Pioneer Day

 The 24th of July is just a regular day in every place except Utah.  How lucky those of us that get to be there are.  I am the only one left in my family that will stick it out with Mom and actually go to the parade.  I feel like missing the parade would be a travesty.  I love the parade more every year.  It is long and kind of boring and hot and that is kind of what makes it so incredible.  Just when you think that you will melt into the sidewalk it ends and you know that you did the right thing in showing up.

Best Picture of the Summer

 Emily is always there to keep things interesting and she made us a delicious lunch afterwards. 
We then spent the afternoon in an interesting conversation with my Dad's brothers.  They were all in town for my cousin Madison's wedding. 

This is where I will put the pictures of the wedding that I don't have right now.  I really want the one of Matt trying to surreptitiously take a photo of Jim's girlfriend and also one of the beautiful bride.

It was great to hang out with them and my cousin Max who I haven't seen for like a hundred years. 

Then we spent the evening with my whole family all together...except Brandon.  I talked to him on the phone.  He was in Oregon which meant that it was just a regular lonely day.  I tried to say that we weren't having fun but the giggles in the background told a different story.  It was one of those picturesque moments that is always used in a montage at the end of a movie.  You know, that last day before everything goes horribly wrong and the final moment when everyone was happy.  So far nothing bad has happened but it makes me a little nervous.  I am also a little nervous whenever Brandon wants to dance with me around our house.  That is also in every movie right before tragedy occurs.  We dance around the place all the time and so far we are all in tact...keep your fingers crossed. 
So anyway, what I really meant was that it was a perfect evening and I loved every second of it.  The only way it could have been better is if Brandon had been with us. 

 It looks like a Congo Line but it was really the makings of a whirlpool.

 Rosy supervised the attack on Jared.  You can tell from his face that her plan went off without a hitch.

 We did some sherbert experimenting.  It turns out that a lime Ricky float is the most refreshing thing possible.  The runner up, tried by nobody but Dad, was a float made by combining mint chip ice cream and Mountain Dew.  Disgusting!  If you know him you aren't surprised at all.

 Daisy takes after her mom in her fear of fireworks.  Opa's ear protectors got her through the night.

 There may be some illegal things here that were leftover from the time that Jill actually got busted by the police.  They may or may not have been lit on this occasion.  One or two of them may have hit the house down the road, but you know what they say, what happens on Pioneer Day...My part in the evening was the same it was when we were teenagers.  My siblings light all kinds of crazy things on fire and I hide under a blanket fearing that we will get in trouble or that we will burn our house down.  Lucky for us all we ended up having a great show without any problems at all.  Moral of the story:  Don't be such an old lady.

 And in case you were wondering, Jared eventually forgave Rosy for her role in the attacks and the two of them made an alliance.  Next time we'll see who is grimacing.