4th of July Rundown

As I have mentioned in the past, more than once, the 4th of July is my favorite holiday and this year's festivities did not disappoint! Ever since moving to Utah four years ago, I have been somewhat let down with the festivities. However, this year's celebration was right up there with my childhood memories. I love that the 4th was on a Sunday this time around because we celebrated all weekend long. I also love that Troy finally had some time off work! He has been a workaholic lately (not by choice). Three days after he got home from New York, he was informed that he has to go back out for two more weeks in August. At least it isn't five weeks again, but geeesh! I will lament more about that later, but back to the 4th of July. The Tanner reunion was sandwiched right in the middle of all the fun. We spent the rest of the weekend making trips back and forth to the cabin, going on boating excursions, visiting with family, and, of course, celebrating the holiday.

Nothing says 4th of July like relaxing on the porch hammock, overlooking the lake, and smelling the smoke coming off the grill as the hamburgers crisp.

These are some of my all-time favorites of Blake.

It is rare that we take a family photo, let alone a decent looking family photo, so you are getting two.

I just want to kiss him to smithereens.

One highlight of the weekend was going to the Stadium of Fire celebration at the BYU stadium. I have never been before, but I hope it becomes a yearly tradition because it was AMAZING! I felt so proud celebrate our country and those who serve. Carrie Underwood was the main performer this year and she put on a spectacular concert. And the fireworks were probably the best I have ever seen.

 

We went with the Tanners sans children. It was actually really nice to have a break and enjoy the evening together without a sick Blake and a sleepy Nash. I rushed home from the Tanner reunion so that our sitter could watch the boys at our house. Then Troy and I battled the traffic around the stadium and enjoyed such a nice dinner and date. We went to part of the BYU soccer game right before Stadium of Fire because our cousin is on the team and his wife sang the National Anthem.

Among other weekend activities were a couple of boating outings. I tried to make the boat a little festive.

It's a little more tricky now that there are two children to hold while we are on the boat, but my mom² is always so nice to hold one of them (even with a sprained wrist).

She also brought a fun new toy for Blake at the cabin. Maybe this member of our family will actually enjoy mowing our yard. Trust me, Troy is counting down the years.

 

One of the greatest parts about the boat is that the wind, sun, rocking motion, and noise make Nash collapse into deep sleep in my arms. I loooooooove it.

I have many wakeboarding and wakesurfing action shots but I'll save those for later because this is getting lengthy and I'm almost to the best part of the weekend!

On the 4th of July, exactly one year after their first date (which ironically was at the Stadium of Fire last year with the parentals), Jacob proposed to our sister Tricia. They started dating last summer, one month before she went off to grad school in New York City. Talk about bad timing! They must have been made for each other because to their surprise, they kept the relationship going long distance for 10 months. After so much time apart, not only do they get to be in each other's presence again, but now they get to spend eternity together! We are so happy to welcome Jacob into the family. He is so wonderful for Tricia and it is so much fun to observe how much joy is overflowing out of these two lovebirds.

We were all anxiously waiting for them to come to the cabin on Sunday evening because we had a good feeling that they were getting engaged. We jumped at every noise we heard and noticed every pair of headlights that went by, wondering if it was them. Sure enough, they finally walked in the door, flowers in hand, exclaiming, "We're Engaged!"

Our boating extravaganza on Monday consisted of Tricia going through her list of contacts and calling them to say, "I'm enGAGED!" It was pretty hilarious that the excitement in her voice didn't wear off with each progressive call.

There is going to be a wedding, in SEVEN weeks. Tricia and Jacob want to squeeze in the wedding before he goes off to dental school at UCLA. Holy camoly there is a lot to do. I get stressed just thinking about it. But I'm sure that it will be a beautiful celebration. Tricia is the first of our siblings to get married and we are pretty excited for someone else to join the marriage club. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited about seeing our boys in little tuxes as well.

Whew, I think that wraps up the 4th of July festivities. It was such a happy happy weekend.