THIS IS THE PLACE & PIONEER VILLAGE

While we were in Utah visiting Ellie, we drove to the

"This Is The Place Monument".

It's a beautiful monument that depicts the pioneer history

as well as the people who were influential at that time

in history.

These are a couple of tourists that let me snap a picture

of them as they were walking around the monument.

These two cute little girls must have been from Hollywood because they had no trouble striking a pose when I asked for their picture.

I found them again later at the entrance to

Pioneer Village playing in the water.

What a fun and beautiful place this was.

After I took a picture of our group under this nice shade tree,

Hannah and Sasha played in the area directly in front of it

while everyone relaxed.

There were so many cute little playhouses and miniature

stores that were set up as a child size village.

Sasha and Hannah had a great time running from one to the

other checking them all out.

There was even a tee pee set up that they were able to go into.

If you don't know about Pioneer Village; it's a reconstructed

"village" that the LDS church has created by bringing in and

restoring the old original homes that some of the members of

the church lived in when the Salt Lake Valley was settled.

They have a main street with a boardwalk, working blacksmith,

tinsmith, farm animals, etc. that take you back in time. People that

work there volunteer their time in order to explain some of the

attractions and home sites. They even dress in clothes from that era.

Becky got up close and personal with this

handsome guy. I thought he had a rather large nose though.

After browsing around in the heat of the day we

decided it was time for some lunch. Since it was such a warm

day we thoroughly enjoyed the air conditioning as we ate. It was the only building that had A.C.

I know mother would hate me for putting this picture in.

Let me explain. Have any of you had an embarrassing

moment where you walked out of the restroom with toilet

paper stuck on your shoe?

Well, this was one of those moments; except the paper wasn't

stuck to her shoe!

Becky noticed it first and had me snap these pictures as she

was breaking the news to mother.

Unfortunately for mother, we were laughing so hard that it

attracted the attention of everyone else around us. One of the reasons I love my mother is because she has such

a wonderful sense of humor. She even had a good laugh about it.

It was almost as funny as the time she dyed

her eyebrows; but that's a whole other story. After we ate lunch and had our laughs we enjoyed watching

Sasha lick her Play Dough ice cream cone.

I don't think it tasted like play dough. Look at that tongue....it almost looks as though the

ice cream is an extension of it.

By the time she got down to the best part

(in my opinion) she was done. What a treat that

was.....for all of us.

While we were there the girls rode the ponies and the little

train. Sasha had her hands up in the air the entire trip around

the track. Notice the cute little girls dressed in "Little House on the Prairie"

attire. Becky and I fell in love with them.

Here we are boarding the trolley on main street.

These are a row of original wooden cabins that

were brought in. One of them was the home

that Marjorie Hinckley's father grew up in.

This was Mary Fielding Smith's home.

We colored paper dolls here while a woman shared

stories of Mary Fielding with us.

It was too hot to look at everything so we decided

it was time to head home.

I would love to go back some time and do it all again

and see the things I didn't get to see on this fun day.