Fourth of July

When I was younger, the only thing that I looked forward to on the Fourth of July was not having to do anything, being in my swim suit all day, and making toilet paper roll bombs with my Uncle Randy and his friends.

As I get older I have soon found out that I love this Holiday more than any other (except for Thanksgiving, they'll pretty much tied). For the past few years I have gone to Bear Lake, Idaho with some close friends and their family. This year we had a lot of options for July 4th but we decided to just stay in Idaho and have a relaxing weekend in town.

To my surprise it was the greatest! We started the weekend on Friday night with outdoor volleyball, dinner, movie, and finished with a fire outside, all filled with lots and lots of friends. Saturday: After sleeping in for hours, we got a big group of people together and went to Rigby lake. We were there all day it felt like. We were actually only there for six hours, but it was the hottest sun ever to me though so it felt like all day! I even got a little burnt which never happens! I was just glad to have some color and was so happy to be with lots of friends.

We BBQ'd all day and I love that about this weekend. For lunch we had hot dogs. This is Kris. I like to give nicknames and I called him the Weiny King for the day. Probably not the most appropriate but it still makes me laugh a little bit.

We also enjoyed sides like watermelon. I felt like there was an endless supply of that. So delicious.While waiting for our lunch to settle we went and did some Karaoke. I thought that it would just be funny to say I was going to do it and then trick all of my friends into doing it, but no dice. I was the first one. I sang with my friend Leif. A nice little duet called "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem and Rihanna. Maybe you've heard of it. We took a video but it embarrasses me sooo much that I can't post it. Here is Leif and I after our little number just so pleased with our performance. We then got to watch almost everyone in our group sing themselves. Emma and Jenny finished off the group by singing "Summer Lovin" from Grease which was a great way for us to end. Emma had some great dance moves and that is a video that I feel is worth posting when I find it.
We then went back to the water and played for a few more hours. A couple of us even decided to swim across the lake and we did great! Finally we decided to go home. On our way home though we spotted this beauty. Emma started freaking out before I saw it and then finally yelled "AMERICA" which meant that we had to take a picture next to it because it really was just so American.
We then later went to the Duck Pond here in Rexburg but did not stay long because five mins into our duck feeding we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and I couldn't handle it so I ran away and didn't take any pictures except for Emma kissing her Diet Pepsi because she said it was a necessity for this weekend.
That night we just relaxed some more had another small fire and enjoyed some nice weather. Really nothing too exciting. Sunday was the exact same thing.
Finally on Monday we got to celebrate! We started our day out by playing 3 hours worth of Sand Volleyball. I wanted to die about 20 mins into playing because my shoulders were burnt and I have found out that I am the biggest baby when I'm burnt. Oh well. the whole time that we played the Rexburg parade was going on and we got to see that and listen to the great music that it provided. After playing we all went home and washed up for the day. We had a huge BBQ. The only thing we listened to while there? American pride music. Eventually they fixed the flag and it looked ten times better. It's still hanging now actually.
We then all jumped into cars and went down to Idaho Falls. This is where they have the biggest firework show this side of the Mississippi. That could totally be false but that's just what I heard. We spent the time waiting for the show to start by drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing volleyball, catch, eating, and just whatever felt right.
We did some walking around and stopped at some of the crazy street vender's. It really was such a nice afternoon because the weather. We sat right on the water and directly across from the temple and directly on the falls which made for a great view.
So the falls were accidentally cut out but you get the gist.
As the night went on everyone got more and more excited for the show to start.
This was taken right before fireworks. I just like it because Adam and his ghost like complexion make me look the tannest ever! We had to get one in. So so sooo excited for the fireworks to start. Finally the fireworks started and it was so happy. Not really the best but I loved the show so much that I only took this at the very beginning of the show. Just imagine lots and lots of firework that filled up the entire sky. The show went on for 30-45 mins and was absolutely spectacular. It felt like the were exploding right over you and shook your body every time. It was amazing! After the Idaho Falls show we went to a member of our bishoprics home who invited us to come over and watch him blow off some of his illegal fireworks, he's such a good example. Illegal or not they were great! I loved them so much. My favorite part would have to be when Brother Smith "accidentally" tossed them our way and they went off 5 feet away from us. He yelled "oh crap", I hid under a blanket and all the boys who surrounded me ran away without even checking on me. Epic fail on their part. I kept shouting at the boy I was there with that if we were dating we'd be completely broken up. Little dramatic I know but he left me. Finally our night and extremely long day was over, or so we thought. We got back on the road to Rexburg. Traffic was awful and our 30 mins drive ended up being 1 1/2 hours long! My car and a few others took a detour and I was the only one who got home in under two hours because I super ILEGALLY cut through a shoulder and a construction zone. Thanks to the three boys in my car giving me courage to break the law! And, sorry that the cop caught you and not me Emma. Somethings just happen.

All and all it was a great day! I love the Fourth of July and was so glad I could spend it with close friends and everything was so nice!