"Mormon Christmas"

I've got a friend from a small town in Colorado.  There are lots of little small towns within a few miles of each other.  These small towns are also pretty heavily populated with Mormons.  Every year on the 24th of July some communities celebrate the day when Brigham Young looked down on the Salt Lake valley and said, "this is the place."   The most obvious place this little holiday is celebrated is in Utah, of course, but these little areas of Colorado were settled as part of the - establishing Zion everywhere missions. So, we went to check out this special little place in Manassa......which is covered in some sort of green foliage that we're not familiar with ;)

There were also strange droplets of water falling from the sky

Visiting small town USA has been wonderful.    The older I get the more I appreciate small towns, especially those like Manasssa.  I don't know how many other small towns are like this one, but here, families stay for generations.  When children leave, they still come back to visit and you still know just about everyone in town.  What is even more interesting is how many of them ended up moving a few miles south into NM.  The saying "6 degrees of separation" is more like 2, maybe 3 max, between the families from here in NM and there in CO.  Where else could I have shown up in some random small town and run into family members of people I know at home.  

What I love about small towns- you value different things.  I keep thinking more and more that I would love to try it out.  I'm not a city girl.  I think Ive tried to convince myself of the narrative of the younger generation.  You know, living around culture and what's happening is what educated current people do.  Well, what is happening?  What is it that you need to be around? More fast food?  More shopping?  More snooty people?  More art?  I barely leave the house as it is.  Time and distance become relative when you live in a place like this. The things that are really the most important take center stage because there isn't the noise of all the unimportant blaring at you.  

I mean, look at what I blog the most about.  Canning and gardening and the gospel.  It seems like a perfect fit to me.  We also seem to be acquiring all sorts of animals and Ethan has made it his life's goal to own an exotic pet.  We could have a pretty rockin collection of animals if we lived on a nice piece of land here.  I could get chummy with some farmers and have them teach me the ropes and turn this brown thumb into a green one.  

Thinking about this farm life and having pets reminds me that last week, Ethan did the unthinkable.......He ate an ostrich burger.  That is him wiping away a little tear for his beloved friend.  Dad had the hard talk with him that you raise animals for purposes, not pets and this was a good way to see if he could handle the reality.  

Between him and Jordyn caring after every stray animal, it's only a matter of time before we turn into a farm.  I started calling them Dr Doolittle and old McDonald.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Jordyn with this stray cat they found while out 4-wheeling.  They found it in the church parking lot they parked the vehicles in.  They then took the kitten along with them for an 8 hour excursion.  They had that little kitten in one of the razors all day and when they stopped for breaks they built it little forts and played with it.  

When they got back to the parking lot they left the kitten there.  Later they couldn't stop thinking about the poor kitten and prayed that they could go back and find it.......well, they did.  The big dogs at the house didn't much care for the cat and tried to kill it.  The kids were certain the poor little kitten suffered a broken leg because of the brawl.  Jordyn carted it around giving it tender loving care and protecting it from the dogs.  Jordyn examined the cat and informed us all that it was in perfect health, only frightened.  Hehe. Killing me with cuteness, they were.  

Well, to pull off a trip of this sort of fun and entertainment, we had to drive the RV and the trailer full of 4-wheelers.  That's Jared sitting in the window with his gimp leg on the dash. 

One of the main reasons for the trip was to go on an all day atv excursion.  Jared couldn't do a trip like that with his foot and I couldn't because of my neck and back, so we stayed back and had our own fun.

Jared and I went to the Pioneer celebration AKA Mormon Christmas.  I was expecting some Janky floats, but we were in for a treat.  My friend's family parked a van along the procession for the weekend.....how awesome and small town is that?  So all we had to do was show up, get out the chairs and the shade and we were set for the festivities.

We also got to have the famous Mormon bbq.  People come back home just for the bbq.  It was pretty delish - what was even more impressive was that Jared actually loved it and ate it.  Miracles and wonders never cease.  What was also highly entertaining was just how many people my friends family knew and who I knew someone in their family.

 Now, should you ever have a chance to go.  The parade is on Fri and Sat.  It goes up the street and then back down so you could see it - not once, not twice, but 4 times!  Jared and I only saw it 2x.  I was super sad for Jordyn because every float was super bright and girly and she would have loved them.  I took pictures for her though.  My favorite float?

I literally said, "awe" when it drove by.  "Family history, I'm doing it."  What was really amazing is that these floats were made by wards and 2 of the wards had 3 plus entries.  Every auxiliary was represented.  I realized that if I were going to live in a small town that celebrated pioneer days, I was going to have to channel some serious artistic abilities.....or just hide when it came to this time of year.  This float was actually one of the most simple and I think I could have rocked out - at least that temple and hot glued some tissue on for leaves.....the other floats?  Forget it, I would have to hide!

While Jared and I had fun at the parade, the other kids were out having fun getting muddy and enjoying the beautiful surroundings.  

Jared and I got back from the parade just in time to escape the massive rain storm that swept thru.  It poured for hours.  I thought for sure the kids were getting soaked, but it never rained on them.  They did manage to find some pretty sweet puddles to drive thru and get covered in mud -which was fun trying to clean up when you are living in an RV.  The kids have gotten good at the art of taking a shower with limited water and limited heated water....and all the clothes just went into garbage bags and thrown in the outside compartments to be dealt with when we got home. 

 What pioneer celebration would be complete without fireworks?  It was also mandatory to stop at the famous little food shack called "G 6" - which you wouldn't know that's what it is called except for little iron sign on the door.  I guess the history is that it was built by a cattle farmer as a way for his kids to earn money for college and it has been going strong ever since.  The beef they use come from the cattle they raise......see you gotta eat what you raise......not sure I'm up for that part ;)

 Ya gotta love phone cameras.  I completely forgot to take my good camera, but I love how one of the kids looks like an alien in one of the firework pics.  We had people driving by and honking at our super awesome show we had going on.  You can get some good stuff on the reservations :)

Back to my little small town fantasy.  I could see myself driving down each of the gravel roads to check on my neighbors.  I could see my kids growing out of their picky eating because I would spend my days cooking and baking bread because we would have to make a trip to "town" if they wanted something different.  The kids could take off on the 4-wheelers everyday.  I could get super duper crafty so I could work on the annual ward float entry for the parade.  Or, maybe I could learn to man the bbq pit for all the brisket they sell to raise money for the celebration and the community.  After the dreamy fantasy of country living has subsided - the reality of really trying to grow my own food and slaughtering animals gets me thinking that living in the desert isn't so bad......as long as I can visit the country anytime I want.