The Fourth (and Third and Fifth) of July

The Fourth of July has always been an interesting time, as far as holidays are concerned, for me. I have memories of block parties in San Jose with the notorious illegal fireworks from Dave Sidon, the kid's favorite neighbor, but when it comes to traditions or what I like to do, there isn't anything specific. So, though not very Red, White and Blue-y to some, my weekend was celebratory in a fantastic way.

Friday, after a disappointing morning for Philip where Brazil was kicked out of the World Cup, I spent some time playing with mud in the ceramics studio with Philip and getting some library stuff done for English.

Then the parties began with hamburgers at Fudruckers with Taylor before meeting up with Philip and Elizabeth. We tried to watch Toy Story 3, but it was sold out. So instead we got Triple Thick Shakes from McDonalds and went to the nicklecade. I didn't get the impression that Philip and Elizabeth were too excited about NickleCity, but we had a blast! We played Skee ball (which is always one of my favorites), the Simpson game, shot plastic rifles and used our hard-won tickets to buy mini-umbrellas, mustaches and magnets. Overall, pretty solid time.

Then, because we can't get enough of each other, we decided to see Robin Hood in the dollar theater. It was pretty good. The other three really liked it, but I wasn't emotionally drawn in by it much, so it was just okay for me. Definitely worth the two dollars though.

Saturday morning I watched Germany dominate their game 4-0 versus Argentina and move to the semi-finals for the third consecutive time. Germany over all!!

Saturday was also one of Taylor's army buddies, Colten's, birthday so we drove up to Pleasant Grove for a barbeque hosted by his wife, Sam. It was a quiet little shindig. The best part was the two big cherry trees in the back yard loaded with perfectly ripe little fruits. We picked a bunch and teased Sam for buying inferior store ones.

For weird the four of us (Taylor, Colten, Sam and I) drove up to Holladay (right next to Nielsens' Frozen Custards) to a sports bar called A Bar Named Sue to watch the UFC fight. I had a blast. The bar was well lit, and catered to my demographic so the people were there to watch the fight and be social, not just to get plastered. We claimed a little spot in the more private pool room, and after some free games we watched Brock Lesnar (a 275 pound gorilla) fight. I'm not one to be into fighting, but it was fun to pick a side and be there together watching them go at it. UFC isn't boxing, for those who don't know, it's a mix of street fighting and martial arts. There are rules, yes, but think cage match with a ref. Sadly Nielsens was closed by the time we left so we missed that but we did catch a great fireworks show right outside of Grammie's condo.

I love summer! Warm firework-filled nights, sunny Sunday drives and cherry picking again today. Taylor and I decided to pick cherries from the same place as Saturday and make jam and cherry pie. The picking was successful, but we got burnt out after pitting a pound of cherries. Luckily Jeff Morain was in town so we kept us company as we worked, but we gave up. Especially since we picked probably 15 pounds of fruit.

Yes, Jeff Morain. I haven't seen him since before his mission! It is fun to see a friendly San Jose-face and other than being a little more mellow, he's the same kid. It was low key, and I'm glad he wanted to come over and see me for a while before heading back up to BYU-Idaho tonight. By the way, random question: Why did BYU-I stop calling itself Ricks College?

It's another mellow night here in Provo. I just bought a ticket to visit McKenzie in New York the end of this month. I'm very excited. Austin will be in Chicago so it'll be a regular girls' weekend.

I love you all!