A Rodeo for the 24th of July in Utah

There are some perks to having all your kids graduated from high school and not starting school in mid July. One is that you don’t have to be back in the blasted-hot desert on the 24th of July. You can linger up in Utah with any kids who are around and live it up for that Utah holiday.

The 24th of July is a state holiday called “Pioneer Day” in Utah, and it commemorates the 1847 arrival of Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. Which is fitting since our “one word” for this year is “Pioneer.”

Lucy, our girl who’s really pioneering her own path getting ready for college (SO much more to say about that soon…we leave a week from today to get her situated), wasn’t with us on Pioneer day. She was up pioneering her own trail making memories in the wilderness of Oregon with my brothers and her cousins.

But there was a group of us in Utah who were ready to celebrate.

Including this gal:

I’m sorry, I know I’m biased, but are you kidding me on that cuteness??

And these gals:

The Rodeo to Celebrate the 24th of July

And is there anything better to do on the 24th of July in Utah than go to a rodeo?

I think not.

This was a kids’ rodeo. Never really knew that was a “thing” but it’s what was available and we LOVED it.

These kids were quite incredible. So much skill in rodeo sports.

And there’s nothing like being in small towns with cattle and horses…the music, the culture.

The sunset.

The togetherness.

The corndogs and slushies.

We loved it all.

They had all the little kids do the ribbon chase:

Next time Murphy will be in that mix.

And the “big” kids do the ribbon chase with a lively calf:

See Grace and Elle out there?

Hope we get to go to lots more rodeos in this new stage of “empty nesting” 😉

We even got some fireworks.

It was a good night.

Thanks, Utah, for putting on such a good show.