I love the 4th of July...always have, always will! The 4th in Provo is the BEST! I love everything about it. The Freedom Run, the parade, the balloon festival and STADIUM OF FIRE!
With my love of Stadium of Fire (S-of-F) in mind, imagine getting to go for FREE! That would be the best, right? Well...
Rewind to July 4, 2009: Todd, Lisa, Geoff and Christopher worked at the Stadium of Fire to help raise money for Geoffrey's yearly concert tour. He's part of the Utah Valley Children's Choir. Their group has a contract with BYU to sell drinks, hot dogs, etc. at different events at Cougar...er...I mean LaVell Edwards Stadium. They called me last year and said that they were done "working" by about 8ish and just get to sit and watch the show/concert/fireworks. I thought, "Wow! Sign me up for that!!"
Fast-forward to this year: They signed me up...and Tyler too! Only thing is, we didn't end up working in the booth selling hot dogs like they did last year. We got assigned to walk the bleachers with huge mugs (that light up...wow!) filled with Sprite and Coke (caffeine-free, of course!), bottled water, ear plugs and 3D glasses (Yes - parents - they are only a dollar and apparently make the fireworks a lot better. As if!) I got nervous at the thought of counting money and giving people correct (or in my case, incorrect!) change, so I told Tyler it would be better if I carried the drinks and he handled the money. Deal.
Well, I got the drinks all loaded in my nifty drink-carrying-case-thing-with-a-strap, seriously...just like you see at sporting events. It was heavy! But that didn't matter, I was just relieved to not have to count money. At 6:30 p.m. Tyler and I headed out as a team to sell drinks and such to the people that actually BOUGHT tickets to S-of-F.
I was laughing so hard that I could barely carry the drinks. (Sheri - you know how I get??!!) Seriously - I just couldn't get a grip...my laughing was paralyzing and walking became very difficult. I stopped. Took a deep breath. Apologized to Tyler for talking him into this. Took one more deep breath...giggled, and then realized it was pointless. I was going to laugh through this entire night. I was sure of it! Heaven forbid anyone I know see me. Um...Brigitte...you're in Provo on the 4th! Who are you kidding, thinking you won't see anyone you know??
After only about 30 minutes of this walking, laughing and attempting to sell ridiculously priced beverages, ($8 for a freaking mug of watered down soda in a mug that lights up. Um...that is just insane. But people bought them, and some bought more than one! Richies!) Tyler guided me under the bleachers and told me that we had to trade. What? NO! He said, YES - we're trading! Apparently he had overheard more than a few people making fun of him for letting ME carry the drinks and struggle to walk up and down the bleachers while HE merely handled the money. Rude people! I understand that this probably looked wrong, but I wanted it this way...even if the stupid strap was digging a huge crevice into the back of my neck!
We traded. My heart raced. I was not excited to handle the money. What if I mess up? I got pretty good at it...after about an hour! And, even though we were sweating like crazy, we seriously had a fun time. I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time!! And, after only three hours of this nonsense, we turned in our BYU Concession visors, aprons and trusty carrying case and enjoyed Carrie Underwood perform...and then we watched the FIREWORKS!!! I love Fireworks!
Oh...just so you know...we ran into a few people we knew, but that happened AFTER my laughing fits and pride had been thrown to the wind! So, Aaron Jenne snapped some pics for us. Thanks, Aaron! (Oh, and Aaron, the girl you brought to S-of-F is a cutie! Just thought you should know.)
Hope you all had a great Independence Day...and laughed a little!
We also ran the 10K in the Freedom Run and went to the parade. Ah...! Gotta love Provo. Gotta love the Freedom Festival. Gotta love this country and all of our FREEDOMS!
