Red Rocks, Blue Skies, White Legs?...4th in St George

For the Fourth of July Maggie and I made a trip to St George to see my mom, our dog, and some of our friends. We arrived around 10:00pm Thursday night. We were excited to see that both my mother and Sparky were still awake and playing in the backyard. I was also excited to learn that my mother had bought a hammock for herself for Father's Day. So after sitting around and talking Maggie and Mom went inside to go to bed I stayed out to lie in the hammock next to my dog and look at the stars. I find that being able to come home at night and just look up at the stars is one of the the things that I miss most about living in Salt Lake. So when the chance arose to do so in Dixie I took it.

The morning of the fourth Maggie, Sparky and I set off on a nice little 5 to 6 mile run. It felt really good to get up and get moving, but we were all pretty worn out. It is route I used to run a lot in school with Ben Penick, and it seems to have gotten longer somehow. Afterward we had breakfast where I announced "I have nothing red, white or blue to where." My mother deciding to show her patriotism took us to Kohl's to adorn in star spangled colors. I golf shirt with a large "Old Glory" style flag on it that I had to promise Maggie I would only where on Independence day, President's Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and other day where patriotism should be shown on a shirt. I also ended up with several pairs of new shorts, and a couple of new shirts. Maggie came home with a new skirt and cute shirts. After Kohl's we went home to swim and chill until our BBQ guests started showing up. That evening we had a lot of friends show up. We talked with everyone. I talked at length with Ben Lang about his time on the Highway Patrol and got some good advice for POST. Once it was time to go and watch the fireworks we loaded up with our friends Brian and Dani and went Vernon Worthen Park to watch the fireworks. The cool part about this was that Brian's dad works for dispatch with the St George Police Department so we had a spot saved for near the mobile command center, and we were able to sit and relax in the air conditioned command center till traffic died down and we could make a speedy retreat.

The Dial's watching fireworks

Saturday Maggie and I were supposed to go shooting with our friends Brian, Brady and Normandy. Brady ended up having to show a client some houses and could not go until later, so Maggie, Brian and I just went. I need some practice. I am pretty spot on with a 22.cal, but the 9mm is going to take some getting used to. Afterward My Mother, Maggie, and I went to Hurst's and got a painting of the St George Temple (again paper for Anniversary) my mother bought us framed. Afterwards I was craving Tom's Deli...it was closed as it usually is when you are craving it. So we went to TJ Max where Maggie despite my mother telling her "you are not getting a new wardrobe again" got a new wardrobe of skirts mostly. I got nothing, but there was nothing I really wanted there. We then went to Target where Maggie got shirts and something else. I got a swimming suite that was too small, and Coke. Saturday night we BBQ ed salmon on cedar planks and swam.

We also went to Costco where my mother stocked our freezer with Lean Cuisines. We also ended with a lot of other stuff I can't even remember. One of the original reasons we went to Costco was to purchase me a new pair of Ray-Bans. I earned these by staying in the pool 15 minutes longer than I wanted to. Costco did not have any Ray-Bans however. We went to Sunglasses Hut where my mother found four pairs of "Wayfarer" Ray-Bans she wanted. I got a 2 pairs of Ray-Ban aviators, one pair of "wayfarer" Ray-Bans, and one pair of Arnett running sunglasses. Maggie ended up with four pairs as well(their was a great deal for each $100 you spent yougot a free pair), one Ray-Ban, one Arnett, one Dolce & Gabana, and one Anne Klein shades. It was over a $1000 in sunglasses...we had to promise to earn them. We then went to Eddie Bauer where I expanded my wardrobe yet again I added about a dozen polo shirts, and several shorts. Maggie got pj's and shirt. All in all we made out like bandits.

Sunday we swam, ate rib eye steaks for dinner, played with our dog and napped.

Monday morning we got up took Sparky for a walk to see my mom at her office. Sparky was totally surprised to see her someplace other than the back yard. It was a great reaction on his expressive springer face. We ate lunch loaded the car and said our good byes. We had to drive fast to make back to SLC in time fro POST. I got to the academy with just minutes to spare. I did PT came home and fell fast asleep.