Pioneer Day

We’ve been looking forward to our ward Pioneer Day activity for several weeks now. July 24th is the day the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1847. It’s an official holiday in Utah and since Utah was settled by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is a great opportunity for us to remember the sacrifices of the early pioneers. The evening was filled with good friends, great food, fun and games. Justin and the girls rode their bikes to the activity. We live on a very steep hill so I was nervous about them biking down it, but apparently they did a great job and they all arrived at the park safely.

We decorated the girls bikes for the children’s parade (which they ended up not participating in… how is riding your bike in a circle with dozens of other kids something to be shy about?)

Some friends of ours fashioned their wagon into a covered wagon. Jason couldn’t get enough of it and had several different people giving him rides throughout the evening, including the little wagon owner.


There was a Dutch oven cook-off for dinner – seriously, not much better outdoor cooking than from a Dutch oven – yummy!

Abigail had a little part in the program and was assigned to read the story of a pioneer girl named Alma Elizabeth Mineer. It was neat to find out that Abigail is actually related to the Mineer family. Abigail read her part so many times over the past week that she had it completely memorized. She did such a great job that I’m hoping she might gain enough confidence to participate in future school plays and programs.

Jason walked right up to Abigail while she was speaking and gave her a big hug. Abigail acted completely unfazed by it and thankfully Jason didn’t cause any further disturbance.