Pioneer Day: An official Utah holiday celebrating when the Mormon pioneers finally made it to the Salt Lake Valley. After pulling handcarts across the country and enduring unimaginable hardships and much persecution, they arrived in the valley on July 24, 1847. We celebrate them by having parades, gathering with family, and watching fireworks. This usually also involves way too much food and this year was no different. My cousin Jared invited all of us to join him at the family farm in Monroe to roast a whole pig and enjoy each others company.
This is Mr. Pig before...
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| This is the pig, in the bathtub covered in ice...Where else do you keep a whole pig?? |
This is Mr. Pig after...
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| Uncle Mark carving Mr Pig and Dave...always in front of a BBQ |
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| Mark and Jared, still carving... |
Even though the guys put the pig in the ground ALL DAY LONG (12 hours) he didn't get totally cooked, so they decided to pull him apart and put him on the grill.
There is nothing like this small town parade to bring back fond memories.
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| Aunt Jan, Heidi and David |
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| Jared and Becca |
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| All of these people are my family |
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| Kelly, Travis and all the kids. Kelly is due with baby #4 next month! |
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| What's a parade without a couple of John Deer Tractors |
If you read this blog you'll remember the post about the farm and of my Grandpa's milk cans. I took more photos this weekend to show what the farm looks like in the summer time since the previous ones where taken in the winter.
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| This is the old milking shed where I found the milk cans |
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| The old tractor gave more hay rides then I can imagine. Jared wants to fix it up for next years parade. The shed next to it used to give me quite a scare when I was young. |
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| Summer at the farm. Nothing better |
One of the best parts about the farm is the old swing. My dad, who is the oldest of the 8 kids can't remember when Grandpa put it up but he says it was in the 1940's. Since then it has been reenforced but it still is kind of wobbly. It just adds to the excitement!
When I was young, my uncles would push me and my cousins for what seemed like hours. Now that tradition has been passed down to my kids and they spent some time pushing their younger cousins.
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| Jeffrey pushing Sorjen |
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| Becca pushing Jolie with Uncle Mark is still pushing little kids on swing |
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| Cousin Soren, his friend and Aunt Judy |
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| Aunt Sue, Uncle Mark, Heidi and David |
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| View of the hay fields looking up to the red hill. Grandpa's pond is just below the red hill. |
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| View from my cousin Kelly's back yard looking at cemetery |
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| Jeffrey and Amanda entertaining some of the younger cousins after swimming in the pond. There is nothing like having fun older cousins to follow around. |
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| Part of Jared's hard work, stacked up and ready to go. |
