The Pioneer Day Celebration

Snowflake Arizona has a great pioneer heritage. It was settled in July of 1878 by William J. Flake. It was a few days later when the apostle Erastus Snow came to meet with and help organize the little community. That is how our town got its name-- Snow Flake. So there is your little history lesson today.

Now, every year there is a large Pioneer Day Celebration filled with parades, arts and crafts shows, rodeos, BBQs, fireworks, baseball games, races, etc..... What a fun way to celebrate our pioneer heritage, and our great town. It falls on the Saturday before the 24th of July, but is still called and considered the "24th celebration". I have attended the 24th celebration every year of my married life, and it holds a special place in my heart, because it was at one such celebration, 7 years ago that David proposed to me. I, of course said YES!

My family also has added it as a tradition to come to Snowflake and visit with us, and participate in all the activities. It is always a great time! This year it fell just two weeks before our Alaskan Cruise, (more on that later!) so everyone decided not to come this year.

I have always happily observed the parade, but they got me this year! My ward asked me to ride on the float they had built. The theme for our Pioneer Day Parade was "Woman, the Heart of Pioneering" I think that's right? Anyway, our wards float was called "Learning how to Spell". It went along with a cute little children's song that was blaring from the float. The float had the words, "I am learning how to spell.... and on the back it said "Mother spells Pioneer". It had fun little things that moms do with their children. Gardening, reading stories, bath time =), bedtime... Anyway, as you can see from the photo, that is me, with Nathan, and Aubrey and Emily are in that bath tub. They are wearing their swimsuits, and playing in the water that they had piped into the tub. It was from the hose, so the kids kept getting in and out of the tub because it was pretty cold. They were pretty good sports nonetheless. David kept Betsy and Jay with him, and he is taking this picture.

After the parade we met at our house and enjoyed a lunch with all the Petersons on our front lawn. David's brother Ben, and his wife Amy and their son Isaac, who live in Provo, had just arrived in town, and it was fun to see them. We later went to the night rodeo. It was a train-wreck. I think the kids were just worn out, and burnt out..... hey, so was I. Anyway, we watched the first hour or so, and then decided that it would be better to just take the kids home to bed. We left before the firework show. But, because we live only about 3 miles away, after David and I put the kids to bed, we sat out on our front lawn and watched the fireworks there. It was a pretty fun day, and it was nice to relax for a few minutes. But it only lasted for just that, a few minutes. David and I had to get packing! We were leaving for Rocky Point Mexico the very next day, for 5 days..... to be continued.