Happy 24th of July

If you aren't Mormon or don't live in Utah, you might be wondering what the hell the 24th of July is.  It's celebrated as the day that Brigham Young, the president of the Mormon church back in the day, claimed the high desert as the property of the Mormons.

I laugh when I think about it.  He probably hit the top of the mountains and saw this huge lake and said, "This is the place."  Everyone probably wondered why no one else had claimed this valley with the huge water supply until they got down the water and took their first sip. 

Salt Water.  No wonder everyone else continued on to California.  Woops.  Once god tells you this is where you are supposed to be though, you're stuck.  It worked out for them though because they were able to build up their powerbase in isolation.

Here's how we're going to celebrate out day.

I know, we live in Nevada and aren't Mormon but hey, a holiday is a holiday.  Think about all the Christians that took part in Christmas even though it was outlawed.  A party is a party and religion be damned.

We are heading in to civilization.  That's a party right there.  It's nice to get out of the desert for a day.  It makes for a long day but it's a nice break.

We are going to do a bit of shopping.  That's mandatory.  There are no stores out here unless you want to count the casino gift shops.  If you're going to drive 120 miles, you get some shopping done.  We try not to make the trip very often because of the time and gas commitment.  The gas isn't as bad now that we own the Saturn.  My little car has cut our gas expense by about 60%.  That's sweet!

We are going to go to a barbeque with my brothers.  All the cousins will get to run around playing and biking while the grown-ups visit.  Trey loves playing with all the boys. 

After we eat, we're all headed to watch the Salt Lake Bees play baseball.  Last year, they flew a helicopter just about right down into the stadium.  It did a few maneuvers before flying off.  Trey loves helicopters so we're hoping they do it again.

After the ball game, they are going to do a fireworks display.  Trey doesn't appreciate that but the rest of us will and someday he will.  When he was a month old, he slept through all the fireworks that we went to.  Now, he hides under a blanket.  He doesn't cry or anything.  He just snuggles up to dad and puts a blanket over his head for protection.

It should be a great day and I'll be taking pictures.  I'll try to share them on Thursday.