Pioneer Day Festivities

Summer is sure keeping us busy!  One of our busiest days this summer was Pioneer Day.  We had so much going on that day, that we even had to say no to a few activities.  Nevertheless, it was an exhausting, busy, fun, festive day!  To start out the day, our ward had a neighborhood breakfast.  The Relief Society Committee was in charge of this activity, which I am on, so it made it extra busy for us.  As part of the activity, the neighborhood puts on a bike parade, and a fun run.  We decorated bikes the night before so we could be ready bright and early.  The kids loved decorating their bikes.  It was so fun to watch them be so excited over some crepe paper and ribbon.  Sydney was especially proud of her bike and kept the decorations on it for a few weeks.  After we were done decorating bikes, we put the kids to bed, and Matt and I went to Harry Potter with Corie and Cadie, while Jana came over to stay with our kids.  Sydney woke up when they came over, and was so excited to show Jana her bike.  Matt and I enjoyed going to a midnight movie, and felt like teenagers again.  Going to a late movie sure made our busy day the next day even more tiring... but it was totally worth it!

Early Saturday morning, I headed over to the church to set up for the breakfast, and Matt took the kids over to the beginning of the bike parade.  The kids were so excited to ride their decorated bikes.  Cooper rode his from the clubhouse all the way to our house, where Matt dropped off the bike and switched for a stroller.  Sydney rode hers all the way to the church- about a mile.  I loved seeing her ride in to the church parking lot... so proud and happy.  Someone in our ward arranged for a fire truck, ambulance, and police car to be in the parade with the kids.  Sydney loved it.  She was riding in front of the ambulance and said she kept having to pedal faster so it wouldn't catch up to her.  The activity turned out to be a success.  Everyone had a good time eating pancakes and socializing.  Can I just say... we love our ward!

Decorated bikes... ready to go!

the home stretch

decorated and ready 

love

After the neighborhood breakfast, we hopped around to a few different activities- one of which was Draper Days.  Draper Days holds a special place in my heart.  I remember being so excited for it as a kid.  I loved the parade.  I loved walking down to the park and seeing so many friends there.  Then I loved when they started doing the rodeo.  And of course, my favorite was always the fireworks.  I have to admit...  I was really disappointed in Draper Days this year.  It was kind of like going to an overpriced dollar store.  There wasn't really much to do... just a ton of little booths with crappy things to buy.  We did find some ponies to ride- and Sydney LOVED it.  Cooper got to pet some, and loved that as well.  And we found a train to ride.  But really it wasn't very impressive.  Kind of makes me sad.  The fireworks, however, were great.  We watched them at Nana and Papa's house again.  It is so nice to watch them there, and not have to worry about crowds.  But, it might be one of the last years we are able to see much.  The trees are getting so big and are starting to block our view.

On the Sunday the 24th, actual Pioneer Day, we had some great lessons and talks in church.  It really is remarkable what the pioneers did.  We would not have the church we have today without them.  I am so grateful for all the sacrifices they made for us.  It truly is so humbling to think about the pioneers and all they did, and I pray that we are making them proud.  

After church, we headed over to my cousins' house- the Schones.  We had a fun BBQ and a little home fireworks show.  Arial fireworks were made legal this year (which on a side note has been fun and crazy... it's been fun to see fireworks all across the valley lighting up the sky, but they are typically going off so late, and are so loud... it was hard for the kids to sleep).  So we had a couple arials in our home show.  When we came to the last one, it actually fell over and started shooting horizontally instead of vertically.  We were literally running and ducking as they bounced off of cars and into yards, and really were so blessed that no one was hurt.  It was quite an adrenalin rush and finale.  Besides that, it was a fun night.  Our kids always have fun playing with other kids, and Sydney especially loves playing with Jocelyn Blythe.  It's always fun to see my cousins!

Cooper, Jocelyn, Sydney

Summer is flying by so quickly.  We are trying to soak up the last of our carefree, schedule-less days, and nice weather before fall sneaks in!