Pioneer Day The Milky Way

We had an awesome Pioneer Day while we were in Utah. I love celebrating this holiday and I'm grateful for the sacrifices our Pioneer ancestors made in our behalf while they traveled across the plains pulling all their belongings behind them. I can't imagine being asked t o do that.

First the kids and I met some Tres Jolie former night beaders for lunch. Tres Jolie is a jewerly company and they employed mostly stay at home moms who would assemble the jewelry from home. Then the company changed and we started assembling the pieces at the warehouse. I loved working there and I love the friendships that were forged over piecing together XL necklaces, double chunky chokers, and our arch-enemy the quad bracelet. We laughed together, we cried together, we played jokes on each other, we ate together. These ladies will always hold a special place in my heart and I am so grateful for their friendship! Here are some of the TJ offspring:Later we went to Toran and Erin's for some dessert and fireworks. The kids love playing in their awesome back yard complete with sandbox, sport court, pool and trampoline. Here are the babies gettin' dirty:

Reese and her cousin Claire. Reese still pronounces her name as "Kware"
Right before we left for the evening, Owen disturbed a nest of wasps and an angry one stung his cheek. His poor eye swelled up and he had a nice shiner the next morning.
Now here's where the title of this post comes in. I like to carry around my camera with me everyday. It has a case. But the case is so big and so bulky in my bag, so I rarely had the camera in the case. Well, I had been warned over and over again about the dangers of a camera in the same bag I keep the sippy cups. *sigh* This fateful day, Owen's sippy full of milk completely emptied into the bottom of the bag---it was a puddle, no--a lake of milk. The camera was soaked. I let it dry out and it continued to work for about an hour.....
But the pictures slowly started to look like this:
And then we were left with this. These are the cute girly cousins eating their ice creams on the porch. It was an adorable photo-op. So now, I have learned my lesson. No more camera's (cuz we don't have one!) in the diaper bag/purse unless it has a water/milk-proof case.

The evening ended with fireworks of course and we went home completely exhausted and fell right into bed. It was a very happy Pioneer Day indeed.