The last time I enjoyed fourth of July in sweet home USA, my family was stranded in a KOA in Moab, Utah, after our car broke down. Two summers ago,  a couple of wonderful Austrians threw us a 7/4 party and I attended a MoTab concert at a beautiful concert hall in Vienna... Last year we hiked to a waterfall and tasted Black Forest cake in a Grimm fairytale-like town smack in the middle of the Black Forest. To be honest, I didn't think this year could measure up.

But somehow, it did.  In a different way, of course.  Provo pleasantly surprised me with its endless array of celebrations, the first of which being the balloon festival.  On the 3rd I was invited by Dallin's family, and we arose practically at the crack of dawn to witness the colorful, monstrous sacks fill up with hot air and swell up from their place on the ground. 

More on the fourth later...

Throughout the remainder of the week, Dallin's sweet stepmom Rachelle texted me continuously, and I tagged along to restaurants and a viewing of his dad's movie The Flyboys in a family friends' theatre room. When I told her we were trying to brainstorm things to do with "my sister's friend's little sister" who was in town, Rachelle invited all three of them (my sister, her friend, and her little sister!) to come get shaved ice! The next day, Rachel and I joined them at the classic Creamery, and then we snuggled up on the couch, with Dallin, his two little sisters, and Rachelle on the pull-out couch to watch Jurassic Park.  Of course, it ultimately led to a huge tickle fight. Those poor neighbors, hahaha.