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.

Owen Greeley’s First Day

Gary here…Guess it’s time to update the About page on Peas.

Danette is so strong. She was in labor for about 6 hours, and the delivery was 100% all natural with no pain medication, nothing. As with Ellie’s birth, I was in awe watching this process unfold.

Slide show below from today, starting with pics of us leaving the house this morning. More will follow in coming days.

Owen Greeley Marcoccia was born at 12:18pm on March 25th 2010, 7lbs. 15 oz.

3/28/10 Updated with a new slide show from a spontaneous photo shoot “Evening Light” 🙂

A Good Day

We celebrated Gary’s Birthday yesterday.  Apparently 28 was a good year for him so he’s claiming 28 from now on.  Which isn’t a bad idea, I was 28 when we were married. It was an excellent year for me as well.

Turned out to be a beautiful day, blue sky and all. Gary was in a particularly happy place most of the day. I think all the Happy Birthdays that came poring in from friends and family all day via snail mail, email, facebook, and the phone helped him feel appreciated. So thanks to everyone for making his day a good one.

P.S. Here is the recipe I used for his Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. It was soooo goooood.

Family Ski Day

We took Ellie out on the slopes today in the backpack. We had so much fun together. She did really well and seemed to enjoy herself. The lifty’s let us load on the chair as three so she could sit securely in the pack  right by Gary and I. She was quiet on the first chair ride up but by the last she was laughing and pointing at the trees and skiers. Gary took her down the first run. We did a groomer called “Main Street” off of the Collins lift nice and easy. She called out for me a few times until she could see where I was, not sure if it was anxiety driven or if she just wanted to keep tabs on me. I took Ellie down a couple of times on the last run it was just the two of us as Gary paid his dues to High Rustler. At the end of our run I took her down Lower Rustler, which is a little steep relative to the cat track we were on and she let out a big Whooooaaaa!. It was so funny she had me laughing all the way to the truck. At any rate I think she enjoyed the wind in her face, the swoosh of the snow, the bluebird sunny day, and all the great people in Alta who gave us nods and encouragement all day.

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Fall

I have decided that fall is my favorite time of year. There is so much beauty in the fall as nature prepares for winter. I love the dramatic color change in the leaves and the crisp air. I also like the feeling of fall the harvesting that goes on and such. The taste of fall is good too with the different flavors that come into season like pumpkin, pears, apples, squash, and so on.  In an effort to soak up these few precious weeks of fall we have committed to taking daily family walks each morning. We really do live in a beautiful spot up in the mountains surrounded by color. Ellie seems to really enjoy her mornings out and it is good prep for a morning nap she usually falls right out when we get back. Which tells you something about how good the cool crisp air is for you. As for me and Gary it is time well spent clearing out minds and preparing for our day.