The pioneer day activities were fun but we were exhausted and HOT! My son-in-law Matt has a brother that is kind enough to include us in many of their family functions. Thank you Ralph and Jackie! We all went to their home for swimming and food. That is all except Wayne and me. You couldn't pay me to put on a swimsuit the way I look right now. Well, maybe if the price was right....we'll discuss that later. Anyway, Wayne doesn't particularly like pools either so we watched and sat in the shade. Big E and Wes have a tender father, son moment

Make up your own caption for this picture.

Wayne is content to just sit and watch

Here is Millie floating......now watch

She is only 4 years old and has learned to swim.

Way to go Millie!!!!!

Emerson was not sure he liked the water, but after a few minutes he was calm, unless someone splashed. The water really was warm though.

I snapped this just as Nick splashed Wes.

Wes, I think this is called a farmers's tan. Have you been workin on the old south 40?

Nick looks on as his Mom and Aunt do their Olympic trials for the water ballet.

After Amy and Colett perfect their hand-standing routine, they pop out of the water with this beautiful hair style....do they bring to mind pictures of the FLDS polygamist wives??

EWWWW!

Matt and Colett not only swim for fun but are training for their triathlon in September.

They have to swim 1/2 mile. I have to be honest....that scares me a little.

Isabelle is a good little swimmer but had fun paddling on the floating something-or-other.

Wes, Amy and Emerson

The whole gang

Pioneer Day in Utah is a state holiday. No matter what day of the week the 24th lands on, it is celebrated with parades, rodeos, programs, food and fireworks and workers get the day off.

I wanted to be in Cowley, Wyoming for the 24th but the schedule just didn't work out that way so we went to Wallsburg with the girls and their families. It is a tiny town like Cowley and they celebrate it the same way. It starts off with the parade, a program, kid's games, a BBQ, rodeo and night show. The only difference was Cowley's parade is wonderful with lots of floats, bands etc. and Wallsburg had the worst parade I have EVER seen. People just rode their 4 wheelers, or pushed their kids in their strollers, and there was only one float....a family that dressed up as bumble bees. There were a few old cars and horses and that was it. It was scorching hot outside and luckily we had taken our golf umbrellas and camp chairs so that helped. The activities of the day did get better as we watched the talent show and rodeo.

We had hamburgers for lunch and then proceeded to give the kids, cookies, brownies, snow-cones and cotton candy. None of them threw up and it's only once a year....maybe twice or maybe three times tops. Isabelle LOVED it.

We gotta protect those baby eyes. I wonder if these have 100% UV protection?

Emerson Daniel loves to be outdoors and that's putting it mildly. Here he is just chillin' and eating leaves.

I stole this picture from Colett's blog. Millie had these crazy sunglasses and we all took turns wearing them. I had brought my camera but neglected to put the card back in after uploading the last batch of pictures to the computer, so the only pictures I have are either the ones I took with their cameras or the ones that Amy and Colett took.

The kids found lots to do. Millie waited for 30 minutes before a swing became available and then Grandpa and Grandma became the pushers.

This was the announcer and jokester for the rodeo. (And he looks mighty fine in his chaps). Being a Wyoming and Montana girl for so many years, I gained an appreciation for a good looking cowboy. You wouldn't know it now, but I married one. Wayne wore boots and a cowboy hat and worked on his uncle's cattle ranch when I met and dated him.

Nick's holding a chicken that his cousin caught in the bunny and chicken capture race.

The Dressers

There was a goat dressing contest so Isabelle, her friend and Millie signed up to do it. It took forever because the goats did not want to cooperate at all, but they finally got the deed done and won second place. It was so funny watching the concentration on their faces and Millie....well she was just a tiny bit afraid.

Millie got these foam stickers at the fish pond and was sticking them on everyone. If she put one on your forehead, you were officially a prince or princess. Colett has more than her share and I'm sure she must think she is a queen but there can only be one queen in this family so she is just a very, very high ranking princess.

Emerson is pointing and I'm sure what he means is...you bring me back here again, got it?

If for some reason we can't make it to Cowley next year, I will look for a fun time at Wallsburg again or some other small town that does celebrations for pioneer day...it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Mormon wagon train

