We love Pioneer Day

She's happy as can be celebrating!

If you aren't in Utah, July 24 may seem like any other hot day of the summer. If you are in Utah, you are most likely celebrating the very special day known as Pioneer Day. This day is celebrated July 24 and is the statewide holiday in the state of Utah which commemorates the arrival of the Mormon pioneers on July 24, 1847 in the Salt Lake Valley. There are many forms of entertainment that occurs throughout the state such as parades, rodeos, family reunions, and food (my love language, I am sure)!

My folks waiting patiently for the parade with two of our loves

My great grandparents are from a small town in Utah known as Marysvale, Utah . This wonderful little town has served for many years as my family's reunion spot, fishing spot, escape the heat spot, ATV spot, etc. We are blessed that our Great Grandparents had a beautiful home with gorgeous views of the mountains on all sides. This quaint little town offers a large display of pride when it comes to celebrating the state holiday. The town comes alive for this event and it is so fun! It's amazing how many folks from our valley end up in Marysvale for the celebrations. The town puts on a fun dinner and dance along with a fireworks display. Some years the weather doesn't permit it but this year was wonderful. It was a wonderful display that made Grayson's whole evening. It was so fun! Great work to all those that put it on.
The next day doesn't disappoint either with lots of fun for the whole family. The day starts off with a fun parade of the community. The floats and parade entries include local businesses, pageant queens and princesses, dance clubs, atv clubs, etc. It is so fun! They definitely do not hold back on throwing candy and spoiling the kids rotten 😅 After the parade comes the opportunity to have the kids expend some of that sugar rush at the community water games and carnival. This is great for the kids and they have fun! Bounce Houses, Playground, Carnival Games, Oh my! The middle love had so much fun and he is quite the daredevil. I was so thankful for these games to tire him out! After the fun morning comes the "Biggest Little Rodeo" which is so fun! They offer all of the traditional rodeo favorites (bullriding, barrels, etc) but it has so much more. Like most small town rodeos they offer the chicken catch. If you haven't ever seen it, you need to. It's a favorite of our chicken lover. This event is where they release some fast chickens and small children race to try and catch one of the chickens. It's so fun but the kids parents kids get intense. This event causes a lot of excitement and for our middle love, a lot of tears because as of yet he hasn't been able to catch a chicken. I assure him each time that he can come home and catch as many chickens as he'd like. That usually subsides the tears, until the next rodeo. 😂

She's getting so mobile and FAST!

After the cowboy (and cowgirl) action of the rodeo the real fun happens! The beloved "Trout Rodeo" is worldwide fun for this small town. They fill a pavilion with water and then a truck full of trout drives in and dumps a ton of trout into this area. The kids (3-11(?)) all patiently await for the go ahead to give it a go and catch a fish (or two). Once they get the signal it is all around ruckus. It's so fun to watch! The kids go crazy trying to catch their fish and man the first little while those trout are fast! They hide between legs, by the way, in the corners, anywhere away from the madness. Middle Love loves this. He talks about it all year long and how much he loves his "Fish Friends."

He's so happy to be with his "Fish Friends"

What a busy day! It is so fun getting to spend the day with family celebrating our Pioneer Heritage.