Utah Celebrates Pioneer Day

It's become a tradition in our family to head out to Pioneer Park to celebrate the 24th of July. Pioneer Day is to Utah as the 4th of July is to the United States of America. It is the day Utahans celebrate the Mormon pioneers who first crossed into the Salt Lake valley and proclaimed "This is the place!"
Festivities are a must and our family has always been a fan of going out to the park with (what seems to be) thousands of other Utah families and await the climax of the evening.. FIREWORKS!



This year The Stud and I had a brilliant idea! Instead of walking a mile from an obscure parking spot into the park and fighting the crowd to get out, to the car and on the road home afterward we would take our bikes! What a great idea!! We had a ton of fun and afterward we raced back to our car and beat the traffic all while getting a little exercise!
The fireworks didn't disappoint either! The best part is find a spot to lay in the road and have them blasting over our heads. It's all very stimulating!

The Stud and I Get a Night Out!

It's rare that my stud and I go out. We really should/could do it more often, especially since the kids have gotten older. It just seems as though someone in our family usually has something going on.
So Saturday we found ourselves sitting at home. We had planned to take the crew to see Harry Potter but tickets were sold out and soon one of the three kiddos was invited to a sleep over, then another. I took the opportunity to detail the car. (I love a clean car!) When the best friend in the world text out of the blue "Going to The Fray concert, want to join?" YAY!!! A night out. Quickly we got ready and off to the concert...
I can't say that I am a huge fan of The Fray but I have their CD and LORD knows I'm "Over My Head" and can learn "How To Save A Life" LOL. At any rate, it ended up being a lot of fun, a night out with friends and some good music!Steve, Roxie and Di. Our concert inviters. Thanks for dragging us along!

My Mom Got Married!

She finally took the plunge!!
My mom has been with Mark for 11 years. In fact, he moved here to be with her a week before The Book Worm was born. This makes it easy for my aging brain to remember the date.
We are extremely happy for them and the wedding was a wonderful celebration in their back yard. She did a wonderful job planning for it and really made it an event that the grandkids could enjoy. Check out the photos and you'll see why...

"Sir WOWsalot" and my nephew (the oldest grandsons) walk my Mom down the isle.
The wedding line consisted of all the grandchildren. This is them getting ready for the wedding march.
Mom and Mark take their wedding vows.
You may now kiss the bride.
The whole clan. It's very difficult getting all those kids to look in one place all at the same time. This is the closest I got to that accomplishment.
The girls.
The boys.
The wedding cakes. Yes, more than one. She did a great job choosing delicious flavors that everyone would enjoy. There were a lot of left overs!
The "Candy Buffet!" This was another fun idea. Mom had a dozen or so different types of candy. M&M's, Good N Plenty, Skittles, Swedish Fish... The list goes on and on. At the end of the evening everyone went to the buffet, chose their candy, it was wrapped in a bag with a thank you note reading "Wishing you a sweet goodnight." The kids absolutely loved it of course!
Their backyard was adorned by butterflies and flowers. Providing for a sweet summer wedding!
Congratulations Mom and Mark!
July 11, 2009.