pioneer day eve

obviously our pioneer day isn't until this coming Tuesday, but to get the festivities started, we joined in a couple things this weekend.

{for those of you that aren't from Utah - it's a Utah holiday celebrating the pioneers coming & settling the valley here in our great state :)}

my bff Leslie is over all the races that are put on by the South Davis Rec Center in Bountiful. they had a Pioneer day race yesterday morning, and i was happy to volunteer and help her out. and this is where i spent my morning...

...the last drink/rest station on the course. they did both a 5k and a half marathon so we (myself and two other women) were there for about 3 hours until everyone made it by us from both races. and despite us having to be there at 630am on a saturday, it was actually a really fun thing to do! cheer the people on and encourage them in their personal endeavors....sounds cheesy i know, but really i was glad i could be apart of it and happy to help out. 

i'm sure if you live in the bountiful area or anywhere in northern Utah for that matter, you heard about or maybe even got the pleasure of seeing the 2,000 stripling warriors walk through Bountiful's annual 24th of July Handcart days parade.

there was a lot of hype about this, and you know what? i think it totally lived up to its hype. (maybe not the rest of the parade, but this part of it anyway ;)) if you were at the parade, you could agree with me it was a super cool thing to witness. all these boys and men coming together and marching down main street in costume, representing the Sons of Helaman from the scriptures. everyone was on their feet and just cheered and clapped and hollered up until the last ones went by. i loved it!

see the guy there in the red cape? he was the leader and the one who made this whole thing come to life. his name is President Cory Hanks, and he was dressed up as Helaman. he's the stake president of my parents stake (my stake growing up) and he also happens to be the man that married my love and i. he is a very special person in our hearts, and a very very good man. it doesn't surprise me at all that he had this idea and really made it happen.

they walked by so quickly, i couldn't get a picture of the front of them! oh, and the boys walking next to him, helping to lead the 2,000...those are his sons. just a cool, cool experience to witness.

{for more about this awesome event, go here}

we also went to my sisters friday night after the parade to watch fireworks at the junior high, but i was pretty busy holding down my dog and keeping her from running away and hiding somewhere, i didn't get any pictures. they were good, as usual. i love a good firework show!