The Lyman Zoo: If you want to know how to celebrate the 4th of July, just come to Blanding, Utah!!

The 4th of July celebration in Blanding is a Big Deal! It is crazy fun. So many people come "back" to Blanding for the celebration that the town triples in size. It is so fun to see friends, relatives and past acquaintances, and to meet new friends!!

We have a tradition to participate in the 5K first thing in the morning. This year it was just Jed and I from our family. Erik and Jen Crandall's daughter, Emma, ran with us. She beat us, of course!! Other years, there have been more of our family participate. We run the entire way, but not very fast!! I did not get pictures of us running it this time:(

These little cuties are ready for the parade.

As usual, we watched the parade from the lawn of the South Chapel.

And with aunts, uncles, cousins, and family all around, we celebrate the 4th of July.

This horse is painted to look this way. It was so awesome! We thought this was its natural color!!

One of the most memorable things that we experienced is spending the day with Bastien and Julie. They are from Paris, France and we had met them 3 days before the 4th when they came to Bluff Fort (we volunteer there on Wednesday mornings).

The following is what Jed has written about our experience with them. These are his words:

On Wednesday, July 1 a young French Couple (Bastien and Julie) came to the fort. They live in Paris. I happened to speak to them and showed them around and shared the Hole in the Rock story with them. Due to their fluency in English, I showed them the English film. As I watched the video with them, I had the thought that I should invite them to spend the 4th of July with us. I thought it was a rather random idea so I tried to dismiss it, but the thought persisted. I began to wonder if it was a prompting rather than a random thought. After the film, as we visited, I mentioned that my wife and I had been in Paris and enjoyed the visit. They wrote down their names and email and offered to show us around Paris, the next time we came there. I asked where they were headed next and asked where they would be Saturday. Their plans were to be in Moab on Saturday. I mentioned that Saturday was the 4th of July, an important holiday for us. They were aware of the holiday and asked what to do to celebrate.

I told them I knew the perfect thing for them to do. I suggested they come to Blanding and spend the day with us, and promised to show them an all-American celebration. I invited them to come and stay with us Friday and/or Saturday night. They asked what was planned and we reviewed the day’s schedule. They were a little noncommittal, but acted interested. I gave them my cell number and suggested they call and let us know their plans. Long story short, they called Friday evening and said they would come Saturday morning and spend the day. We met them at the park and had breakfast and then took them home for a while and then to the parade. After the parade we went to the park for activities there. Throughout the day, they had lots of comments and questions about what was happening and seemed very interested in all that took place. Of course we had lots of family around much of the time and they interacted with everyone. Julie and our daughter-in-law, Heather, seemed to particularly hit it off and spent quite a bit of time talking. Julie was quite interested in the fact that Heather didn’t work outside the home. That apparently is unheard of in France. Our youngest son, Josh served his mission in the France Paris mission. He attends BYU in Provo and we hoped he could come and spend the day and interact with them and use his French, but he was unable to be here.

During the afternoon we wanted to give them a uniquely American experience, something they would not likely be able to do in France. I suggested three possibilities: 1) riding horses. 2) riding four-wheelers and 3) shooting guns. They had never done any of the three. When I asked if they had ever shot a gun they said, “NOOOO.” When I asked if they would like to, they both said, “YEEESSSS!!!.” So that’s what we did. I think they had a great time and became quite competitive to out-shoot the other. It was fun to watch.

They mentioned that parades in France were usually military parades so ours was interesting to them.

In the evening we went to the melodrama. It was quite eventful as a lightning and thunder storm came up. The production was moved indoors, which proved to be a good thing, as we could then hear much better. Even through much of the humor was somewhat local in its nature, like asking if there was a doctor in the house and a local doctor who was playing the part of the woman replied that he/she didn’t know any good doctors in the area, they seemed to enjoy the production.

All day long we suggested they spend the night with us. They didn’t want to inconvenience us and would not commit. They finally informed us they intended to go back to Moab following the fireworks. They had a campsite in Moab where their tent was set up. They told us the previous night had been rainy and windy and miserable and they had gotten little sleep. As the evening wore on and there appeared to be a big storm a brewing, we kept telling them they should stay and sleep in a nice soft warm bed and have a shower in the morning. Thanks to the storm, they finally agreed.

Due to the storm, we ended up watching the fireworks from inside the car and then went home to bed. They left early Sunday morning. We gave them a Book of Mormon in French. They seemed quite impressed that it was in French. We had gotten it from the missionaries. They said they would read it.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. Watching their reaction to everything was fun. I think the family and all its attendant craziness, was quite interesting to them. We absolutely loved the day. whether or not we will ever see them again, or if anything will come of the B of M no one knows, but what a great experience for us, and (I think) for them.