Pioneer Day

"blessed honored Pioneers!"

Living in the wilds of the "mission field" we don't actually get the 24th of July off as a state holiday. So unlike my relatives in Utah, I get to go to work on Pioneer Day. Neither our ward nor our stake has actually celebrated Pioneer Day for about 15 years??? Maybe longer? Personally I think it stems back to a couple of Stake Presidents that didn't have any pioneer ancestors and it made them mad.

This year while working on our Primary calendar, we decided to celebrate Pioneer Day on July 19th, with a trip "back in time". To be honest I stole most of the idea from family reunions and worked from there.  So we gathered all the Pioneer children and Jay & Jason gave them hay rides (along with their families) down to the creek bottom.  There the children each got a passport that allowed them to get stamps at each of the stations.  For stations, generous family members and friends stepped up to help.

We Had -
Oxen yokes
Branding
Washing
Quilting
Butter churning
Spinning wool
Candle making
Gold Panning
Roping

Plus, as a bonus, each of the children got a bag of hard tack and horehound candy!!! YUM YUM!!

Amazingly, I think the old people were as excited as the kids. We had 4 people between 75-80, and 3 that were over 80, including my Aunt Lois and Beth Forsgren (almost 88). One of the things I reminded the kids before we started was that the old people were very fragile and to be very careful with them.

My awesome friends Jinx & Fern came prepared with their oxen yokes and ATV. Barbara and Tim Austin came with painted lead for seeding the creek (don't tell the kids it's not real gold). Aunt Lois thankfully came prepared with the right kind of cream that she used her Grandma's churn to get us some butter. Sorry Shelli, I had no idea that table cream wouldn't turn into butter, but the bread that Kathleen and Nancy made was delicious with Aunt Lois' cream. Allison the Younger's mom Linda came and demonstrated spinning, my cousin Daniel and his wife Krystal came to make candles and brand pieces of wood. Beth and Aunt Lois had set a quilt up to show the kids the original Facebook, and Emily showed how to wash clothes on the old wash boards with creek water.

To top it off after Harriet showed up with fresh fried chicken and we wore the kids out with a sack race and a tug of war, the Chamberlain from the ward had set up their snow cone shack at my house for an awesome end of activity treat.

I hope the kids had a great time, I think the adults did, of course the older sibling ended up in the creek, who could blame them! Scott was on call, and since there isn't any cell service down at the creek, he ended up directing traffic and holding down the street. Of course he had made me an outhouse and helped get everything set up.

I'd like to show you a picture, but since I was to busy being a pioneer I didn't get any pictures. Maybe next year!!