On Friday, July 3 was the Salmon River Days parade at 11am. It was an excellent parade and lasted about an hour. I got there and sat at our usual spot in the shade by the Mahoney House, but then discovered that Josh's mom had arrived at about the same time and saved a spot for all the family just one block north in the shade by the hospital parking lot. Josh's sister Tiffany and her family moved to that location, as well Jonah and Micah, but Kanyon and Ammon didn't want to leave our spot so I stayed with them there during the parade. Ammon's friends came and sat by him, and Kanyon was happy to mostly be alone to get candy without his brothers interfering.
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| Aunt Tiffany, Alexander, Uncle Scott (behind the tree), Isaac, Jessalyn, Coral, Joel, Emmy, Aysha, Dallin, Jonah, Micah, Grandma, and Uncle Malachi |
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| He made these flags at the Library Summer Reading Program's Activity a few days earlier, and waved them at the start of the parade when the veterans walked down the street carrying the American flag. |
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| Ammon and his friends Eli, Phillip, and Tim |
There were a lot of great entries in the parade this year, and the boys were happy to not be participants (we've done a pumpkin patch float in the parade the last few years).
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| Kanyon's friend Rudi came and stood by him towards the end of the parade. He was happy to see one of his girlfriends from 2nd grade! |
The boys all got more candy this year than last year, which made them happy, too! I kept yelling at Kanyon to pick up some of the candy that was left on the ground around him, but he was very picky and only picked up the candy that he liked and knew he'd eat. At one point, when I yelled to pick up one of the candies, he said back "but I don't like that kind". And then I emphatically replied "BUT YOUR BROTHERS DO!!", because I didn't know how much candy his brothers were able to get since they were surrounded by more kids. A lady came up to me and said she was videoing the parade and got me yelling at my child to pick up candy, and she thought that just showed real 4th of July spirit. I just laughed when she told me; I'm sure I sound like a deranged mother on her video!!
After the parade, we came home for a family lunch and a little party to celebrate cousin Dallin's 8th birthday.
That afternoon, the kids played, and some of the extended Tolman family stopped by to take showers in the outdoor pavilion (they were dry camping at Cockrell campground for the Hodges reunion), and as they were waiting for their turn to take a shower, they played with some of us on the outdoor table. We played "scum".
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| Malachi, Marie, Me, Benji, Josh, Ammon, and Tanisha |
That evening, Josh and I went to his 20th year class reunion. We had dinner at the Elk's Lodge with some of his classmates and their families. We talked for a bit, but there was a loud DJ playing music for people to dance to, and it made it hard to communicate (especially for Josh, who talks quiet), so we left after a couple hours. The last time I went to a class reunion with Josh was for his 5th reunion, and there was a lot of different people this time than that one. They didn't take a group photo of everyone present, so we took a selfie when we were leaving--I liked that we wore matching clothes (which was totally unplanned!).
That night, we lit off fireworks in the yard. Malachi was the designated pyro, and he let the boys (Isaac, Joel, Jonah, Micah, and Kanyon) pick the order of which ones they wanted lit. Kanyon bought some of his own fireworks this year, and was so excited to have them be part of the family fireworks show in addition to the ones that Malachi got! Ammon and his friend Tim were also pyromaniacs that night, being especially adventurous with Ammon's large supply of firecrackers! They were lighting them while holding them, lighting them then placing them in different containers, and finally I had them go down to the street and away from us in the yard to finish their crazy lighting antics because I was concerned for the other kids' safety!
Josh's brother Gideon and his wife Alyssa gave birth to their baby boy that night in the hospital in SLC, and we were happy to hear the news from Gideon during the middle of the family fireworks show! Tiffany and most of her family left super late that night after the fireworks to drive back home to Pocatello (Isaac, Joel, and Aysha stayed one more day), because she wanted to visit Gideon in the hospital the following day. That changed our plans for Saturday the 4th, because we thought that her family would still be here. So since we suddenly had no plans for the day, Josh and I decided to float the river in the afternoon instead.
On Saturday morning, July 4th, Josh and I went into town to catch some of the sidewalk sales, go to the Farmer's Market, get a hospice ice cream cone, and to buy some new tubes that we wanted to try on the river in anticipation of my family coming to float the next weekend. We talked Malachi into joining us on the river that afternoon, but Ammon chose to stay home instead, and the other boys were having a good time with their cousins and didn't want to come either. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and there were LOTS of people floating the river! I've never seen so many people floating on one day! We had a hard time finding a spot to park at Shoup Campground, but since most people float the river from Shoup Bridge to town, we lucked out by having the river to ourselves since we floated from 11-Mile to Shoup. I sprayed sunscreen on the top of my head, and my neck and shoulders, but didn't even think about spraying my legs since I was wearing swim shorts. Unfortunately, my swim shorts didn't do much help, and I got super sunburned on my legs! And so did Josh! The worst area for me was right under my knees, since I mostly wear capris and that area doesn't see sun, and it wasn't partially covered by my swim shorts on the float. My skin swelled up in that area and was so painful for about a week! Josh's worst area was right above the knees, especially on his left leg.
On Saturday night, we went to the annual Demo Derby, one of our boys' favorite things to do in Salmon every summer! There were a lot of entries in the event this year, and our neighbors the Troughton's had 5 of them!!! Four of them were in the main heat, and one was in the herby derby. It was exciting to watch so many of our friends drive, and there were some awesome-good hits!! We loved watching the show! We got there late, and found a spot to sit by cousin Benji and his family in the front row of the grandstands. Thankfully, the weather wasn't super hot since the sky was overcast, so it was perfect conditions for watching the show from our location (usually we bake in the heat, so we prefer to be high up in the grandstands to have the shade).
The Herby Derby, which is usually boring, was really exciting this year, and was one of our favorite heats during the night. This was an especially good hit, when Tommy Reid drove on top of Bobby Enderton's car:
Doc Troughton got 3rd place (he did SO good, especially for his first time!), and Geb Gebhardt won for the first time in 27 years of participating in it! He jumped out of his car at the end, ran out of the arena, climbed over the fence, ran up to the top of the stands, threw off his helmet, and gave his wife a big ol' kiss because he was just so excited! It was definitely a memorable moment and a fantastic derby!
Later that night, we went to the city fireworks show. They didn't have one last year, and I was so glad they were able to have it once again. As we waited up on the Old Dump Hill for the show to start, we could see a grass fire burn up on Smedley Hill across town. That was exciting, but the firefighters came and put it out before the real show began! The fireworks show, for a little town like Salmon, was spectacular, and I enjoyed seeing all the different colors and styles of fireworks, and I liked the finale with so many of those bright little bombs that make the loud sound going off all at once.
Last year we weren't in Salmon for the majority of the 4th of July celebrations because we were in Utah for my sister's wedding. It was nice to be home for the 4th of July weekend this year. We all had a fun time, and I'm so glad that Josh's family was able to come to town for it, because it makes it so much more enjoyable for us, too!
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