Some Must Push and Some Must [Shove] – Day 2

I knew it was time to wake up when I heard the rooster cock-a-doodle-doodling. I’m not kidding.  I literally woke up to the sound of chickens!  I absolutely loved it!  It annoyed T.J. to death, but I loved the feel of being out in the country on a farm.

We headed to town to watch the Pioneer Day Parade.  The most special part of the parade was to have T.J.’s Great-Grandfather lead the parade in a horse and buggy.  He had his cute little cowboy hat on and waved to the crowd. One word: adorable.

The rest of the parade was filled with the city’s 3 wards (there is a WHOLE stake in this city of 1000!) and their different floats for Relief Societies, Primaries, and even the Stake President!  Families dressed as pioneers and pushed/pulled hand carts down the street in memory of their ancestors who made the trek across the plains.  My favorite float had their ancestry tree drawn out against the side of the truck.  Grandparents sat in the middle and were accompanied by their huge family.  Who knew a parade could be so sweet?

After the parade, we checked out the national park a few miles away with these cool rock formations called “Honeycomb Rocks.”  We weren’t dressed for exploring, so we didn’t stay too long.

For the rest of the day, we hung out with family, had a huge barbeque, ate so much sugar I thought my teeth were going to fall out immediately, and laughed till we cried while listening to the stories his Grandpa, Aunts, and Uncles told.

The town held races for the children which were pretty entertaining, but it was over a 100 degrees so I couldn’t stay outside for too long.  T.J.’s Aunt Karen also threw some games for the kids to keep all of them entertained.  We played “Name that Tune” with the adults and won an iHome for our iPod.  (Eliesa, about have of the songs you put on that CD for us were in the game, so I owe it to you.)

When the day was drawing to an end and the house was calming down a little bit, we headed to St. George to stay with Karen and her family.  They were a blast to be with, not to mention had the biggest TV I’ve ever seen, so clearly my love for them grew instantly. They also had a great pool with a hot tub, so we finished the night off with a swim and then a movie.

Well.  I’m sure you really didn’t care about what I did every waking moment this past weekend, so I apologize for these past two posts!  I really just wrote them because I’m counting my blog as writing in my journal so my mom doesn’t get at me for not writing memories down.

Anyway, thanks to T.J.’s parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents for making this weekend a great one.  It really was a dream to be a part of such a large family who all share the same values as we do.  Love you all!

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