4th of July weekend

We had a great 4th of July weekend this past weekend. Definitely one for the books. We drove down to Payette on Wednesday after work. We stayed at my parents house that night and most of that day. Ethan's parents and brother Jared were driving up from Salt Lake (where they flew in to). Jared's wife unfortunately had to stay in Utah for a funeral, and we were bummed that she couldn't have been there for the whole weekend (she got in late Friday night).

They got in about 8:00 pm or so and we headed to the grocery store. We picked up some stuff for dinner and food for Friday for our day on the lake. We got home, had our dinner and sat around and talked for a bit.

We started to hear fireworks going on around us so we decided to head outside. We didn't have any fireworks of our own, so we improvised and sat on Jared's rooftop. It had an amazing view of the entire Boise valley and it was just as good as doing our own fireworks, without having to shell out the money for it!

On Friday, we headed out early to pick up the boat and jet ski Ethan's parents had rented and headed to Lake Lowell. It was absolutely gorgeous, and there was hardly any one on the lake. We boated, jet skied, wake boarded, skied, and rode the tube.

The picture above reminds me of one of the first pictures I ever saw of Ethan. He looks just as attractive if not more in that picture from years ago!

Ethan's dad Dwayne tried wakeboarding, but he decided that skiing was more his thing.

I spent a good amount of time lounging on the front of the boat. The water was warmer than I expected, but it was still cool enough to keep me out of the water for the majority of the day. 

Jared was the first of the group to slalom ski. We found that it was a lot easier to start on a slalom from the tower of boat.

These two guys had so much fun together. It was fun to watch them interact. It was like they were 12-year-olds all over again. I don't know how many times on the tube they were tackling each other or giving each other kidney punches. Yet, they continued to ride with each other. 

Ethan, Dwayne and Jared all spent plenty of time riding the jet ski. I'm pretty sure two of the three got themselves flipped off. I suppose that's why they have the wrist strap with a kill switch!

Even though there is no proof, Sarah did get in the water and she skied like a pro. I was hoping to see her barefoot ski, but she said it had been too many years. Dang!

This was my first time riding a jet ski. And while I may not have been as adventurous as the guys, doing 360s at 35 mph, I got used to it and started getting a bit more adventurous.

 Another fall caught on camera!

A kiss was caught too!

 Ethan and his mom Sarah. I love that he loves his mom so much.

We've decided that we could totally be boat people. We just need to find an extra $20,000-$30,000 lying around. 

The rest of the weekend was spent recuperating from all of the friday fun. Shannon got into town that night and we spent time talking, the boys went shooting while we went shopping, dinners, game and a movie on our last night. 

We had such an amazing time and we can't wait to have another Thomas reunion. Thank you Dwayne and Sarah for everything you did for us this weekend, and thanks for hosting everyone Jared and Shannon. Let's do it again soon!