We love our pioneers!

Yesterday was Pioneer Day here in the great state of Utah.

It is the day that we celebrate the Mormon pioneers entering our beautifully valley in search of refuge from persecution and pain. 

For homework Bryce had to write a paragraph (in cursive because I still believe in that sort of thing...meanest mom EVER, remember) about the pioneers.  He wrote:

"The twenty-fourth of July is a great day.  It's the day we celebrate the day the pioneers came to the valley that would soon be known as Utah.  I'm greatful (his spelling, but he is great and it was a holiday so I let it slide today) that they did."

Anyway, we invited the extended family over for a barbecue and to share some small fireworks.  We grilled hot dogs and played a fabulous new game we have called "Toss Your Cookies."  It is a great game for kids but it was even more fun with just the grown ups (acting like kids because how can you not when you are playing a game with a title like that).

Anyway, then it was time for the good stuff.

We headed into the yard and started out with sparklers.

Then we graduated to a war with exploding pops.

My brother, Joel, even tried to teach my boys the finer points of creating one gigantic pop by emptying the innards of many small pops into a toilet paper square.  Awesome!

Ellie was not very enamored with the fireworks.  She kept her distance most of the night, but we did catch one brave moment on film.

My amazing sister in law, Jenny, brought glow sticks to share with everyone so we all lit up the night even when we were just sitting around.

This year was pretty big because Bryce got to light the big fireworks for the first time.  We have a family rule that you have to wait until  you are 12 (mostly because I had a really nasty firework incident as a kid so I am paranoid).  He loved it and was really careful (so his mother didn't have a heart attack).  What a wonderful kid.

We had a great evening.

(Except for the part where a ground flower decided to explode and shot a hunk of burning mass at Josh which rolled up his shirt and stuck under his chin.  He has an ugly red burn and a couple of blisters now courtesy of ground flowers "with report."  Watch out for those!)

Thanks to our pioneer forebears for the trials they faces to bring us to our home in the valley of our beautiful mountains...and for giving us a great excuse to spend time with the people we like best with things that explode!