while in utah, i was able to take ellie & poppy to the small town (in the not-so-small-anymore town) celebration that was a big part of my summers as a girl.
strawberry days is the longest running festival in utah. there are all sorts of events and it gets bigger every year. because of our flight delay, we missed the little children's parade and, honestly, i was pretty worn out the rest of the week, but we hit some of the main events. unfortunately i didn't get many pictures - i was too busy having fun. :)
we stopped by huck finn day for a little while. the lines for the games were incredibly long, too long for two (three, including me) girls that had waited and waited at the airport just two days before. we stuck to the playground. each year they they make a pool for fishing and at the end they open it up for everyone to try catching fish with their bare hands.
my girls treated it like sandy creek and ran straight in, splashing as hard as they could. they were soaked in a matter of seconds. and they were happy as can be.
saturday morning we stopped by the parade with auntie erynn, uncle noah, and cousin addie lou. we got there last minute-ish, getting a pretty trashy little spot down by the railroad tracks. it was perfect for escaping early with three tired little girls, two of which fell asleep before we got a block away and the other closed her eyes just as we got our food from the drive-thru window at taco amigo. all of them missed out on the fries (more for mommy!).
our parade leaving the parade. we're really missing all our family and those big blue skies!
saturday night ellie and i headed to the rodeo with uncle noah, uncle nate and auntie erynn. we literally squeezed in on a bench and enjoyed the show. every time ellie had to get out (to go potty, etc) the other people on the bench would pass her down like firemen passing a bucket. she liked the barrel racing (she pronounced it "burrrl") and she was pretty worried about the calves getting roped. she almost fell asleep during the bull riding, she even curled up on the bench after some of our neighbors moved out. but! the rodeo ended with fireworks. and she loved the fireworks. they were seriously some of the best fireworks i've ever seen. she even asked if we could come back again the next night. it was a pretty great night out with my girl.
view from the rodeo:
i wish we could there for strawberry days every year. it is one of my very favorite things about my hometown. it just feels like home. it feels like you know everyone during strawberry days.
and even though my small town keeps getting bigger and bigger, i hope it just keeps getting better and better. it will always be a magical little place to me.
