Pioneer Day Celebrations

One thing we know how to do is party. And for any occasion that we can party- we do. So, Pioneer Day (and the weekend of) were no exception. We celebrated our beloved pioneers in a number of ways, though only one was really pioneer related.

First up:
Our stake combined with a few other stakes in our area to do a Temple to Temple 5k. We live in such a blessed area that we have two temples that are exactly a 3.1 mile distance apart- how cool is that? We started that Provo Temple and made our way to the Provo City Center Temple. Devin was at work that morning, but my cousin Sarah and her husband Daniel and their little Josh walked with the kids and I. There was absolutely no running, just for your information. :) I pushed Flor and Jace in the double stroller (and only kept them from beating each other the whole way by feeding them inordinate amounts of cereal) and Hallie rode her bike. This was a free-for-all kind of 5k with kids on scooters, tons of strollers, etc. It was quite an enjoyable little walk, actually. Our next door neighbors were our ward reps for the event and they told us that 7000 people participated. How cool!

At the beginning

Mid way through

And at the end. This temple is still a shell but it is constantly under construction and it is fun to see what is going on with it. They have dug out a huge underground hole and the temple is on stilts right now. It will be so great when it is finished. 

Ugly face with no makeup (me), but no one cares, right?

We got cute little t-shirts for free for participating (which was also free!)

On each of our bibs, we put the name of one of our ancestors that we were walking/running for. 

After the big walk, we had time to come home and clean up a bit before heading over to Devin's parent's house to have a BBQ. All of his local siblings (and Shawna, local for the summer) were able to be there. I really failed to take pictures here- I have two. One of Jace and Dallin playing with magnets on the fridge and one of the whole crowd of kids watching a movie while the adults chatted upstairs.  We were also able to go see Devin's grandparents, who had been up for the week to look at local places to live. They were at Devin's Aunt Sherilyn's house, so we went over after the BBQ and spent an hour or so. I am really kicking myself for not taking pictures there because Grandpa passed away this Wednesday. He was very jovial and conversational last Wednesday when we saw him and we will treasure that time with him before his passing. (More on that later).

That weekend, we traveled to Idaho for a little getaway. Not that we weren't just there-- we were. But we do love visiting the family there. The 24th is celebrated on Saturday in good old St. Anthony and it has been years since I have been to the traditional parade and then family lunch and FLOATING THE RIVER (my favorite!!). We also had Playmill tickets for Friday night, so that was another reason to go up. Devin had to work (poor kid) so the kids and I went alone. And survived. :)

Friday we spent the morning at Rigby Lake, which is quite the fun little place. The kids had a blast. I don't have too many pictures, but here are a few.

How fun is this little slide? Hallie was an animal. Jace went down a few times too, a  couple of times on his belly. He is funny. He just loves to do whatever Hallie is doing.

Playmill: 

Friday evening, we hired a babysitter for the kids at my mom's house and headed up to West Yellowstone. We love the Playmill there and saw "Fiddler on the Roof" which was amazing, other than the 100 degree climate inside the playhouse. It was dying hot. They really need some A/C! Other than that, we had a great time. We had dinner before and then went for ice cream after. A good old fashioned Clark outing. :)

St. Anthony Parade:
The kids LOVED this parade on Saturday morning. Who knew that St. Anthony had such a good little parade? It has honestly been so long since I have been that I was not expecting much, but it was really phenomenal. Little towns do it best, I tell ya. We had load of candy, free chocolate milk, toothbrushes, face wash, and a whole bunch of other things handed to us at the parade. So much fun. There were also classic Idaho floats and I was loving it. Can't forget the girls riding their horses standing up. It was just a lot of fun.

Here is Jace waving his arms and shouting "horsies, horsies!" He was so excited about all the horses. 

Miss Hailie was in the parade with the cheer squad from good ol' South Fremont.  Check out her awesome moves! 

Some of the great good ol' St. A floats. Honestly though, there were some really impressive floats there!

And then when it was over, we went to the other end and watched it again- and got a whole lot more candy, of course! 

After the parade, we went to Grandma's and had a delicious lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, new potatoes and peas, and every delicious side you can imagine. I was in charge of corn on the cob, which my sister brought and cooked for me, so that was a wonderfully great assignment. :)

Perhaps these boys are not going to love this picture in a few years, but it is so cute. They are best buddies. 

AND-- last but not least, one of my favorite Idaho past times- floating the Snake River to Grandma's house! It has been years since I have done this and it did not disappoint! I brought hallie with me and we had a great time. One of my absolute favorite views in the world is floating down the river and seeing the back of my Grandma's house down the way. It is really beautiful. 

Hope you all had a great 24th too!