My Lil' Pioneer Children

***WARNING: This is a long post. Lots of pictures, a few stories, this and that. I am trying to make amends for the lack of posting lately***

Since yesterday was Pioneer day, I wanted to plan something really fun for us to do (especially since we are in the SL Valley). Unfortunately, I just couldn't think of anything.

Ok, Ok, I was so wrapped up in re-reading the Twilight books that I kind of forgot that the holiday was so close.

Well, in a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, my Mom looked up This Is The Place Heritage Park online. Sounded perfect, so we left as early as possible so we could beat the crowds.

It was the perfect place to go on Pioneer Day! There were so many things to do and see- the girls even got to try out pulling a handcart...

They got to wash some rags the old-fashioned way,

Churn some butter,
and they got to make some fun crafts, including lamb masks to wear in the parade (which we didn't end up staying for),

coloring some wooden fish and snakes in the Shoshone (spelling?) house while we listened to the lady, who was dressed-up as an Indian character, tell us about the rattlesnake that likes to come into the house (that didn't scare me at all),

and even did a little leather working with Dad.

And what was Mr. Porter doing while the girls were doing this, you may ask? Running amuck of course!

He played in the little wooden houses,

and played with his new wooden pop-gun.

Piper and Porter's favorite part of the park, however, were the animals. We got to walk inside the baby-animal pen and pet some goats, calves, sheep and a big ole cow.

Here's a lil' clip of Porter meeting the goat- and if you listen closely, you can hear Orrin's impression of a goat :

Adi was less than enthusiastic about the animals (there was an incident when the calf snuck-up behind her and she nearly fell into a little creek- it had more than a few people giggling). She did, however, enjoy the pony ride.

And Adi was our little navigator through the village...

Porter kept pointing at the news chopper that was flying over the park (can you see the little dot up in the blue sky?).

Here's one of Porter being tortured by his sisters:
What was my favorite moment of the day? Porter and I were walking down the boardwalk, holding hands. Piper walked up next to P.G., and he reached over and grabbed her hand. My heart melted right then and there. For those who don't know my Lil' Man's personality, he isn't one for much affection toward his sisters. He prefers to bite, hit and head-butt them. He held her hand for five minutes!

Orrin and I met Eli and Vanessa for lunch at Cafe Rio after (yep, we were out of there by noon). The kids spent the rest of the day in the swimming pool playing with the hose and water balloons while OP reread one of his Louis L'amour books and I longed for a new book to read .



And, since I put shockingly little preparation into the planning for the day, OP went and got pizza for dinner- you rock Merrill! We ended the night by telling some pioneer stories and lighting up a few sparklers. Orrin and I even got to relax together and watch a movie in the comfort of our own family room. WAHOO!!!