family – Page 21 – Gracious Rain

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013

Pioneer Days

Our whole family was invited to a 24th of July celebration at Timber Moose Lodge in Heber, Utah. We were promised a pioneer feast as long as we brought along a couple of side dishes. The bald kid has potato salad in one hand and fruit salad in the other. Hmmm…did pioneers eat any of those things? Who knows?

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All I do know it that Mr. Smarty Pants got to the top of the hill long before I did because…well, LOOK at that thing! Oh, and you’re seeing it from half way up. I did make it…slow but steady. Be proud of me.

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The view was amazing from the top, so I whine and whine, but it was worth it. :}

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We made our way through the grounds…

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and when we got inside…who did we see?

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April’s Jacob~and we didn’t even know they were coming. Pretty dang fun!

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We ate our pioneer beef stew and corn on the cob and watermelon out on the patio…

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and came inside to finish up and have some apple pie. Yummo.

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Then we sat around a while looking cool…

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and tying licorice ropes.

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We did however, run into a pioneer or two.

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Then back outside for the real reason we came….

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THE GAMES!!!!

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This is blurry Jacob winning the sack race. That guy was moving like he stole something. He beat the livin’ daylights out of the whole pack.

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Next was the Pioneer Stick Pull. Very, very manly game.

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Pretty sure the bald kid has some great big muscles and really long legs.

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Which means…he won.

Everybody.

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And lastly, Jacob pushed the Bald Kid in the tire swing which may not sound like much. But what you don’t see is that it swings waaaaay out over the edge of the mountain and the very idea would make a normal person sick…positively sick.

Hence, Jacob and the Bald Kid were the only ones who came close to it because they are not now and have never been exactly normal.

ANYway, we had tons of fun with the whole adventure.

The boys won everything and the rest of us watched and clapped…

like good pioneers should.

Yee. Haw.

July 17, 2013July 16, 2013

Hot Air Balloons?

Did anybody notice that there was no post for the 4th of July Balloon Festival?

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Well, that, my friends is because we were totally ready to go at 5:30 am but when we arrived at the field…

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all the people and cars were going the other direction.

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Apparently, there was too much cloud cover and too much wind so the whole darn shootin’ match was canceled and everyone was heading back home.

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Which pretty much means that this year the Hot Air Balloon Festival was just, you know….

hot….air.

Yeah, I crack myself up.

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Luckily, even in a dreadful crisis such as this, we still know how to behave.

It was a good day.

July 9, 2013June 18, 2025

The Big Parade

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This year, our parade “stake-out” blankets survived a small thunderstorm AND a gigantic windstorm. We thought we’d find our stuff somewhere in Fargo, North Dakota–but no. It all miraculously stayed put. Good blankets.

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Miss Chompy and I hung out, eating Twizzlers while everyone else roamed around in the booths. Twizzlers won…for a while…

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then we joined the crowd and strolled around the concession booths…

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where apparently, somebody was blowing bubbles.

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The girlie even got to bring home a little brown frog. I know. Random. But she loved it.

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I was tempted to go buy dinner at the big covered wagon, but then I had to wonder if they were serving chuck wagon type food. I ended up being too chicken to even go see because I’m pretty sure pioneer food was nasty. And hey, I’m just not that brave.

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Magoo had had it before we could even decide what food to get. Don’t you wish you were a baby sometimes? Looks good to me.

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Then everyone gathered for the parade…our favorite, silly little thing.

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It always starts off with the police doing motorcycle tricks.

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Incredibly loud tricks. 057

Then the military comes with the American flag. Luckily, people still stand and put their hand over their heart. I was so glad.

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These beauty queens were totally waiving at the Bald Kid like they knew him. He was baffled.

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Pretty cute Rapunzel float…

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and some creepy tiger guys with no faces.

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Then came this fuchsia poodle. I couldn’t tell how I felt about it because I’ve been looking for non-toxic nail polish and natural mascara and here comes this poor neon colored doggy. I kinda felt sorry for her.

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Magoo dancing to the band’s music. This kid’s got music in him deep down that’s coming out someday–mark my word.

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Cute little fireman clown that miraculously didn’t scared the kids. He was a gentle, quiet sort of clown guy.

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Of much more concern was this odd little dude. I couldn’t tell what his deal was but he just stopped right in front of us and started dancing in his…flag skirt…thingy.

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And this guy made us laugh because he was just sitting on the flatbed of a pick-up truck playing his drums. Just like that. I wondered what his parade entry said…”guy sitting on a trailer playing drums.” Okey dokey.

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