Well, I was a bit distracted from my blog this weekend. But I kept tabs. Mostly the exciting and interesting things of the weekend have to do with fireworks, friends, family, and the Fourth of July.  (This is Harriet the Hummingbird. As you can see, she's built a nest on top of a Christmas light on Jana's front porch. She has two tiny eggs in her nest. Have you ever seen a hummingbird sit still? Now you have.)


Friday was great for a number of reasons. I got to hang out with Ashley and Teagan for a little while in the early afternoon. The best part was the jelly shoes Ashley bought for Teagan. SO cute! Later that day was a BBQ at Jana's with lots of fun people and great food. We played cards and listened to music and danced and talked and ate and set off fireworks. Wonderful.

Saturday morning I slept in late. Heaven. Then I met up with Jana and Tana and Monica at the Freedom Festival. We walked around and looked at the vendors' stuff. Bought and ate some cotton candy. Laughed at the tattoos. Then we went and got fancy ice. And I bought some fireworks. Marie, Jana, Tana and I saw a 30-minute play that Marie's roommate helped orchestrate with some other theater/film majors at UVU, based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of "What the Moon Saw." The group is going to Scotland to participate in some kind of theater thing (yeah, a theater thing) where they'll perform their children's play. Pretty cool. Then we went and bought stuff to grill and had another BBQ and watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks show from the comfort of the street in front of Jana's house.

Sunday was lovely and lazy. I slept in again. And I went to church. And I was gifted with a locket-watch on a long necklace, beautiful earrings, and lovely scarf by my wonderful Tana friend--she brought them back from Europe for me; how sweet is that?? I went home and finished reading Julia's manuscript (which was a pleasure) and spent the rest of the night watching movies on Netflix.

Monday, I woke up to a phone call from Heather ("are you coming to the parade? can we park in your parking lot? will we get towed?") at 7:30. I showered and dressed and packed a cooler and headed down to await the start of the Freedom Festival Grand Parade! We clapped and saluted and cheered! Then Marie and I muscled our way through the crowds to walk down to the remade pizza store on Center Street. (It's now Two Jacks; they painted over the stripes in the windows... and of course over the sign on the wall... and I cried a little on the inside.) We bought shaved ice from the Fabric Mill ladies and walked back to my apartment. We picked up Jana and Tana and headed to the Rasmussen's for more BBQ and to rest up for the night. Enjoying playing and talking (and not enjoying the fighting between the boys...) we spent the afternoon just chilling. And looking up our Chinese and Astrological signs. (I was born in the year of the Dog; I'm loyal and want to be loved.) We then headed over to Thanksgiving Point for the Lehi City fireworks display. We had a great spot. I felt like we got the best of the "booms" and the lights were right above our heads! And then we set off our own aerials back at the house, and played with sparklers.

I feel like I definitely got in a good amount of fireworks this year. I really enjoyed all of the time I got to spend with my family and friends. I loved eating grilled meat and veggies, enjoying the music, playing games, and everything else. It was a wonderful weekend!

And for today: I got to talk with both of my parents over the phone today. It's so great to hear their voices. Things everyone loves to hear: their own name, the words "I love you," "Hello," and "Goodbye." I got to hear all of these things from two of my favorite voices in the world. Couldn't ask for more.