Pioneer Day

Garrett came back to Utah a few days before we were supposed to head back to Oregon so that we could experience Pioneer Day 'Utah style'. We wanted to go to Salt Lake, but decided to stay in Logan since we didn't have a lot of time. So we went to a local park (Willow park, I think) where they had stuff going on and walked around looking at the booths while we waited for the parade to start. There wasn't a lot of stuff to do...Lydia went down one of those jump house slide things...
We met up with my cousin Tysha and her kids Sydnee, Cody and Joey to watch the parade.

Maggie, Garrett, Paige, Joey, Lydia and Tysha

Sydnee, Maggie, Joey Paige and Garrett (looking really excited to be there)

Bella keeping herself busy

One of the floats

It wasn't the best parade I've seen...but they were pretty generous with the candy--the kids were happy. We left the park and got some lunch and then went to this place called the American West Heritage Center right there in Wellsville maybe 5 minutes from my parent's house. I think this was the funnest part of the day. Plus, everyone got in free since it was pioneer day--score! This is from their website:

"We are a nonprofit organization devoted to celebrating and preserving the heritage of our area, which is Cache Valley, Utah, and its surrounding regions. We do this primarily through living history activities, events, school programs, exhibits, and outreach activities."

If you come in the summer, you'll be able to come to our Daily Adventures (June - August; Tues - Sat), where living history demonstrations, hands-on old-fashioned fun is to be had at four sites representing four different time periods, including:
A Shoshone Encampment
A Mountain Man Camp
A Pioneer Family Settlement
A 1917 Farm

These were taken at the Shoshone Encampment

Then we went to the mountain man camp that was really interesting--the guy there (dressed as a mountain man) told stories of Jim Bridger and Lewis and Clark and other mountain men. After that we went to the Pioneer Family settlement...

Going into one of the pioneer homes

Inside the mud hut...


Then we went to the 1917 farm while Garrett listened to a 15 minute talk and demonstration for a gatling gun. We also went on a covered wagon ride while we waited for Garrett. Lydia got to sit in front...

Part of the pioneer settlement
Lydia and Paige riding ponies

We had to leave this place at 5 and head home because we were going to the Ogden Rodeo with my parents and cousin Tysha and her family.

It was so hot even when we got there and continued to stay hot all night. I thought Utah cooled down at night?! Anyways, the rodeo was awesome--I love all things "cowboy". The beginning was my favorite part...they had 8 or 9 guys skydive out of a plane and land in the arena one at a time. It was so cool to watch them come in and land. The last one was carrying an American flag...so cool to watch it waving in the sky and then to sing the National Anthem and honor the soldiers who were out on the field--I love America!!!

I think the girls really liked the rodeo, too. They all love horses, so they were in heaven getting to see all the pretty ponies. The girl's favorite part was the crowning of the new rodeo queen. They actually put a tiara on top of the queen's cowgirl hat. Paige really liked that. They loved that each girl had a different color outfit--Paige especially. We all really like the bull riding, but of course they keep that until the end.

I like that that they play fun country music throughout the rodeo (I'm the only one in my family that likes country.) At the end, they had these freestyle motorcross riders do some awesome jumps and tricks. I have never really seen anything like this, so I thought it was pretty cool.
This is such crazy stuff!!

They also had some great fireworks for Pioneer day. Paige and Bella were exhausted...they crashed before it ended.

Dad, Bella and Mom

Poor Paige crashed in my arms

Joey, Eric (Tysha's husband--hard to see him), Cody, Tysha, Dad, Bella, Mom, Sydnee (can't see her head) and Maggie. So, I have to say that Utah showed us a pretty good Pioneer Day!

Visiting the Units

My parents have been in Mansfield, TX for nearly 20 years. We moved there in 1991 when I was a freshman in high school. They finally moved away and headed back to Utah where they were both born and raised. Actually they were both from Brigham City, but the point is is that they are finally back in Utah. They sold their house in Texas after two or three 'near sales', only to have the people back out at the last minute. They bought the land for their new place a few years ago and last fall, started building their "dream home". They custom designed it. My parents/family have moved around NUMEROUS times and so they've known what works in a house and what they like/don't like. So, when they were designing this house, they knew exactly what they wanted. For example, the kitchen. It has never been big enough to hold everyone when we all come home for Christmas. We've had many Christmas dinners out in the garage, just so we can all eat together. It was quite fun, though. So, they have a huge kitchen with a big, long island where all the grandkids can get up to the counter and decorate cookies or make gingerbread houses. They also had a special room built over the garage for the grandkids to stay that they call "the dorm room". It's a fun room. Granted, there are only 6 beds in there and they do have 14 (and still counting) grandkids. But, it's big enough that the rest can sleep on the floor.

After our vacation in Idaho we drove down to Wellsville (Logan) where their house is so that we could finally see the house and hang out with the grandparents. They just moved in at the beginning of July, so they had only been in the house for a few weeks before we got there, but they had a lot of stuff already unpacked and we felt very at home. So, I was there for two weeks with the girls, but Garrett had to fly back to Oregon to work for most of the time, but came back July 23 to hang out for a couple of days before we drove back to Oregon.

