State Holiday

I am not aware of a state other than Utah that celebrates a state holiday. The 24th of July is a huge holiday here. There is a parade and fireworks. It is just like the 4th of July only 20 days later. This holiday celebrates the Pioneers coming into the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847, so sometimes this day is known as Pioneer Day or the Days of '47. Since my kids love parades and I love the Calvary Baptist Church's float in the parade, we made the drive to Salt Lake along with thousands of other parade goers. Between the 4th of July and the 24th I think I have had my share of parades for the year. As part of the 24th weekend we also went on a family camp outing. My husband had been suffering from strep throat but I dragged him out and we spent the night in a tent. The boys had fun playing in or near the small stream and there weren't too many bugs.

Old Oak Tree

Today I received the news that the oak tree I have known for 33 years fell over last night. It is the tree that was in the backyard of my parents home. Luckily it fell away from the house and went toward the garden/yard area. I have many memories under the shade of the oak tree. I would lay on the grass and look through the branches to the blue sky above. I also earned money from that tree. It dropped hundreds of acorns and as a child my dad paid me a penny for each acorn I picked up. Even last year I made a trip home and my son and I picked up hundreds of acorns. Farewell to a great tree!

Vacation

We just finished a 16 day road trip and the photos we took inspired me to start a blog, especially the one of the bear. So here is a breakdown of our trip. We started in Eden, UT for a big family reunion, then onto Yellowstone for a smaller family reunion, then to Medford, OR for an even smaller reunion, and finally to Alamo, CA for the smallest reunion. The boys were great travelers and we played lots of games and sang lots of songs. (I don't believe in DVD players for road trips) We saw lots of great things on our trip, so here are a few photos we took.


Bear on side of road having dinner



Ogden Dinosaur Park



Pony ride on July 4th



Boys and Buffalo