the view from my lens...: pioneer day

(i wrote this post on 7/25 but took forever to publish it) I have to laugh because I just read Paty's blog about how sad Pioneer Day is here in Utah. I mean, don't get me wrong, we love to do the parade in Bountiful, (although it's never on Pioneer Day because they don't want to compete with SLC), and we usually do fireworks, etc. However, I grew up OUTSIDE of Utah and we always had some sort of way fun ward activity that we always looked forward to. Maybe it's because here in Utah we see enough of our fellow ward members because they are our neighbors that yet another church activity isn't necessary? I don't know, but Patsy, I'm with you babe, next year, let's plan something totally awesome. These photos are late because, like I said, pioneer day in Bountiful is celebrated a few days early.We did go to the parade this year which was kind of sad to be honest, it's usually one of our faves, but maybe it wasn't as fun because it was a thousand degrees outside...

However, Rob & Liz and their family with new baby Zach, are in town and so it was fun to have them and Josh & Lisa drive from Sandy with their family, new baby twins to enjoy the parade with us. And the Phil & Lauri's gang who are already like family so they were along for the ride too. Nate & Larraine came late to the parade but ended up being the ones that stayed for the park and fireworks. I put a blanket on the hill EARLY in the morning and it was worth it, we were so close we had to lay down to see the fireworks, it was totally awesome, unless you're Henry or Ethan, neither of them appreciated it as much. Unfortunately, it was so dark packed that as bad as I wanted to take a picture of all of us laid out on the ground, it just wasn't realistic. So, I did was Rich always tells me to do, "take a mental picture". So, here's my mental picture... It's dark and finally cool, everyone's happy from eating chocolate creamies (is there any other kind?) and the sky is lit up with fantastic fireworks and lots of noise. The girls, Allie, Lauren, Nat, are all laying on one blanket, Taylor James and Spencer are on another. Phil and Lauri are laying together and Nate & Larraine are laying on the blanket just below me. Henry is laying on Larraine with his hands over his eyes. Joy is laying on the other side of Larraine with Nate's sneaky hands trying to tickle her, which she loves but is pretending to hate. Rich is laying next to me and I have Ethan snuggled in his favorite wonder bread blanket with my hands and blanket trying to muffle the loud sounds. He is scared but only cries for a minute until he realizes, we're not running away and it will be ok. And I say to Rich, "thanks for enduring the crowd, I know it's not your favorite thing." He smiles and says "sure", because he knows that fireworks and taking my children to large community gatherings is my favorite thing... wow, a picture really IS worth a thousand words!

So, yesterday, which was the REAL Pioneer Day, was ok, Rich came home from work early because the electricity was out (which I'm guessing is an essential ingredient to a computer programmer) and I ran a few errands and hung with Laur for a little while. I also bought a new camera! Don't get too excited, it's not replace the "baby" camera I do shoots with, it's just a small compact Nikon coolpix11 that I can throw in my purse when I don't feel like hauling a giant camera around. My mom and dad and April and her gang came over for creamies and homemade fireworks (not really homemade, but you know, in your drive way fireworks) and Ethan tolerated these much better.