Pleasant Valley Days!

We had the rare and unforgettable experience this past weekend of attending Pleasant Valley Days in Scofield, Utah. I guess my parents go every year, and it's become a family tradition I was thus unaware of, but we really had a great time! We drove up Friday night to spend the weekend at the cabin and to make sure we would be up and at it bright and early to get good seats at the parade saturday morning. I have never seen so much candy in a parade! And as evidenced by the piles of it left both and in and on both sides of the road, every child there had more than their fill. Then we walked around the fair and had the typical fair-time foods for lunch - the ones you feel guilty about eating at any other time or place - and Erick and Izzie talked grandpa into new hats at one of the booths. After naps we headed down to the duck races. The rotary club goes around during the morning selling "ducks" for the race, and each little yellow bathtub duck is tagged with a number matching the tickets sold. Erick and Izzie each had ten, so we figured our odds were good. Apparently, a lot of people who buy tickets purchase them in bulk, and then donate the prize money back to the charity involved, but it was still entertaining to watch the sea of over three thousand ducks floating down the river. If the leader gets stuck in a whirlpool or low-lying branch in the river, the group exhudes mass sighs in sympathy, and when one breaks away everyone cheers! Many people think athletes get paid a lot because they're entertaining, but most have nothing on this duck race.

We went back and swam in the lake a little, and grandma taught the kids the finer points of dam building and breaking down on the beach. Later in the evening we piled into grandpa's boat headed for the island, where the fireworks are launched. Hundreds of boats gather in, and we all drop anchor just far enough from each other that our soundtracks don't compete while we wait for the big show. As soon as you see the road flares on the island you know it's close, because there's no electricity and everything is manually lit. Sitting in the boat watching the fireworks this year was amazing! The weather was perfect, the waves were gentle, and experiencing it all with some of my favorite people in the world made it even better.

You'd think we were done, and that was the grand finale of the festivities, but the last Swenson tradition of the weekend is actually church on Sunday. The Scofield branch apparently has 25 or so members every week of the year except for pleasant valley days. That sunday becomes the family reunion of sorts to everyone who both lives and/or owns any kind of recreational property in the area. The little branch swells to accomodate over 300 that one week, and it's always on fast sunday. The meeting was excellent, and I ran into a few old friends from high school who in only a few moments, inspired me to be a better person.

All in all it was a great weekend, and we were so glad to be here to enjoy it. It's a little sad to think next summer we may be somewhere else in the country on an internship, and after that who knows where we'll land, so these times with family are so precious and appreciated.