I have many pioneer ancestors, but I have the story of one of my great, great grandpas on my Mom's side that I especially love. His name was Joshua Terry. He was born in Canada, went with his family to Missouri, was baptized into the Mormon church and went through the persecutions there. His family was driven from their home there, so they settled in Nauvoo, Illinois where Joshua helped build the temple. He joined the Nauvoo legion serving under Joseph Smith and thereafter moved to Iowa. In 1847 he left Winter Quarters and arrived
in Salt Lake Valley on September 28, 1847. He made camp on Little Willow Creek..now known as Draper. After many hardships and trials and an employer that left him high and dry, he went first to Fort Peck in Idaho for a couple of months and then a kind hearted man, a Doctor Rogers gave him 3 dry biscuits and a half pound of jerked beef and advised him to go to Fort Bridger 200 miles away. For the first part of the journey he lived mainly on thistle roots. His moccasins became badly worn and a heavy snowstorm caught up to him. His feet became raw and bloody so he could not travel very fast. One time he traveled all day in a foot of snow without anything to eat or seeing another living thing. The wind was blowing hard and cold, night was coming on
and he was in despair feeling like he would probably die before morning. He knelt in fervant prayer. When he arose he noticed a large black rock in the shape of a coffin. He went over to examine it and found it contained a hole on one side. He crept into the hole and out of the storm. It was pitch black inside but he had shleter for the night. He had not been in the hole long when he heard something approaching which proved to be an animal of some kind looking for shelter from the storm too. They remained together in the hole all night long with the animal's body next to his which warmed him and kept him comfortable. The next morning before daylight, the animal crawled out and went on his way. Joshua regarded this as a miracle given to him as an answer to his prayers. He made it to Fort Bridger and became acquainted with Jim Bridger who employed him and he soon became Bridger's most trusted employee and foreman. Joshua had an uncanny sense of direction and Jim Bridger gave him a test once. He took Joshua into the heavily timbered part of the Uintah Mountains and tried to get him lost but Joshua always knew the way back to camp. Bridger said he was the only man that he could never lose. Joshua stayed with Jim Bridger for 2 years.

(By the way, I didn't inherit this gift. I can't find my way around a parking lot)

There are many more stories of Joshua Terry and my other pioneer ancestors and I am so glad to have them. I feel a love for, and connection to them when I read their stories. I am so glad they felt the need to write in their journals and to keep a history. Now their grandchildren will have a sense of what their lives were like and have an appreciation of how blessed we are now.

I know that I would never have made a good pioneer. I don't like dirt, bugs, snakes, heat, or camping. I might have finally finished the trek, but the definitive word is "GOOD". I would have been the complainer, the one who got hurt, the one who didn't want to leave the green of my current home and the one that had allergies all the way to Wyoming. I am allergic to sage brush...oh how miserable that would have been.

I can only hope that my pioneer ancestors are proud of me when I finally get to meet them.

Amy did a "tag" on her blog about finding the beauty in your yard. While I was gone to book club, she and Wayne found this cherry on my cherry tree. It's not that it is such a beautiful cherry, it's that it is my FIRST cherry and my ONLY cherry. We have had the tree for 5 years and although it is a very pretty tree it has never produced. I gave up on it...and may yet...but it was such fun to see this lone cherry before the birds found it. It was exciting to me to just think of the possibilities. Maybe next year I will have enough to make Mom's cherry pudding. The following pictures are the things I love about my yard and the beauty I find in it.
I have a thing for antiques and although this is not one it has the feeling. Lots of beauty here.
I don't remember how it started but each Mother's Day I ask for something for my yard. I have a garden cart, garden shoes, gloves, tools, etc. This was my favorite. Wayne built this potting bench. It is redwood, has a galvanized top and back, a drawer for my tools, a bin for my dirt, hooks and shelves and wheels on the bottom. It is needing a little TLC right now. It has weathered a bit, warped some, and needs a good cleaning but it took a lot of time and effort to do and I feel loved every time I look at it. Smack, kiss, smooch Wayne.

Colett brought this little wind ornament to me one time after she'd been on a trip. It twirls in the breeze and the big green marble sparkles in the sun...so cute.

This is the front of the tool shed. There is a bench on the porch that Wayne sits on to survey his kingdom and to cool off when he is tired from his labors.

When we first bought our home, there was a wire fence behind the house and no homes on either side. This old sign was on that back fence and was covered by overgrown shrubs and weeds. Margaret and I spotted it and she helped me cut it out of the weeds and we put it up in the garden to warn people of my fierce toy poodle...grrrrrr, woof, woof..... that loves company and barks when you leave because he doesn't want you to go.

These are chimes I got at an art show. They are brass tubes...quite large...that were tuned with an oscillascope so they are in perfect pitch. When the wind blows they play beautiful tunes to me. The problem is, we sometimes have 80 m.p.h. winds and then (and only then), they drive me crazy. I have to run and hook them up.

This was a start from Mom and Dad's pussy willow. I think propagation is a wonderful way to get cheap plants and so far I do have a few. I especially love the ones from our parent's homes. Wayne has a start of a peony from his Mom who is gone now, so we hope it survives.

I am proud of this ganala maple. I brought a little twig start from Montana and planted it. We waited and waited and thought it was dead, but now it's doing great and in the fall it turns bright red.

This is a rock wall that Wayne, Amy and I built. Wayne first built the wall out of cinder blocks and then we faced it with cobblestones, filled it with dirt and now we have a planter that spans the length of the back fence. We love it, it's unique, and one of my favorite places in the yard.

This look is one you will see a lot in our landscaping. I'm not one for the industrial, straight lines. I like in it other people's homes but it's just not me. I like curves, curves and more curves. This is my deck bench. I'm sure those who design these things work hard to make them beautiful so I try to look carefully at the beauty in my everyday things. In the next few pictures you will see my love for iron, for movement, and for artistic balance in the designs.

