Would You Like To Fly in my.....

This is how we have celebrated the 4th of July for the past couple of years. Ken Beatty taught us how to make a balloon out of tissue paper and he fashioned a pipe on a base. You light acetone at the bottom and hold the balloon over the top of the pipe until it is filled with enough gas and then it takes off. The first launch lasted a long time. It went straight up and hovered. This is probably the last year that we will get Steven to chase them. He will be graduating and Dallin was his co-hort in chase and is gone now also. Times they are a changin'.
We started our celebrations with Brooke and Whit by waking up early and going to Provo to see the hot air balloons and eat breakfast at "Shirley's". Then we headed to the Uintahs to hike Trial Lake loop. That hike lasted a little longer than anticipated. We lost the trail and had to do some trial and error to get back to Wahl lake. We were happy that we didn't get dumped on since rain has been an ever present option in the forecast. Brooke and Whit headed to the Rodeo in Oakley and we went home where the greatest adventure would be titled : Don't Mess with Angry Bees. Kim wanted to check his new hive so he got his bee keeper clothes on and pulled out the frames. They were loaded with honey and as we found out, once the bees have produced a lot of honey they are very protective. I was an innocent bystander trying to be of assistance and I got stung by very angry bees that followed me into the garage. I had at least 5 stingers to pull out from my nose, lip, arms and leg. I found a bee in my blouse and hair. It was interesting that later on I went to the front to work and they came after me again. We stayed inside after that. July 4th found us getting up for breakfast over at the Beattys. We ate with the Beattys that had Steven, Matt, Adam and Stephanie with them, the Voorhees with Erica and Logan ( newly engaged), and us...Kim and Wynette. This was the first time we had no children for the day of the 4th. Weird but true. After a patriotic program that consisted of a quiz and stories of immigrants, discussion of our freedoms and what is on the coins and bills in our country, we cleaned up and met back with our bikes to either do the Bennie Creek trail or hike the Grotto. Adam and Steven stood in the waterfall. Brrrrrr. Ken Beatty was thrown from his bike ( as was Matt, Kim, and Logan's bike blew a tire) and broke his collar bone in two places. That is the second time that Ken has had a bad fall on that trail! The day ended with us walking with the Wally's and then seeing that our neighbors all had good fireworks, we pulled up chairs in our driveway and watched a great show to end a wonderful time. We are grateful to be Americans and for the freedoms we have been blessed with. We are grateful to live in Spanish Fork Utah among many wonderful friends and neighbors and we are grateful that even though our family is far from us, we can talk to them and know they are doing great! God Bless America!