o pioneer day

Our first ever Pioneer Day has come and gone.  First of all, wicked nice to get another long weekend in the summer!  Second, while we didn't avail ourselves of all the available Pioneer Day festivities, we did attend a couple of them.  This is what we didn't do/see/attend: the All-Horse Parade in Sandy; Liberty Days festival at This Is The Place Heritage Park; Commemoration Concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; Days of '47 Pops Concert; Brother Brigham's Ball (an old-timey costume dance); 5K/10K/marathon; the Sunrise Service; the Days of '47 Parade (or the float preview party); the big fireworks display (although several of our neighbors put on their own shows, much to B's dismay); or the First Encampment Hike.  All of these events/performances took place throughout the month of July - Pioneer Day is BIG here!

What we did do was go to a neighborhood breakfast at one of the parks within walking distance of our house.  Although it was put on by a local ward, our across-the-street neighbors went out of their way to let us know that we were welcome.  We walked down to the park, travel coffee mugs in hand, and were immediately introduced around to many, many people, most of whose names I did not retain (I am terrible at names).  Everyone was super-friendly; we had scrambled eggs, excellent thick cut ham and a fruit salad; and when I finally glanced at my watch, I couldn't believe we'd been chatting with folks for an hour.  Nobody asked us about our beliefs or tried to push theirs on us - not even the ward's bishop! - it was a neighborhood function and they were all just happy to meet us.

The other PD thing we did was go to the final night of the Days of '47 Rodeo.  We got great seats (thanks to my work for the free tickets) in the fifth row, right next to the chutes where the bulls and broncs come out bucking.  We got to see a little of everything, the five or six finalists for each event: barrel-racing, bulldogging (steer wrestling), tie-down roping, team roping, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding and bull riding.  The bull riding wasn't much to write home about as only one of the finalists finished his 8 second ride.  But the saddle broncs were pretty exciting - plus a Utah cowboy won the event!  Nothing like a local boy making good to get the crowd loud.

And yet he managed to stay on

We took a bunch of pictures at the rodeo but, as you see, they're pretty blurry what with all the bucking and jumping and twisting and running and hopping around.  You may not care for rodeos, but you have to admit that these cowboys (and the barrel-racing cowgirls) are good athletes.  And the ones that ride the bulls - they're just plain nuts.

Can you imagine NOT wearing a helmet and

then getting on one of these bulls?