Happy Birthday, America!

I've always loved the Fourth of July. What's not to love with the parades, fireworks, patriotism, summer, barbeques, etc?

So what did I do on this day? Worked!

This was the day after my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day so I was in kind of an interesting state of mind. After work, I came home fast, took care of the neighbor's house, got ready, and prepared to drive to Centerville to sorta relive what happened the summer before my ninth grade year--aka, Addison, Luke (who just got home from his mission!), their friends, Centerville, fireworks, etc. My parents had a little problem with me driving back late at night alone, however. Either I am going to get a flat and the guy who stops to help me will prove to be my rapist, or I'll get hit by a drunk driver--because it's obvious they head home at 11:30 p.m. and not 2-3 a.m. I usually never fight with my parents and just kind of work with what they give me because I usually see their logic. But not this time. And I got seriously bugged when, after my week, they were going to prevent what I had been looking forward to.

Long story short, Add made four trips between Centerville and Sandy so that we could watch fireworks together in Farmington (instead of me coming back at 10 and watching them in Sandy). I felt SO BAD. And he wouldn't let me pay for the gas I totally owe him. :'(

Anyway, when we got to Centerville we went to the Jensen's--my brother-in-law's family--where we ate dinner with them and Luke's and Add's friends. Most of the dinner conversation consisted of cell phone plans and missions, but ya know . . . to be expected.

Afterward, a lot of people met up at a girl Lauren's house to carpool to the Davis fireworks in Farmington. There, we killed time by playing Uno, having shoe-tying contests, finding port-a-potties, and meeting more people. The show was good--better than Eaglewood, they said--during which Jake flirted with Addison more than I did (lol) and later I met Addison's brothers: his youngest brother Thadeus (17), who is actually the same year in school as me, and Corbin (20), who played baseball in Kansas but is home because of a knee injury.

(This is a picture of Addison's family at Thadeus' graduation that I stole off his camera.) I hear a lot about these guys so it was neat to meet them, but I regretted that I was quieter than I wanted to be. It also didn't help that I find Thadeus ... eh-hem ... attractive ... and that he flirted with me. Way to make it hard! (I don't think Addison reads me blog ... I hope Addison doesn't read my blog...)

Anyway, while meeting them I didn't mean to be awkward, but by then my agitation about work the next day, getting home on time, and my migraine were getting to me and I found conversation difficult.

When we got back to Lauren's (where Add's car was) I spent half an hour or so listening to him and Jake speak in Chinese (kinda boring after a while of not being able to join in) and I finally admitted to wanting to go home. My headache was getting so bad it was hard to keep my eyes open. We dropped Jake off who had no problem going home early, having gone to bed at 10:30 since he got home from his mission anyway, and Add and I drove home, talking about education, politics, careers, school, etc. And once we got to my door, as attractive as Add is, he was no match for my bed, and I went straight inside. ;)

I hope all of your Fourths of July went awesome-ly and now I look forward to watching the 24th of July parade in downtown Salt Lake with my mom, sister, and niece(s) when they come for the last part of summer. Yay! See you soon, Rach, Lance, Izzy, and Beth!