This is a little candle holder with a bird on top made of brown iron. It holds a tea light but the wind blows her so much that it usually just sits as a decoration on my patio.

Doesn't this bench have pretty lines?

This is a corner of our black iron patio down below the deck. Notice the curved lines and finials

It has always been a decorating style I have liked. In my heart I live in the Mediterranean I guess. When Spanish decor was "in" in the 70's I was very happy.

This is an iron decoration I picked up at Rod Works. It hangs above the bench on the shed porch. I love the flourishes and curls on it.

This is a candle holder that Colett no longer wanted. I painted it black and put it on my patio. It has cutout dragonflies on it and I think it's pretty darn cute.

At the bottom of the deck steps are these stepping stones. Once again we were off on a quest to find just the right shape and size of stones. We went to a brick and rock yard to get them. I wanted the curved edges to round off towards the deck. They charged by the pound instead of the rock. Whoa....we won't do that again.

How can you not love these....my baby peaches. I know it's time to cull out the extras but I just can't bring myself to do it. Wayne has to do the dirty deed. I somehow feel like a murderer if I just pull some off and throw them away. Do I want bigger nicer peaches or more tiny ones? That is the reality of the deed.

I am a real fan of quaking aspen trees and we have several in the yard. These are my favorite because they give shade to the windows in the back, privacy from the neighbors and they are close to the deck so when the wind blows we can hear the shuffling of the leaves, which then reminds me of the sounds in the Big Horn Mountains. LOVE IT!!

There are many things about this front flower garden that I love. My tree is one of them. It is a pine tree that will grow fairly tall but not big around. We had to look a long time to find this one because it's a columnar variety that is fairly new. I love my tall grass, the iris that are transplanted from Mom's yard and the rocks that I scavenged from all the empty lots around me at the time. Then of course there are the flowers in my favorite color....RED!

This is one of my favorite things in the yard. I really wanted a large boulder in the front of the house. Wayne and I had checked several rock yards before I found this one. I didn't want it jagged, or too smooth or too small. When we bought it, we loaded it in the pickup (which really gave the axle a test) and drove the pickup onto the lawn to it's final resting place. The neighbor came over to help Wayne unload it and it just happened to land in the exact spot that I had chosen with the side facing outward exactly like I had planned. We didn't have to move it at all. It's hard to tell it's size from the picture but it's about 2 1/2 feet tall and almost 3 feet wide

I really like the brick on my house and the center block that reminds me of a keystone. It also showcases the curved windows high above the front door. I think I appreciate brick more than most because my Dad was a bricklayer.

Look at this cute little duck. I had never noticed it before until I did this "tag" hunt. It is on the cover of the electric box to the air conditioner. Somebody designed this little item and will never receive accolades because it's one of those things that you just don't notice.

Colett got these Hollyhock plants for Wayne for Father's Day. Yes, that is what he wanted. They are a VERY dark maroon color that look black unless the sun shines on them. They really look nice next to out little old fashioned garden.

This is our little garden. It's not large but oh the yummy tomatoes we harvest. We grow just enough corn to eat fresh along with some squash, potatoes and green beans. Even if for some crazy reason I couldn't eat anything I would still plant a garden just to see it grow. How do those little seeds turn into these beautiful and varied plants. Truly there is a God.

I love the colors of the flag and am also very grateful for this country so I fly my flag a lot. I fly it for all the holidays and then from July 4th to the 24th until Pioneer Day is over. It is s little high for me to reach so when the wind blows I have to wait for Wayne to unwrap it from the pole. I have gone through 3 flags since we moved here.

I've never been one to like cutesy things in my yard but Amy got me this little mini-gnome for my front flower bed. I can't say I love it and she knows it....it was a joke....at least I think it was. Anyway it has gotten to be one now. I let it sleep in the lemon thyme and eventually it will be covered and disappear. Then Amy comes along and finds it and puts it back out. The thyme grows quickly and will soon disappear again. Ah, tradition.

This is an interesting find in our front yard. Someone put this rock (with a lady bug carved on it) in our front rock area. I have no idea who put it there but lady bugs are supposed to be good luck so we think it's pretty cute.

We built a shed in the back to hold the lawn mower, garden tools and storage items. We couldn't just let it look like a shed so Wayne designed it with a porch, a window with shutters, a park bench, a front light and a flower box. We can look at it when we are sitting on the deck and it is so homey. The granddaughters wanted to know when the play house would be done.

This is an antique watering can that Ipicked up at a store in Montana. I love that it sprays so simply and evenly and I use it to fertilize my plants.

I guess the things I like the most are the texture, color and shape of things. I also just like the"stuff"....I really like my stuff. I could let it go if I had to, but since I don't I will enjoy it and be grateful that I have it. My soul delighteth in beautiful things and it was fun to look for those things in my own back yard.