July 2015 – The Nearest Future

Girl on Fire

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Mimi was enthralled with sparklers and had a wonderful time this year on the fourth of July.

We all had a great time shooting off fireworks with friends and neighbors, except for a brief heart-pounding incident. I lit a firework that was supposed to shoot several flaming balls into the air one after another but on the first shot the firework knocked itself on its side and then swung around shooting the balls out sideways. One of them shot into our neighbor’s open garage and started a small fire, melting a model helicopter that was on a workbench! We put out the fire and no one got hurt but I felt badly about it. I’m not sure what happened; I had set the firework on a flat spot. Overall it was a fun and exciting evening.

Round-Up Parade

E has been having some adventures of his own this summer. He got to walk in our town parade!

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One of the quirks about living in Utah is how closely involved the Mormon church (which we’re members of) is in civic matters. For our town’s big summer parade different wards (or congregations) get assigned each year to make parade floats. This year our ward made a Dr. Seuss-themed float. E dressed up as Sam I am from Green Eggs and Ham and walked alongside the float.

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I thought our ward did a great job on our float. It was fun to see what other wards did. Some of the floats were pretty impressive.

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20150626_0025-2_zpsunpplbkf-1 20150626_0028_zpsqeqzsvas-1 I still miss a lot of things about living in WA, where I grew up. But I have to admit, aspects of UT are growing on me 🙂

4th of July: Balloon Festival

A picture of a young girl in a striped tshirt standing in front of a half-inflated rainbow-colored hot air balloon. The city of Provo hosts a big festival every 4th of July and one of the main events is a hot air balloon launch. I’ve always wanted to attend but we are really not early-risers if we can help it (especially N) so it never seemed like the right time. But this year our friends and neighbors were going and graciously offered us the two extra seats in their van so Mimi and I rolled out at bed at 5:10am and tagged along.

It was totally worth it 🙂
20150704_0142_zpscydxca1p-2 There were around 12 hot air balloons spread out on the ground in a field behind Provo High School waiting to be inflated. People sat on blankets and camping chairs hanging out and waiting. Unfortunately it was too windy for the balloons to launch but the crews still inflated them to show them off to the crowd (and then deflated them).
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20150704_0148_zpsyaiblpif-2 — A crew squeezing the air out of a deflating balloon.

It was fascinating to see the crews inflate the balloons. It was crowded and people were able to stand close to the balloons as they went up. The heat coming off the burners was intense; we could feel it on our faces.

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I didn’t mind that much that the balloons couldn’t launch since watching them inflate was so interesting but Mimi was a little bummed as you can see in the above picture. Later that day we were driving on the freeway past some windmills and she indignantly said, “They should have turn off those windmills so the balloons could’ve taken off!” and cracked us up.

20150704_0138_zpsayjncmrb-2 Early morning wake up aside, it was great. I would definitely attend this or another balloon launch again if I have the chance.

If you’re in Utah the city of Sandy is having a balloon festival on August 7th and 8th, including a “balloon glow” in the evening. The website says that some of the pilots will need help so if you come early you may be able to volunteer to help crew a balloon–how cool would that be?