Independence Day - What Not To Do

So we got to celebrate Independence Day yesterday...only we did things a little different than normal. Usually we go over to Skyler and Jena's house, but since Skyler is gone this year and we did such a big show last year I thought we could go to Stadium of Fire this year. I had heard good things about it last year and it would, surprisingly, be much cheaper than the fireworks we get so I bought tickets a few weeks ago and we made those plans. Luckily Larry and I got a three day weekend - our jobs let us have Friday off. I wanted to make the most of it and go on a hike one day, but Friday we had a lazy day instead (we both accidentally slept in much later than usual and I felt it was too late of a start on the day so we might as well enjoy it). As for Saturday Larry slept in so I decided to watch our Netflix movie, Unbroken, until he woke up. That movie really moved me, I wouldn't say I loved it, but to see how POWs were treated and what they had to go through really made me happy to be in this country. It made me feel more proud to be American, which was weird, but a good day to feel that way right?

Larry got up a little before noon, and I felt that was still too close a call. I knew we'd have to be back from a hike around 4 to take showers and be ready to leave around 7 for SofF and since it was about an hour just to drive to the hike I wanted to do, Donut Falls, I thought we'd just take a relaxer day again...that lasted a couple hours. Finally around 1 I told Larry we HAD to get out of the house and do something. It didn't feel right to just sit around on the holiday, even if it was just a short bike ride around the neighborhood. He mentioned that it might be fun to ride to the bike park nearby that we had heard about. After seeing it was only 15 minutes away on Google Maps we made those plans. We rode through our neighborhood, across the street, through that neighborhood and found the trails. I didn't realize it wouldn't be paved (I have bad luck with bikes and rocky roads...I always end up with a flat tire, no matter what), but they had an "easy" section marked off that circled the trick part that Larry really wanted to try. I told him I would go for as long as I could and then we could head to the trick part where I could relax and he could do tricks. Seemed like a good plan. Well as we were going up the hill I started to get really winded and tired. We were close to the top, but I just felt I had had enough so I told him I was calling it quits. He decided to ride up to the top of the hill and I stayed behind to take pictures. All of a sudden I got super sick and light headed and had to lie down on the trail. He came back and tried to help me, but I was down for the count. It was one of those "don't move me, don't ask me to speak, don't touch me...I will throw up" moments.

It took about 20 minutes for me to feel somewhat normal again and we decided to head to the trick part. I started to feel queasy again so I set my bike down and took pictures of Larry riding around until I felt better. He ended up on this boardwalk-type area that had three sort of "steps" down to the ground. I saw (and took pictures of) him going down the first two. I was anxious enough, but he handled them like a pro so by the third I didn't worry as much...that's when his handle bars slid forward and he completely biffed it. I thought I saw his face hit first and I was prepared to see a lot of blood, but I guess it was his shoulder that hit broke his fall. Unfortunately his hands were all scratched up, his shoulder had road rash all over it, and his arm, while looking completely normal, felt to be in the most pain. He said he could hardly stretch it out before his forearm started hurting real bad and sending a pain up to his shoulder. I felt so bad and decided we should both call it quits before we ended up in worse shape. While going home I caught that sickness again and had to lie down on some poor person's yard. Luckily I think they were out of town so they didn't notice us, but I still felt bad because I thought for sure I was going to throw up this time.

Again, after a few minutes I felt fine, but knew I had to walk the bike back home (at least I got my steps in from that, right?). I made jokes on the way home that the next time we only have a few hours to do something and I complain it should be outdoors Larry can remind me of this to shut me up haha. Once we got home and decided showers were a must, Larry noticed a huge gash on his right thigh as well...one we didn't catch at first. My poor babe just got beat up out there, I felt so bad. After showers I decided to watch Independence Day while I waited for my hair to dry...something I felt I should've done to begin with.

Larry's wounds clockwise from top left:
His shoulder road rash, his thigh gash,
His right hand, right writs, Left hand

Around 7 we headed down to Provo to the Edwards Stadium to watch the lovely Stadium of Fire show (featuring Journey, how cool is that?). Unfortunately, we had to park about a mile away from the stadium...but once again I was just excited to get my steps in. Plus we got a nice parking spot we felt would be easy to leave from so it should pay off. I didn't realize the show went on for so long though. For some reason I thought it would be an 8-10 PM thing. I don't think Journey got onto stage to play until like 9:30 though. It was an amazing show still. Montel Williams going over POWs now made me flash back to the movie and really got my heart strings going, but that was probably the only "downer" side of the whole thing. The fireworks were really cool. They decided to do a "Rock N Roll" theme so they played songs by Elvis, The Beatles, The Go-Gos, Joan Jett, etc. That was probably my favorite part of the whole thing.

These were the only good pics I got on my phone before
My batter died. I'll have to upload what I got from Larry's phone

In the end I decided I think I'd rather put on our own show next year, but I'm glad we at least got to say we did this one year. I think it would depend on who performs in future years to say if we'd go or not. Last year was Carrie Underwood and I bet that was amazing!

On the plus side we went shopping today and look at how red this watermelon is:

I've had crazy cravings for watermelon lately, I used to hate it, but it's all I want now. This one was amazing too! Hopefully we keep getting lucky with our fruit selection this summer :)