The Morning of the Fourth 2019

Bethany and her attendants participated in a flag raising ceremony at 6:30 am on the morning of the 4th.  Shortly thereafter they were off to their parades-- yes, they were in three parades on the Fourth of July-- Murray at 8:30 am, West Jordan at 10:30 am,and Sandy City at 6:00 pm.
And just for the record, Bethany does not do tanning beds, spray tans, or tanning lotion.  She is a lifeguard and lives outside during the summer, plus she tans super easily.  That tan is all natural.

Elinor also had to be at the city at 6:00 am to help out with the Chuck Wagon breakfast the mayor and city council members served.  Elinor was a seriously hard working girl-- she stayed at the park until 4:00 that day-- serving the breakfast all morning and then helping run the children's games all afternoon.

She's really enjoyed getting to know some the of  kids on the council.

The rest of us headed to free swimming at the pool and Diving for Dollars.

Here is George face down looking for money.  There are no pictures of Peter participating in Diving for Dollars, because he chose not to take part.   He came to the pool expecting to swim and what did he find?  Greedy children scouring the pool for money.  And I quote, "Pools are for swimming, not for looking for money!"  Flexibility not being one of his strong suits.

George and Faith did respectably well-- both came away with roughly $3.00.

Cannon was the big winner with a whopping $5.00!  I guess that makes up for his disappointing "Cash Cow" encounter at the rodeo. ($0.00)

Faith and Cannon met up with dance friends at the pool.

Look at Greta holding on the edge by herself-- baby steps to my dream of reading a book poolside while all of my children safely swim by themselves.  Oh, it is going to happen!

So Much 4th of July Goodness

One blog post couldn't possibly contain all the goodness that our 4th of July celebration had to offer, so I will spread the love over several posts.

It started off with Bethany and Elinor meeting up at the city park on the morning of the 3rd  for a little KSL interview/ spot about the Riverton Town Days--Bethany as the "Queen" and Elinor was there with the Riverton City Youth Council.  The spot ran about 6:45 am on the morning of the 4th.  

In this picture Elinor is a little bit shaded, but she is just to the left of Bethany

This was the occasion for what will likely become one of my all-time favorite photos.
Love. Love. Love.

My mom passed away just before Bethany was born and I am 100% sure she has been instrumental in the influencing and raising of the these girls.  Because there is no other way they could be as amazing as they are without some serious help from the other side.

A little family outing for the first Slurpee run of the season. (minus Elinor who headed off to work-- responsible girl that she is).  At this point we are feeling all the exciting anticipation of the the evening's upcoming parade.

We are all decked out in our patriotic garb and ready for the parade.  This year, with Bethany riding on the city float and Elinor with the youth council-- our excitement reached a fevered pitch!

It's more fun with family and friends to share it with.  Here is a pic with the queen and a few of her subjects cousins.  She was giddily excited for this parade.  My favorite parade story was at one of the parades in another city. When the Riverton float went by, a younger boy put his thumb down and loudly and slowly yelled, "Nobody likes Riverton!"
So, yeah, she was excited to be cheered for by her own city:)

The crew set up at the parade.  We had ours spots reserved several days before and it got so crowded-- I don't think we've ever seen it as crowded as it was this year.

Grandma and Grandpa Cannon.

Abe and Cannon

Faith, Kaylee, and Takara.

Plenty of popsicles and otterpops to go around.

Greta and me.

Daddy and Gret.

The candy mongers.

Three generations.

Here's a cool angle of the float we don't usually see-- a friend sent this to us from the 2nd story of city building at the other end of the parade route.

It's not everyday you get to be the queen:)

It would seem that not everyone is quite as comfortable in the spotlight as Bethany--
If you look very carefully, you can see Elinor riding with the youth council.  Look about 2 o'clock of the front and center girl with long dark hair.  Elinor has a hat on backwards.  She did not appreciate us yelling and cheering for her.  She sort of pretended she didn't know us.   Rude.

I LOVE this moment!  Little Peter A.D.O.R.E.S his Big Peter Grandpa.  They share a name and I think they look an awful lot alike.  I dare say they may share a few personality traits as well!

So cute.

After the parade several of us came back to our house for a hot dog roast and a relaxing summer evening.

Moments like this are the true highlights of summer.

The "Russell" boys-- George Russell and James Russell.  There is also a Grandpa and Uncle with Russell in their names.  It's a good name.

