Oasis

Chris set up a little oasis for us in the backyard: the whale pool and umbrella for the kids and another umbrella and a lawn chair for me. Even though it is crazy hot (well, not to you AZ people, but to everyone else), it is actually pleasant to be outside with conditions like this! Yesterday I got a tiny bit of reading done in my cozy chair, but mostly just relaxed with my feet in the water.


It's almost deep enough to swim, especially if you're wearing your googles.


Sweet relaxation!


I think the 24th of July is the funniest day. Before I moved to Utah, I thought this was just a normal day. Sure, we acknowledged the pioneers' arrival into the Salt Lake Valley with primary activities where we dressed up and sang that song about walking and walking and walking and walking and walking... but that was about it. Then, as a newlywed living in Salt Lake City, I was surprised by the fact that not only did I get the 24th off from work, but that they were actually going to hold a parade and fireworks even bigger than on the 4th! What? Sweet! Why? Oh yeah, the pioneers! Huh.

Sadly, the company I work for now is not based in Utah and therefore, I went to work yesterday. And of course, we know the whole "newspaper never sleeps" thing, so if Chris isn't getting Christmas off, he certainly isn't going to be home on Pioneer Day. But he was home in time for the fireworks, which we could see from our front porch.

Our next-door neighbors watched the fireworks with us and the little girl kept saying, "beautiful", but in her little girl voice it sounded like "pitiful." The show really was fun, but I had to laugh because the 4th of July fireworks show in Idaho Falls just spoiled me rotten. Comparatively, everything else really does look like an amateur attempt. "Pitiful," may be a bit strong, but it was no Freedom Celebration!

Before the fireworks, we brought out the sparklers left over from the 4th. I tried to mess with the shutter speeds on my camera (which I know absolutely nothing about) and I thought these ones turned out kind of cool.




One more thing about Pioneer Day-- for some reason, I can't help but remember this stupid camp song I learned at Pine Basin when I was in 5th grade...

If I had the strength of a pioneer, pioneer
Into the wood I would fly, WOULD FLY!
There to remain as a pioneer, pioneer
Until the day that I die, I DIE!

The song was so annoying that I still get it stuck in my head! Ha!

Oh, and yet another self promotion for my design blog (if you can't self-promote on your blog, where else can you do it?)-- another freebie and a comment contest!