4th of July Weekend!

We took off midday on Thursday so we could make it to Omaha on the 4th at a decent hour. We drove up to Bountiful to meet up with Matt and Alissa so we could leave at 2pm, but they weren't ready to go (what a surprise!) for another 3 hours. So, we left Ogden at around 5:00 pm and immediately got stuck in Holiday traffic! What a pain in the butt! We were stationary for about 45 minutes until we finally started really moving. Matt and I had to drive extra fast to make up for all the time lost. The kids in the back were restless, though, so we had long stops to let Beckett get out his wiggles.

We made it to Omaha at around 7:00 am and all of us crashed at Mom's house until 10:30 and we were treated to delicious blueberry pancakes. The Clarke's invited us down to spend the 4th at their lake house, so we took off after breakfast and got down there in time to play volleyball and eat lots and lots of seafood, which Julia just loves (not really!!) After eating it was time for more volleyball and bocce ball. Julia was still recovering from a twisted ankle so she opted out of playing after the first game, but I brought home many wins for our side. I was back to my old pro sand volleyball days with all the bumps, sets, spikes, and other volleyball terms that I used while watching my teammates save my butt time after time.

As night fell, we ate pizza and prepared our hearts, minds, and spirits for the true

purpose of 4th of July. FIREWORKS!! No, but seriously, we all got on the boat and went to a cove in Beaver Lake notorious for its fireworks show. Some guy sets up a pretty insane show using road flares to light the artillery shells. Julia had never seen such an amazing display of fireworks before, as she hails from Utah, where they don't celebrate Independence Day. :P She has been quoted as saying, "Breathtaking. Amazing. Best 4th of July EVER. I am Sleepy." She is full of quotes. :)

So, we had a fun time at the lake and decided, for lack of space, to sleep at the Clarke's house and hang out with Brett and Annie on Saturday. We slept in very late and then got up for lunch. Then, we decided to go check out the land that Brett's dad had just purchased that they are building a lodge on. It is pretty sweet open land and I am sure Brett has the same dreams of an awesome go-kart track out there that I do. I can already taste the dirt in my mouth! Time to burn dust and eat rubber! (Christmas Vacation reference for those out there playing at home)

We also decided on playing a round of miniature golf, which has become somewhat of an obsession with us these past few weeks. We have traveled across all of Happy Valley looking for the best courses to play on, and have so far had mixed results. Boulder Creek in Omaha turned out to be a pretty uneven course. Most holes are uphill and caused the ball to roll back at you on your first, second, and third shots until you got too angry to hit it normal and plunk it into a water hazard.

We came back from playing and watched the end of the NASCAR race and then jumped in the pool for a late night swim. Julia and I then stayed up talking until 5:30 am! We thought we had to get up at 9 for church so we were fretting about being able to get ready for church on time. You see, the real reason we traveled 15 hours through Hell, Wyoming for the weekend was to be in Omaha for Ana and Scott's baby blessing. We had to be there to make sure it was done right so Allison didn't end up cursed like Ty, Tsering, Brooks, and Elam, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Thankfully we got up on time, made sure we forgot to fast, and then headed to church to bless that baby!

Scott's family came to church with Scott and Ana and then we all had a picnic by Mom's apartment. The bugs in the air reminded me of many campouts past and many mosquito bites, so Julia and I grabbed lunch and decided to nap the day away, utilizing our time over the weekend as poorly as ever. We then woke up and I destroyed everyone at Trump. Let it be known that the Reigning Trump Champion of the World resides in Orem, Utah! We then played a very uneven game of Cranium with Matt and Alissa and still won even though the right sides of our brains were tied behind our backs. OK, so we lost, but we would've won if it were the new non-sucky version of Cranium that is out. :P

Well, Monday we woke up at 7:00 am, had to visit my alma mater to get a transcript and then took off heading west, ending our vacation and returning to the real world and dreaming of our next road trip and vacation. It truly was a vacation to remember and I was able to further along the brainwashing of Julia into loving Nebraska just a little bit more. She's almost there, and almost ready to commit, so I have a little more greasing of the wheels left to go, but we'll get there eventually. :)