Utah’s Special Holiday
Utah has a special little holiday on the 24th of July every year. They call it “Pioneer Day” or the “Days of 47”. It’s all in the name of celebrating the heritage of Utah and the pioneers that settled the area in 1847, which eventually lead to statehood later on. Funny I always thought it was to celebrate statehood until a few years ago when I was corrected by my “out-of-state” friends who pointed out that Utah didn’t become a state until much later then 1847. At any rate, it’s a funny little holiday that makes this big state of ours feel like a little down home country town. We were able to celebrate it in true form with my parents and my brother’s family in the small town of Amalga last weekend.
Amalga put on a good fried chicken dinner Friday night at the town park and fireworks later that night. Grandma and Grandpa’s neighbor Tad invited us down to his patch of land at the “river bottoms” to view the fire works. Once Dad got us parked in the right place we had a great view of the fireworks over a bend in the Bear river. Wish I had taken my camera for that one. The following morning we went back to the park to attend a pancake, ham & eggs breakfast. After the breakfast the youngsters in the town put together a sweet little fair including bounce houses and little homemade games such as Plunko, go fish, ring toss, etc. Ellie and her cousins had a blast soaking it all up and playing their little hearts out.
I see London I see France I see Ellies underpants
After all the game time fun we gathered up the kids and sent them off with Gary and Grandpa to ride in Grandpa’s shinny 67′ Chevy Malibu for the town parade. Grandpa had just got the Chev all “cherried” up with a nice wax and such so it was a perfect addition to the wee parade. Look close at the pics you can see the by standers reflections off that slick black Malibu. The parade was precious to say the least so fun and small and neighborly. There was a ton of candy tossed about on the roadside. Our family filled up a gallon size baggie full of salt water taffy.
After the parade we came home to Grandma and Grandpa’s for some R&R. Later in the evening we lit off some of the fireworks Jon, my brother, brought. It was Ellie and Owen’s first firework experience as they usually can’t seem to stay up late enough. But the cousins kept us alert. Owen let out a few cries and Ellie didn’t quite know what to make of it. She sat on the blanket for a little bit then ran to Grandma and finally ended up in Grandpa’s lap trying to ignore the pops and sparkles and find a comfortable place. All while the McKenney cousins were hooting and hollering for more.
We all had a great time and Gary and I were impressed with Amalga’s little holiday and happy we were able to join in a true small town celebration. The evening ended with a bit of a sour note as my Mom was feeling progressively sicker and sicker. Finally she had Dad drive her down to the emergency room where they found that her gallbladder was filled with little stones and one was already trying to be passed. So my poor mother who is still recuperating from knee surgery had to go through two procedures one to remove the stone and one to remove the gallbladder. She is home now and all is well, and that better be it for her 60 year maintenance.
6 comments
Good Stuff! Well, not the stones, but all the rest. As always wish we could have been there to join in. I love the cow propaganda and the small child driving the tractor, classic!
That is fun you were able to celebrate in Amalga. I love the small town parades. We were able to go to Hyde Park’s last week. I hope your mom is feeling better…no fun!!
What a wonderful time you must have had. Ellie looks like she had a busy and exciting day!! It was like a Cancun spring break for her! (Under-panties and all! 🙂
Haha, I forgot to mention sweet Owen. He looks thrilled as usual! A very healthy boy on your hands 🙂
I love the small town celebrations! Ellie’s slide picture is a classic. 🙂
So fun to catch up on what you have been up to since I saw you last. I loved the picture of Ellie with the side hug. That is adorable and her little pony tail. She really is growing up fast.