Pioneer Day Week in Utah

After the family reunion, we enjoyed a nice Sabbath day.  Everyone was tired so great to have a day of rest.  We went to the Meadows Branch, where Dan serves as Branch President.  Jerry & Stacy and Erin  & Randy were there, too and it was great to see the men all bless/pass the sacrament together. We went back and played some games and ate some lunch, then it was time for family pictures.  Someone decided they wanted to take pictures with each family group in different colors of shirts.  Sue & Shirley used the logo we used for the family reunion and put them on them.  They said "Family - a little bit of crazy, a little bit of loud, a whole lot of love!"  That pretty much sums up this bunch.  We went to Millcreek park.  Glad you could see my eyes in the group shots, haha!  The kids were not happy about these pictures and let us know.  It was very hot so after we went in the creek and cooled off.  The rest of the night, we played games and chatted and ate pork barbacoa salad, and the cousins all had a big sleepover in the living room.

Monday, we hung out with Stacy & her kids (Jerry left to work that morning) and "Aunt" Heather, Stacy's sis.  We went swimming at Heather's pool, had a picnic lunch and had an all-out blast! That night, we got together with some of my friends from high school, the Woods Cross girls and the Bountiful boys.  Good times!  It was great to see everyone.  They are all such great people and we've grown in number since high school quite a bit now!

Tuesday, we headed up to Lyman to see Amy & Kolby & Boji.  Camille, our good friend, our other "sister", came up too with her four kids, Jeremy had to work.  The Rollins' house is complete now and it was so awesome seeing it all done!  They put so much blood, sweat and tears into that place and it couldn't be more beautiful!  We ate all kinds of delicious foods, played inside and outside, went to the splash pad, played at the park, checked out the Barn, played some Just Dance (Not to brag, but I totally dominated...haha!), rode on four wheelers and dirt bikes, jumped on the tramp and played outdoors.  It was a perfect day with me seesters!

 

 

 

 

Wednesday was Pioneer Day! One of my favorite holidays!  The kids have been begging for the last 3 years to be able to go down for that, and we were finally able to.  We made pioneer biscuits for breakfast, watched the Days of '47 Parade on TV, did some fireworks, making some covered wagon and pioneer paper doll crafts, played pioneer games (classic stick pull and a new one, the plate spinning game was a riot), learning some facts about the pioneers and fireworks of course! We get to have all the fun now but for the pioneers, life was not easy and not always fun. My ancestors who emigrated to America and crossed the plains west give me so much encouragement and hope. Sometimes I get whiny and complain about the smallest things. And then I think of the extreme hardships like not having enough food, extreme sickness and still having to walk, or burying a loved one on the trail and then I think they did hard things and so can I. "But with joy, wend your way." ("Come, Come Ye Saints" by W.W. Phelps).  I can find joy in my journey like they did.   

Thursday, we packed back up and headed home.  We stopped in Logan to meet up with Amber, Mark and Mayela.  We dug in to some food at Chuck-A-Rama and went to their house in Smithfield for one last time before they moved to Logan.  Always love our family time.  Sometimes I think to complain that most of our vacation is going to Utah to see family.  But there's really no where else I'd rather be.