Reasons to Celebrate

I am so thankful for Independence Day and for the excuse it gave me to hop in the car and head to Logan for a couple of days. I don't get up there as much as I should. For some reason, the two hours in the car, by myself really stretches my limits. This time (and every time) the drive was totally worth it!! First of all- Becca always rewards me for coming up by feeding me yummy food. She had prepared for my arrival by purchasing a box of sweet and salty bars from Sam's Club. For those of you who don't know, those are my favorite thing in the whole world. Tuesday night, for dinner, she made me macaroni salad- another one of my favorite things. I was feeling pretty spoiled! Tuesday night we went to USU's version of Stadium of Fire to watch their fireworks. I have a thing about fireworks- I just love them. The show was pretty impressive and my favorite picture from the whole trip was taken this night- here it is...

This was taken as were were walking back to the car during the finale so we could miss traffic. The fireworks in the picture are my favorite- the ones that hang in the air... I love them! I also love Clay on my back- I just love this picture!! Good capture, Bec!

Wednesday morning started really, really early. I saw a five as the first digit on the clock and that hasn't happened for a while. Anyway, the reason we woke up so early is because Becca and I were running the Blacksmith Fork Canyon Freedom 15K. This race was actually the inspiration for me coming up for the Fourth. As many of you know, Becca was on bed rest in the hospital before Olivia was born for a pretty long time. Long enough for her to lose the majority of the muscle mass in her legs and that kind of thing. SO! Becca had the idea to sign us up for the run and to use it as her motivation to get back into shape. Watching Becca run this race you would have never guessed that she hadn't been training for months and months. She was awesome! She ran the whole time even after the big hill and I only had to be tough on her a couple of times :) Way to go, seester! You are pretty amazing to me.

As if running nine and a little miles wasn't enough exercise for one day we decided that a hike would be a fun Fourth of July activity. Jake decided that finding beavers would be an even more fun Fourth of July activity so, we set out on the Spawn Creek trail in search of some beavers. Despite our best efforts we did not see any beavers but we did see a pretty impressive beaver dam which, I think, has got to be the next best thing. It was a fun adventure! For Fourth of July dinner I got to experience Fire House Pizza for the first time in my life and I was pretty satisfied. It was pretty good! The funniest part about our Fourth of July is that we were all so tired by the time the evening rolled around that we didn't even watch fireworks that night. I heard the kids did some sparklers but I slept through that part of life... on the floor... in the basement... We had put a movie on and you all know what that means- nap time for Mary.

Some picture from our beavering adventure (that would be the technical term for hiking with the intent of finding beavers)

So! From watching fireworks to running to eating too much puppy chow- I had a great Fourth of July! Thank you to the men and women who have sacrificed for the freedom that we enjoy each and every day. And a big thank you to my incredible sister and her wonderful family! I love you guys! Thanks so much for a fun Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July to you all!