LOOK!! Look what Andrea gave me for my birthday!!!  This quilt (that she made!) is so beautiful and the back is all minky material and I love it.  And Faith keeps trying to steal it from me and she puts it on her bed.  NO!!!! It is mine!  I am going to stay firm on this one.

The parade and the evening were great fun, and yes, Greta's outfit was completely over-the-top.  I make not apologies for it--we can't help ourselves.

Our First Riverton Rodeo

Friday night Abe and I went on a date to the Riverton Rodeo.  We have lived here for twelve years and have never gone before, but because Bethany was going to be riding in the opening ceremonies, we decided to check it out.  AND I AM SO GLAD WE DID!

It was so so so very American!  I mean, it was American like what I remember as a kid.  Unabashedly, patriotically in love with America.  I loved it.

It felt like stepping back in time.  This exact event could have been taking place 50 years ago. 

Of course it was great fun to see Bethany ride with the royalty.

As someone recently commented, "It's really too bad she's not enjoying being Miss Riverton!"

There was a little petting zoo at the park before the rodeo.  Bethany is in love with this alpaca.  I admit, a backyard alpaca might be fun.

Several little girls and even a little boy came over to talk to Bethany and get a picture with her.

Abe and I had such a good time and were so impressed with the "cultural experience", we decided we must bring the kids Saturday night.

We got there early (as a large group really must do to all get seats together).  It is a somewhat rare thing for us to all to be seen in public together:)

A reunion of the Foxy Ladies.  With Elinor and Faith having both been away at camps this week and Bethany always working-- we were pretty happy to be together again.  Okay, they were happy-- I was ecstatic!

So here's the thing about this rodeo.  IT IS DANGEROUS!!!!  As in, I-can't-believe-this-is-a-legal-activity kind of dangerous.  Grown men are getting thrown off of 2,000 pound bulls.  Bucking broncos are trampling their little riders.  A guy's hand got tangled in his rope and it took multiple men on horse back trying to release him while his family screamed and cried in the stands and actually rushed the arena to try to help.  WHAT. IN. THE. HECK?!  At time I felt akin to the Romans watching prisoner gladiators compete in the Colosseum.
Part of me was truly horrified and I couldn't watch many of the rides.  In my oh-so-humble opinion, this is ridiculously crazy stupid.  I would never want my children to ride in a rodeo. 
But here's the main thing about the rodeo.  THIS IS AMERICA and other people do like riding in a rodeo, so I don't have to agree with them.  I don't have to demand that they don't do an activity that I think is dangerous.  They are free to take the risk.  They are free to pray a scripted "cowboy prayer" before the rodeo begins. 
It seems to me that in this "rodeo world", people are not seen a fragile, breakable things that need to be coddled and kept safe from physical and emotional harm.  Rather, I gather they believe hard work and experience in the real world builds and strengthens them.  When a rider falls off, the announcer encourages the audience to clap and sends them on their way to try again another day.  There is no blaming a mean horse or giving the rider another chance because something wasn't fair.  No one is a victim and there was no whining.  There was toughness and grit and I liked it.  I found it refreshing and inspirational. 

Forgive the blurry picture, but this next part, you almost have to see to believe.  THE CASH COWS.
Here's how it works:  At two different times during the evening they had age group of kids climb and hop the fences and run into the arena.  They line up the kids (6-8 first then 9-12).  Then they release three good sized calves wearing pink coats with dollar bills taped all over them, and the kids chase down the calves to get the money.  In the end it's like a feeding frenzy with children and calves rather than sharks and a dead whatever. 
WHO THINKS OF THESE THINGS?  The announcer says it is "at your own risk", but there were no waivers signed.  Which is fine-- but it's just not how things are done nowadays.   FREAK-- nowadays you'd have to sign a waiver just to let your kid climb the dang fence!  So yeah... it was a fascinating couple of evenings.  And I will totally go back next year.

Not surprisingly, George did pretty well with the cash cow.  Ha ha ha!  If there is something to collect, you know George will be there front and center.  Six bucks, baby!  Also, this wins my favorite picture of the whole rodeo.

Bethany getting a kiss from the alpaca is a close second.

Oh, and I'm rather fond of this one too.  So happy to have Elinor back home.  She was so far beyond tired, but she came with us anyway and still looked gorgeous.

And now this week is Town Days with all the festivities and we are pretty stoked.

Late night run to Arctic Circle for some grub.  It was a night to remember