Happy Independence Day

We just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day. Big Piney and Marbleton really know how to celebrate the 4th of July in style.

We started our day at the parade. We arrived at about 9:30, and enjoyed watching all the people arrive until the parade started in earnest at 10:00. Once the parade started, there were about four floats. It almost seemed like the parade was over at that point, but it was just a really long break in the action. The whole parade lasted for about an hour and a half.

The kids enjoyed the parade a lot, especially when the cement truck that we had decorated at EnerCrest came by. I didn’t get a picture of it, but James and Anna were both jumping up and down as excitedly as could be to see “their” float in the parade.

The parade reminded me a lot of the Magna parade, except that there were no groups from the various high schools and junior high/middle schools present. There were no bands, but there were quite a few oil company sponsored entries in the parade. Entry rules are pretty relaxed; all you have to do is show up at one of the company parking lots in town at the right time, and you can drive through the parade.

After the parade, we drove to the county fairgrounds (about 45 seconds north of town), where the oil companies sponsor a barbecue for the entire town. As far as we could tell, everybody from town was in attendance, and some folks from Pinedale were there, too. We looked around in the parking lot, and there were a couple of out of state license plates. We actually sat at a picnic table with a family from Missouri, who comes every year to spend time on a ranch in Pinedale. We also saw Kristi (from work), her husband John, and her son John, too. They drove down from Pinedale for the parade and the luncheon. Little John and James are about the same age, and Anna, James, and John played at the fairgrounds for about an hour.

After lunch, we came home and had a small celebration for Julie’s birthday. She got some nice presents this year. I gave her a new house and a computer. We have been relaxing and taking it easy since then. It’s been a really nice holiday. I hope yours has been as nice as ours.

We’re looking forward to seeing Jed and Candace and family in Salt Lake, and David and Mary Jean in Marbleton this weekend. Brenda and Norman are coming up around the 24th.