Pioneer Days Celebration

Every year for Pioneer Day (July 24th) our town has a fun celebration.  Some of the events that we attended were the parade, the rodeo, a play ("The Wizard of Oz"), and fireworks.  My parents came for the weekend, and we're happy that they typically come each year for the Celebration.

Brody was excited this year about collecting candy during the parade. 

He even shared some candy with Grandma, and Grandpa.

After the parade, we got ready to go to the rodeo.  Next year Brody will be old enough to enter in the kids rodeo- perhaps he'll be in the mutton busting competition.

Since watching the rodeo, Brody has been galloping around the house, swinging a pretend rope, riding a pretend horse, then he'll "buck off," as he knocks his hat on to the ground, and falls down.  Today he had his 6 inch long toy cow between his legs- pretending to ride it, and then get bucked off the bull!

Brody helped Brent open and close gates during the rodeo for the contestants to enter and exit the arena.

Brent is on the Oakley Vigilantes, serving as vice president, which is a volunteer committee that basically facilitates, directs, and does all the grunt work for any rodeos in town. 

For the grand entry before the rodeo starts, the Vigilantes circle the arena.  Brody sat on Brent's horse with him while he was warming up.

The first night at the rodeo, the sky shed a few rain drops, so we had to go to the car to get umbrellas.

Brody loves his Grandpa, and spent much of the weekend following him around, or asking, "Pampa doe?" (where did Grandpa go?)

One afternoon, my dad sat down to watch a golf tournament, Brody snuggled up right next to him and watched intently.  He likes to watch most sports that use a ball, and surprisingly his attention span is pretty good when it comes to watching sports.

. . . A little man.

Grandma, and Brody built a Lego tower together.

Then gave one another massages with a toy 4-wheeler.

Grandpa helped Brent do some repairs on the lawnmower, and Brody was also there to assist them.

We took a drive through the City of Rocks, and got some pizza on the other side.

One night, we went to the Wizard of Oz.  Brody surprised me yet again, and watched the entire thing, which was over 2 1/2 hours, with his mouth agape, and his eyes wide.  He really liked it, and so did I.  The Wizard of Oz used to be one of my favorite movies when I was a kid, and I looked forward to watching it each year when it was broadcast on TV.  He was somewhat nervous, however, about the flying monkeys, and the Cowardly Lion. Each time they would run down the isle (we were sitting on the end of  the isle), he would lean into the row and say, "Get you!" with a worried tone. 

The last night of the celebration ended with a fantastic fireworks show.  It really was quite impressive, especially considering the small size of our cozy, little town.

After the celebration was over, we were lucky to have my mom stay for a couple more days to watch Brody while I went off to be a dental hygienist. While she was here, Brody had hand, foot, and mouth disease, but luckily it didn't seem to be a severe case. He had a few blisters on the bottom of his hands, and feet, in his mouth, and on his bottom.  Poor little guy was grumpy for a couple of days, but who wouldn't be?  It cleared up within several days, and Brody was back to his normal happy self again.

I really hate when he gets sick, but truly he's been a healthy kid for the most part.  For that, we are grateful.

4th of July and Weekend at the Cabin

We spent the evening of the 4th of July at some friends house for a barbecue, and fireworks.

Brody loved jumping on John, and Jaime's trampoline with Brent.

When it was time for fireworks, this is how Brody's face looked: AWESTRUCK. 

John and Jaime bought a bunch of big fireworks-- the pretty kind that shoot into the air, explode and cascade through the sky (that may, or may not have been legal), and put on a show for all of us from their roping arena.

Then the kids got to do small fireworks.  Brody liked the sparklers.

The next evening, Brody and I went to my parents cabin.  Brent headed off to Jackson Hole with a friend, Broden Matthews, to rope in a World Series Team Roping.  The two of them thought it would be cool to win it, which would qualify them to rope in Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo.  And guess what?!  They won!  So, it looks like we're headed to Vegas in December!

It's about a 3 hour drive to the cabin, and Brody did really well.  He's normally pretty good traveler, and  this trip he either slept,  snacked, chit chatted with me, or watched a movie on the Kindle.

Down at the boat dock.

Grandpa uses his tractor ("Ralph") to load his boat in and out of the water, and gave Brody a ride while doing so.

Getting ready for a boat ride.

I'm not sure what Brody thought about being in the boat because he had this permanent scowl on his face the entire time.  I think it was more out of concern, than grumpiness. 

One morning, my Dad, and I, got up at the crack of dawn (we're talking 5 am) to go wood cutting. We used to go as a family every year to get wood, and it'd been a long time since I had gone.  I actually enjoyed going and spending the time with my dad, not to mention, the exercise was good for me- I had forgotten how heavy those logs were. It was pleasant, and cool all morning, and foggy which kept the mosquitoes at bay.

I didn't bring very many toys with us to the cabin, so one day while we were in town, I bought Brody a new suction cup dart gun.  He played with it for hours, and loved it.  Although, I kept having to patiently remind him not to shoot it at people.  He tried to shoot it at birds, trees, and any other target he could find.  He's definitely all boy.

Brody paused momentarily to blow on a dandelion.

I did come home with a few souvenirs, but not the good kind.  For some reason, MOSQUITOES liked the taste of me.  I ended up with a big, fat bite right in the middle of my forehead.  I felt like it stood out from miles away. . . trust me, it did.  This picture was a few days later, after the swelling had gone down.