Monday, July 25, 2011

Only in Utah

If you are not a UT resident you may not want to read this. While you were working at the "Daily Grind" we Utahns were celebrating!
The Days of '47 were underway with parades, fireworks, and general merrymaking of the masses in honor of the pioneers who settled this valley. We made a road trip so we could be with family and celebrate in the epicenter of it all.


Days of '47 Parade in Salt Lake City
I haven't been since I was a wee one so this was a treat for all. We scored big time--front row seats and cloud cover the whole time! The people next to us had camped out all night and they let us sit with them! SCORE! We were next to the FM100 booth which was doing the announcing and giving out free otter pops and other goodies. SCORE AGAIN!


Brynn got this. She wore it proudly.
We saw the Prophet! The Governor! Santa! Giant horses, marching bands, clowns, and floats whose artistry blew our minds. Warm feelings of patriotism washed over us every time the flag went by.


Sunday: We attended a broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Music and the Spoken Word, Pioneer program." It was a really incredible experience to hear the "greatest choir in the world" live! They performed their amazing arrangement of "Come, Come Ye Saints" and showed images of the pioneers in the triumphs and trials of their journey. Where is the Kleenex when you need it??






Strolling Temple Square. This is where we were married almost....14 !!! years ago!!!

After church we headed to one of Salt Lake's treasures, Red Butte Gardens and had a picnic.Little man Ethan (below) just had surgery last week to repair a "lazy eye."I love this place. It is acres and acres of my dream backyard.
Walking to church. It's always nice to go back to the "home-ward" I grew up in. As we were saying the Young Women theme, "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us..." I looked around to see several women that were MY Young Women leaders growing up. So cool. What great ladies.


During the weekend we enjoyed hanging out at Nana's, running through the sprinklers, tossing the football, building forts, and eating sugar cereal for dinner. We rocked the neighborhood with nightime fireworks, and slept out on the tramp. I slept inside and that is probably why I didn't contribute to the family's running total of 38 mosquito bites! My poor itchy children!
We saw Mr. Popper's Penguins (really, really fun show) and went shopping at Sugarhouse.So, even though we have made this drive like um...niner TEN million times, this was the first time we stopped here--at the animal petting zoo in Scipio. It's awesome. You can chase alpacas, get pecked by emus, and shove goats away from the exit door on your way out! Then you can lather your hands with sanitizer and get a treat at the DQ next door. Our car was overflowing with ice cream. Next time we'll try the mini cones.

All in all a great time and in case you didn't get enough of the hair...

3 comments:

cold cocoa said...

wow- you guys are having the funnest summer ever.
Love Brynn's mohawk. That'll be great for Halloween.

Sherie Christensen said...

Wow. Did you really have as much fun as you made it sound like you had? Sitting on the front row of the parade in cloud cover does sound great. How often can that possibly happen? And to get free treats and a fancy hat/hair thingy. Wow! I've always wanted to go to Red Butte Gardents. One day.

Megz said...

I thought Fiesta Days was the biggest pioneer day celebration.
Glad to see Brynn keep the hair on even while napping in the car. You'd hate to have someone steal that!