24th of July

Every year on the 24th of July there is a parade for the primary kids in Levan.  We have participated in the parade for as long as I can remember.  It was fun to have my kids be able to participate this year.

This was a fun old car.

Our float was on Aunt Bethany's trailer.  The theme we chose was

Warriors: Past, Present and Future

Some of the younger boys were warriors from the past, like the stripling warriors.

We had righteous mothers as warriors past, present and future.

Lastly we had our future missionaries...several of which hit me with candy as I was getting pictures!

They have pretty good aim.

We watched the parade from Suazo's house and after wards Linda showed us her newest grand baby.

After the parade we headed back to Grandma's house for lunch and to visit.

Aunt Andrea petting Abby while Jessica helped Nathan pet her.

Aunt Andrea was soon drafted to give pony rides.

Eliza and Bradley took advantage of the rides.

Amy also took a turn helping Nathan explore.

Grandpa Marvin came down for lunch and to visit for a while.

Aunt Darcy and Uncle Brian came too.  It was fun to see them and visit one last time.

Nathan checking to see if Grandpa had anything worth stealing.

Awe, a pen.  My favorite!

Aunt Brenda and Uncle Neldon brought their four wheelers and let the kids go for rides.

Kaleb, Eliza, Aunt Laura and Daniel

Rorie, Amy, Aunt Andrea, Andrew and Bradley

After lunch we headed up to the park to enjoy some of the games.

Rorie was up visiting with Aunt Brenda for a couple of weeks.  We were glad they came down so we could see her too.  She was a little bit sad about something.

Aunt Brenda visiting with Aunt Darcy and Uncle Brian.

Rorie is a cutie.  I love this girl!

There was a jousting pit at the park.  The boys couldn't get enough of it.

First up was Bradley and Daniel.

Getting into position.

Let the jousting begin!

Next up Dallin and Hayden

Hayden was nice and didn't go too hard on Dallin.  What a good big brother!

Next up Andrew and Tyler

Andrew fought hard, but Tyler had longer arms.  :0)

Caden and Braxton went the rounds next.

Daniel and Bradley decided they needed to go the rounds one more time!

Daniel knocked Bradley off a couple times.  I think Bradley just liked jumping off.

After the jousting came the pie eating contest.

Brian and Tyler decided to try their luck.

The only problem was the pies were still frozen!

Brian checking to see how Tyler was coming along.

Tyler checking on Brian's progress.

You don't get very far when your pie is frozen.

There was also a BB gun shoot.  They kept the targets and the closet shot won a BB gun.

Bradley holding his target.

Daniel lining up to shoot.

Eliza didn't want to be left out of the fun.  She hit the target once.

Caden won the BB gun for their age group.  Bradley hit the target more times, but Caden had a shot closer to the bull's eye.

My favorite activity of the day was the greased pig chase.  Bradley and Daniel both wanted to participate.  They are in the middle in light blue.

Getting ready to release the little pig.

The chase is on!

Hayden caught hold of the pig, but a little girl grabbed it too.  He lost in a coin toss.

Bradley and Daniel were sad they didn't catch the pig.  I wasn't too sad since I didn't want to fly it home anyway!

Andrew and Tyler were in the second group.

Run little pig run!!

So far we were 0 for 2!

Ben was our last hope for a pig!  He is on the right in black.

This little pig wasn't as little.

Off they go!

The pig turned the wrong way and Ben couldn't get in close enough.

So the final score was 0-3!

The dinner at the park was good as always.

It was so fun to be able to participate in the 24th of July act ivies that I enjoyed so much as a child, and to share them with my kids.  It has been able 10 years since I was able to attend and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  It made it all the better to have some many aunts, uncles and cousins to celebrate with.

We headed back to Grandma's to finish packing so we could head back to North Carolina.

The day was bitter sweet.  We had been in Utah long enough that it was hard to leave.  The only thing that made it durable was knowing we were going home to see our dad.  We missed him a lot and couldn't wait to see him.