July 24th

The 24th of July in Utah...is all about celebrating pioneers,

first and foremost because of the

"Mormon Pioneers" that settled Salt Lake City.

Well, aside from that, I like to think of it as celebrating "blazing trails". So, we blazed a few that weekend. We actually decorated the girl's bikes for the neighborhood children's parade.

We then quickly blazed a trail home in the middle of the parade (thinking that my pioneer children did not sing as they pedaled and pedaled and pedaled - but they sure made a lot of wailing noises!). The kids had had enough fun for one day...which meant, so had I.

Paul's brother Jim and his family were visiting from Colorado Springs that weekend. They helped us cut the trail on another new adventure, ice-skating at the Olympic Oval. But, for some reason (probably my inability to wield a camera while wobbling on two precarious blades on the 'fastest ice on earth') I didn't get a picture with the three cousins. :/

(Paul, the secret's out...Marquessa was teaching you how to skate...)

Marquessa is now asking for lessons. (Which we discovered that Anne, her birthmom, had taken lessons for a few years as a child.) We may just have to find her lessons!