Pioneer Day & Silver Lake

It's time to play a little catch up. Pioneer Day was last week, July 24 and on Saturday we went to this really cool place called Silver Lake for a picnic. 

On Pioneer Day we didn't do anything that exciting during the day. But in Utah, you're still allowed to fireworks, so we took full advantage of that. I didn't get to take any cool fireworks pictures on the 4th, so I figured I would try it out this time. Not these pictures are all that neat, but we had a good time hanging out with my Aunt & Uncle and cousins and my  Grandma was even in town that night. And my aunt and uncle were so generous to let us use their street for our little fireworks show, since we aren't allowed to  do them at our house. 

Not that cool of a picture as far as fireworks go, there was a lot of smoke, but I thought Ryan was kind of funny. Every other picture I took his back was to me, and I told him to turn around...and this was the pose he went with. Tada!
My mom doing sparklers, and that's my grandma in the background.
Mary, Benny, and Emma with some sparklers. It doesn't matter how old you get, sparklers are always fun...am I right?

Pioneer Day was Thursday, and then on Saturday was when we drove up the mountains to escape the heat. It was so pretty up there! and almost 20 degrees cooler than in the valley. We brought food for a picnic, and then went for walk around the lake. There was this cool boardwalk around most of the lake, kind of like they have at Yellowstone. The whole time we were there I was worried about getting bit by a mosquito and getting West Nile virus (we forgot our repellent), and my mom was worried about getting struck by lightning (there was a thunderstorm kind of over our heads, and it sprinkled on and off). I think my dad and Ryan were sick of hearing about West Nile and lightning by the end of the day. 

Ryan even got to "wet a line", as my dad liked to say, on our walk around the lake. 
My parents doing their "walking towards the camera casually" walk. Doesn't my dad look so natural? 
Baby moose... on the side of the road, on our way out. 
Coming down Big Cottonwood Canyon, the thunder clouds were making the sunlight look so cool.
Almost every direction you looked there was a rainbow that night. I thought this one was neato with the Oquirrh Mountain Temple spire next to it...there was lightning too but I obviously wouldn't be that lucky to catch that in there too.
Ryan and our little garden. We checked it on our way home from the mountains. We planted tomatoes, squash, peppers, jalapenos, onions, beets, and rhubarb.  
So far the only "fruits of Ryan's labor" that we have got to partake in has been the squash and zucchini. But let me tell you, they are tasty!
Back at "the Breaks" (my dad's name for our neighborhood...Daybreak), by the lake. A nice way to end our evening.