Timpanogos Caves and other 4th of July Events

I know that the 4th of July is a big holiday, but it is definitely a celebrated affair here in Utah. This is both Sean and my first summer here, so we weren't aware of the month long madness that makes up the 4th of July holiday. Well, it wasn't actually a month, but there was something that went on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of the holiday weekend (including loud fireworks, which got really old by Monday night). In Provo they have the Freedom Festival every year, which includes TONS of events (parades, concerts, hot air balloon festival, fun runs, etc.) and Sean and I kind of avoided them all. We did watch the big firework show on Saturday from our street, but besides that we did our own thing and didn't camp out to do the other events (people literally camped on the side of the street to get a good spot at the parade...). On Sunday we went to a BBQ with a whole bunch of people from our ward. It was a lot of fun. We don't get to see people too often since we're in the singles ward, so it's fun when we actually see everyone. The food was amazing and we stayed there for hours just talking.
On Monday we found a way out of Provo (the parade goes on streets by our house, and it was already blocked off by 7 am when we wanted to leave) and went the Timpanogos Caves with Rachel and Isaiah. It was so much fun. It was probably a 3 hour excursion all together. It's 1.5 miles to the caves, and then there's an hour tour through the caves. It was really fun to see and so pretty (the hike up and the cave itself). We then went to lunch where I personally ate way too much.
I love three day weekends, but they never seem to go slow enough. Oh well--it was fun while it lasted.