Pioneer Days!

Every year my home town, Manassa, CO, celebrates July 24th. Why is this a special day? July 24, 1847 is the day the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. It's a state holiday in Utah, and it's a big deal in a really tiny town in Colorado because half the town was settled by Mormons in the late 1800s.

So every year the town puts on a celebration. My kids were begging to go visit this year again after we'd missed two years in a row while my parents were in Mexico being missionaries.

Two days in a row the town has a parade. Here are a few pictures from the parade.

My grandpa was the Grand Marshall of the parade. That means he's the oldest man in town. He turned 94 in April. Adam and Mary got to go for a ride with them on Friday along with their cousins DJ and Julia. Alex got to ride on Saturday, but we didn't get a picture of him.

They borrowed the wagon from a very nice Amish family. Their children were so adorable. Doug and I got to meet them when we picked my Dad up from dropping off the wagon on Saturday.

The dragon flapped his wings. It was pretty impressive. Some of these float builders are EXTREMELY talented.

A person's a person no matter how small! Adorable. This was one of my favorite floats.

Me and my little sis, Dani, plus Adam. Alex told me the other day that Dani was his favorite person in the family. As an after thought he told me that I'm the same as Dani... She is one awesome Aunt though. All the nieces and nephews would agree.

That's my buddy Alex! I think he managed to rake in more candy than anyone this year, which is pretty impressive considering that his cousin Julia has traditionally been a candy MAGNET. She's so darn cute people just can't help but throw her candy. Of course she was in the grand marshall's wagon some of the time...

And last but not least, here's M mountain. They light it up on the Saturday night of the celebration and shoot fireworks off from there. Fortunately, the fire ban in the state was lifted just in time.