Pioneer Days - Part 1

As I have mentioned before, the area where we live is full of rich pioneer heritage. The small towns around us throw a huge party in the middle of July that last from Thursday until Saturday to celebrate the pioneers.

On Thursday, it is the town of Sanford's turn to host the fun.  In the morning, we went to the fun small town parade. Later in the afternoon, we went to some activities.

There were lots of fun activities for the kids.

Lucy loved to blow bubbles. We arrived a little too late to do the crafts, but the kids were still able to find other things to do.

Another activity that the kids all loved was jumping rope.

The kids also found some buddies from school!

The kids remembered how much fun they had last year and they were eager for the races to begin and ending with the grand finale of having water shot at them from a fire engine.

The first event was the foot races. The kids were divided up into ages and raced! The kids did their very best and ran hard!

Even Lucy raced and so did I!

Next, came the three legged race. Hyrum and Emmy each found a partner to do the race with.

Then, came the egg toss! All the kids lasted for a long time.

After the egg toss, the kids were able to participate in a tug of war!

Last came the water!! It wasn't as warm this year as last year, so afterwards the kids were freezing!

It was a fun way to start off the pioneer celebration!

Baseball Tournament

The middle of July brought baseball tournaments. Each of the kids played hard and had fun! I was proud of each of their progress they made this season as they worked hard at practice and at home to improve and become better players.  Each day the kids had to catch 30 pop flies coming off the roof. Also, I took the kids a few times to the park to practice hitting.   I hope the kids remembered how hard they worked and how hard work brings forth great results.

Hyrum's team took second in his division. Hyrum played first base and catcher for most of the season.

Ben and Emmy's team won their age division.

 
Emmy and Ben both played well during their games through out the tournaments. Each of them had some great hits and got people out.

During the last game, in the last inning, our team was ahead by a couple of runs. Ben was playing short stop. The batter hit a pop fly right to him. Ben caught the pop fly and ran to touch second base for a double play. Then a couple of batters later, the ball was hit right to Ben again and he tossed it to his friend on second to get the batter out.

I am proud of my kids and how hard they worked to do their best!

Zapata Falls

We were lucky to have Brandon's sister and her family come and spend some time with us during the month of July. 

Her family came with us to baseball games, the pioneer activity, to the park, etc. We had a fun time playing games and just being with each other. We had a great time together. One of my favorite things was that she made dinner every night she was here. 

One of the fun things that we did together was to hike Zapata Falls. When we first got to the trail head, we had a great lunch together.

Zapata Falls is an easy enough hike and very beautiful. Hannah was kind and carried Lucy for a little bit.

The big kids had a great time exploring through the cave to the majestic waterfall.

I stayed behind with Lucy and threw rocks in the water (one of her favorite things to do).

The little kids, myself and Lorri played in the water while Carson and Hannah went off exploring!

It was a fun day spent with cousins!