24th on the 25th

Again a beloved holiday has come and gone. One of my favorite celebrations and one that brings back fond childhood memories is the 24th of July, Utah’s state holiday celebrating the arrival of pioneers. The memories are filled with parades, chuck wagon pancake breakfast (that we would stand in line for a LONG time), fireworks, the rodeo and family celebrations. Besides family and friends it is one of the few things I miss about Utah. Since moving away we have tried various ways to celebrate. Some have been more grand than others. This year we celebrated the 24th on the 25th because Dan and I both had other commitments. Our celebration this year was not super grand but was simple and enjoyable. We saved up some fireworks that we bought on the way home from our trip out west. Then our friends Becca and Steve (not to be mixed up with my niece Becca and her new husband Steve) who are probably the closest thing to family here came over. Bindy came too! Bindy is our part time dog. We love to watch Bindy while Becca and Steve go places. So this is kind of her second home.

We had BBQ, corn on the cob, fresh fruit all typical summer fare. We then made homemade sweet cream ice cream. Steve picked some black raspberries and made some topping from it. WOW was that a great combo, fresh ice cream and black raspberries! Then came the fireworks. We did sparklers that don’t have the nasty hot metal at the end! There were some loud fireworks and some that went pretty high - did those really leave the ground? My favorite was a fountain that shot bright red that reminded me of lava. It was a red white and blue combo alternating between the colors and then doing all three at the end. Aside from my 20 mosquito bites, despite the 2 coats of bug spray, we had a good time.

As a side note we didn’t have a rodeo. However, this past week we enjoyed our own wildlife show. We had some cute fawns play in the backyard at lunchtime and also went to a fun new petting zoo, Martin Family Fun Ranch in Clare County. Rodeos were kind of interesting the few times I went but I think going to a petting zoo with the kids or watching our backyard wildlife can actually be much more entertaining than watching people getting bucked off fast moving animals!

Happy 24th, celebrated on the 25th, written about on the 26th and blog posted on the 27th.

MARTIN FAMILY FUN RANCH

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