4th of July Traditions

The Family '08

Traditions can be good and they can be bad. Traditions of censorship like those at BYU are bad... I say that mainly just to poke those Y fans out there reading because it's rivalry week!

Side Note: I love this week. GO UTES!

Okay, back on topic. I love certain traditions we have. One in particular that I have a love-hate relationship with is the 4th of July family celebration. We all....ALL...head up to my Dad's cabin and set up a miniature city on the grass. This year, there were 3 motor homes, a couple tents, and a ton of cars/trucks. Once everyone is there, it's a barrage of fishing, four-wheeling, flaming 'mallows and fireworks. We take everyone out fishing, too many people in a little tin boat, and fish until the cows come home. I guess in this case it would be the fish, not cows. It was a slow year though since the powers that be in the DWR aren't the sharpest crayons in the box. That's a different issue. The town of Scofield (yes, there is an official town with a hall, a school, a store, a fire department and everything) hosts the Pleasant Valley Days, including a parade, a knick knack fair, a dance, a breakfast and everything. We participate every year in the parade. Each year lots of work goes into getting all the grandkids into a float somehow. The number of children now....exceedingly great thereof. Hence the love and hate. What a great time, but it's exhausting, and a state of barely controlled chaos!

This year it was grandpa's African animal safari. The kids wore those animal masks...lions and tigers and bears...oh my! Dad walked behind with the safari hat and a crop...I guess the whip would have been too much. It was great fun and the kids collect about 5 bags too much candy.

By the way, Mark has his Miss America wave for the parade down packed!

It's packed by the way. You'd think this would be a small affair with the town having a population of less than 100 officially, but no, you'd be wrong. This place is PACKED. It's actually really pretty in this setting and really laid back. That night, the greatest fireworks display you can find. Not just because they go all out and get the fireworks kits you'd see (like I did) at Taylorsville Dayzz and other events of it's size, but because they launch them from from the island in the middle of the lake. The mountains around the lake with all the cabins make for great stadium seating with nothing to block your view. Eye level with the fireworks and looking across a perfect mirror of a lake. My favorites are the extra loud ones...they echo around the valley. Prior to this show there is a boat "light" parade, which is rather entertaining because I'm pretty sure that everyone out there with christmas lights on their boats are nearly drunk and can barely see their own hand. But it snakes its way disjointedly around the lake and parks next to the island in the hopes of catching a flaming shard of firework.

What a great time. I was merely satisfied to stare at the completed roof that was such a process to install. Probably the best part of this year's festivites was the surpise arrival of my uncle Mark from Minnesota. He drove out with Barb and his granddaughter and pulled up to surprise everyone. I love my uncle Mark. I would call him my favorite, but I think that each one is so uniquely different that each is a favorite for some reason or another. Uncle Mark is favorite in the category of "Most Exactly Like John Candy in Uncle Buck." He taught me every dirty thing I know, threatened my life when I did stupid things and has to be one of the most fun guys to hang with ever. He's always been, and still is, the only person who calls me Rupert and gets away with it cleanly.

More to come. As for now I'm back to applications for Rach and I, research, and waiting for the next call from "God" (Uncle Mark) telling my wife to give me a swift kick in the butt and tell me it's holy intervention.