Stadium of Fire

Upon Arrival

About a week ago, we got an email from the Girl Scout council. I happened to be sitting at the computer when it came in. Since it is the Girl Scout's 100th Anniversary, they wanted 100 girl scouts to sing the national anthem at the Stadium of Fire. Now that might not sound like that big of a deal to you, but the Stadium of Fire is the largest fireworks show in the United States! It is broadcast around the world to all the military and the cheapest seats are $25.

I have never been before.

OK, that's not exactly true. When we were first married, my sister and her husband were attending BYU. They showed us the best places to watch the fireworks...outside the stadium of course...and for free. That was about all our budget would allow.

This was a chance for Princess and Prima Donna to see the show for free! The show also included a couple of other exciting things. Alex Boye was the announcer and the bands were Scotty McCreery and the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour.

Sorry about the cell phone pics.

Now I know I'm old, but I couldn't believe it when the girls decided they didn't want to see this awesome show! So I headed out the door to the grocery store. I was angry! I turned up the music...loud!

After a couple of minutes I turned the music off and called my sweetie. "Sign them up!" I demanded. He wasn't quite so enthusiastic. If they didn't want to do it, he didn't think they should have to. I guess I'm not as nice as he is, because he grudgingly put their names on the list. And then he insisted that he wanted to buy tickets for the two of us to see the show.

Prima Donna came around pretty quickly and Princess relented when I brought home new khaki capris and cute white shirts for them to wear (that was the required uniform and they didn't have anything like it).

Scotty McCreery

On Tuesday night they had a dress rehearsal. My sweetie and I drove them down to Provo and then we went first to Kohl's (I've finished the back-to-school shopping, btw), and then out to dinner. We pulled out our Happenings book and found a little Thai place we thought might serve awesome food.

We were so wrong.

It was awful! My medium rare meat was more than well-done and the salad I was supposed to get turned out to be sticky rice. When I sent it back to the kitchen, the server brought it back and said, "Sorry, we don't have any more salad." I got the same response about the spring rolls.

But the girls called shortly afterward and we picked them up and headed for ice cream and then home.

On the night of the show, we arrived at 6:00 and parked blocks away. We threaded our way through the side streets until we got to the stadium. They had just opened the gates. The girls took off for their section and we found ours.

It was hot and miserable but at least we were in the shade. My sweetie was starting to regret his decision to buy tickets when the show finally got started. The girls did a great job although it was difficult to spot them from such a distance. They had a "flyover" from Hill Air Force Base and then the show began. I had never heard of Scotty McCreery, but Prima Donna had. He did a good job and after their little American Idol thing, the Beach Boys took the stage.

Beach Boys

I love the Beach Boys and their music! It was difficult to see them looking so old. All of them are about 70 now. The audience loved it though and it was fun to watch all the little grandmas just rockin' out...not me, I'm about ten years too young.

Then it was the fireworks. They were amazing! I've never seen a show like that before. They were shot off from inside the stadium, so we had thick smoke and ash falling on us, but I didn't care, it was so cool!

When we finally caught up with the girls outside the stadium, they both admitted they had enjoyed the show, so even though I was the mean mom that made them do it, they both built a memory that will last a lifetime.

And in the process, I made one too.