let me just start by saying I have a really bad attitude about the 4th of July in Utah county, and I have that bad attitude for two reasons:

1. There are only two options for fireworks or activities, Provo's Freedom Festival/Stadium of Fire or Fireworks at Thanksgiving Point. No where else in the county does a firework show and I really don't want to pay a fortune to watch fireworks, or fight the gigantic crowds, and then be fighting traffic at 11:00 pm when everyone is trying to get back home.

2. Fireworks from the stands are so EXPENSIVE!!! This is really a State issue not just Utah county, and really I blame my sticker shock on how spoiled we were in Kansas. There we were able to get a bunch of fun stuff for really cheap so we didn't need a city fireworks show, but never again am I spending money on fireworks in Utah.

And now that I have got my complaining out, onto the fun we did have......

The girls got to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa Morris' house on Thursday night. Our weekends are packed for the rest of the summer so this was the only chance they had for a sleepover.

They had a blast but stayed up way too late and woke up really early the next morning. Samantha was really tired and had to get up at 5 am the next morning to hike timp, I am pretty sure she learned a very valuable lesson about sleep and going to bed at a decent hour.

Rob, Hunter, and I headed out in the afternoon to pick up the girls and everyone took a spin around the block on the motorcycle before we headed off on our adventure.

See that girl, she is EXHAUSTED!!

We hit the outlets to get Sams some new shoes (she is two sizes smaller than me now) and then grabbed some dinner before heading up to Sundance to ride the lift. We had talked about hiking into Stewart Falls but decided to give Dad and Sams a break since they were hiking Timp the next morning.

It was nice and cool at Sundance and the view was beautiful as always.

We came home and lit off a few fireworks before crawling into bed. Despite my grumpiness about how lame this day is in Utah County I think we made it pretty great.

I have big plans for next year, I think if I start planning now I can make it happen, at least I hope so.