I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of the outside of their house the whole time I was there; or very many pictures at all for that matter...I guess I was too busy having fun! :) But, my dad took these pictures before they moved in...their house was part of the Parade of Homes there and so they decorated the whole house for the home show...this is what a few of the rooms looked like:

The outside...looking at the front door.

The Kitchen
My mom's sewing room...possibly the best room in the house!!
My mom's sewing room looking in from the doorway.
The dorm room...looking towards the hallway.
One side of the dorm room...

and the other side.
When we got there, my girls were so excited to run up to this room and pick which color bed they were going to sleep in. It's such a fun room!

My mom and I are a lot alike...we both love to sew and quilt and do "crafty" things. So, pretty much the whole time we were there we SHOPPED. Not for clothes, but for material and quilt patterns. It was a ton of fun. Well, it would've been 100 X funner, had my kids not been there with us. That sounds really mean of me. They were REALLY GOOD the first day, but they got sick of those fabric stores REAL FAST I tell you. They are just kids after all! So, I came away with like 10 more projects to work on...that I really am excited about making. We tried to start one while I was there, but with all the shopping, we didn't get very far. We worked on a few sewing projects that Maggie and I brought with us; I helped mom download itunes and I started loading her many, many cds onto her computer so that she can start using her new ipod. We even went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Costa Vida. Ever since they closed the one in Hillsboro, I've been really sad and missing that sweet pork like crazy. I was so excited when my mom told me that there was one in Logan--Yay! My car broke down over the weekend, so we were stranded at home from Friday till Monday. None of my parents' cars had enough room to fit all of us at once, so if we went anywhere we took my suburban. We had fun hanging out at home though. My dad was out of town a lot for work, and when he was home, he was busy with projects around the house. He's finishing the whole basement by himself, so he had a lot of work to do...still does...that's a big project.

My dad painting the storage room in the basement

The girls in their special chairs--Bella loved these!

She loves to smile for pictures and even says something resembling "Cheese"
The girls living it up in the dorm room

Watching "Dreamer" with grandpa
Lydia bought these sunglasses at the Dollar Store while we were there and I
thought she looked quite cute in them.

It was so fun being there and being able to relax and spend time with my mom and dad. I definitely plan on going back every summer since they are so close now!

Last Few Days in Idaho

Thursday 9th
Josh, Tanya and Hannah left this day to head back to California. This is a picture of Devon, Paige and Hannah...little buddies for the week.

Garrett and Jacob took them to the airport and the rest of us headed to downtown Coeur d'Alene for some shopping.

Devon, Alyssa, a moose, Sydney, Maggie, Celeste and Bella

We then all met up for some Mexican food for lunch and then we took the kids mini-golfing.

That night we played American Idol Karaoke, which was fun. Thanks to the Kelley's for letting us borrow their game and microphones.

Friday 10th
Savann, Alex and their three kids left this day. The rest of us started gathering stuff and packing and cleaning since we had borrowed the house from friends. We also spent some time hanging out by a river and letting the kids play in a little raft we brought. Sorry--no pictures for this day.
Saturday 11th
We spent the morning cleaning our room and loading our car while Garrett's parents took Meggin, Jake and Celeste to the airport. When they returned, we took off to our next vacation in Logan, Utah to spend some time with my parents in their new house.

Grandpa Jim and Bella

Grandpa and Grandma with the girls
Us ready to take off

We took two days to drive from Coeur d'Alene to Logan. We drove straight down through the center of Idaho because Garrett wanted to show the girls the town that he grew up in: Mackay, Idaho. So on Saturday we left around noon and drove until 8 or 9 pm and stayed in Challis. It was a beautiful drive through central Idaho. There is nothing in Challis though. We had to eat dinner in a bowling alley because the only fast food restaurant there (Subway) was closed. The next morning we got up and drove to Mackay and spent some time driving around the town; Garrett showed us where he lived and went to church and school etc.

The home Garrett grew up in--across the street from the ranger station (below).

The school
It's really a beautiful place
This was main street--completely dead! There really is nothing to this town!

Of course, it being a Sunday and Mackay being a Mormon town, there was no place to eat breakfast because everything was closed. So we drove down to Arco and stopped at a gas station for some donuts and milk.
This is an example of our breakfast that morning! Ding dongs and
strawberry milk--breakfast of champions!

We also stopped in Pocatello see where Garrett's grandparents were buried.

We were lucky enough to see his aunt and uncle (Cindy and Don) as they were driving back to Pocatello from Ogden. We only visited for a few minutes, but I think it meant a lot to Garrett and to Cindy.

Don, Garrett and Cindy
Stretching our legs

We finally pulled into Wellsville around 2 pm and were ready to get out of the car!! Our Utah adventures will be continued in another post!