Pioneer Day Weekend

I always love July 24th in Utah, because we get to celebrate Pioneer Day. I am so grateful for all of the Pioneers that were so selfless and sacrificed so much for us to live where we do today. I am in awe at all that they endured through, yet kept moving on. Their faith just amazes me!

To start off Pioneer weekend, I did what I'm sure most of Southern Utah does....SWIMMING :) 

 I went swimming with Shauni, and a new good friend, Lisa, who took us to her hubby's Uncle and Aunt's guest house, and WOW was it amazing! 

Then later that week I went swimming with Tyson, Maren, Logan, and Cathie. We swam at our Uncle and Aunt's house. It was super nice until out of no where it decided to get windy. That's Hurricane for ya...

Then Wednesday night my family decided to celebrate with our fireworks because we'd all be gone our separate ways the next day. It was so fun to watch the kids faces as they played with theirsparklers and got scared by the bigger fireworks. I love spending time with my family. They mean the world to me! 

(none of these pictures turned out very good, but they're memories nonetheless)

I know Liam's eyes are closed, but I couldn't help it. These two are the most adorable best friends...when they want to be :)

It's a little dark, but there's the whole fam damily ;)

   

Tyson adores these little kids. I can't wait to see how he is when we have our own (Mushy, I know, sorry)

On Pioneer day Tyson and I went up to his Grandma Winders cabin on Panquitch Mountain with the rest of the family. It was so nice and relaxing. We even went fishing for a couple of hours and everyone caught at least one fish. Maren probably out did us all by catching the most! GO MARE!

               

Sometimes I pretend I'm a professional photographer....please play along ;)

I don't know what I would to without these people. They make vacations so much fun!

Our trip unfortunately ended short because Tyson was coughing so much and couldn't really breathe due to the elevation so we headed down the mountain and took him to instacare the next day only to find out that he has pneumonia and has had it for the last month not knowing it. The poor thing has been going to work and carrying on like everything was okay. He's so tough! 

Pioneer weekend was amazing (even with a sick hubby) and to finish it off perfectly we got to see a beautiful sunset thanks to our family dog, Shadrach. He was scared of the fireworks so he kept scratching at the back door and when we went to check on him, this is what we found....I couldn't help but think of the hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth. I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place and to have the freedoms that we do thanks to those who fought and still fight for our country and especially to our pioneers and ancestors. We are truly blessed.