Bike Rodeo

People told us not to do a July Pack Meeting. "It's camping month!" they offered. "Nobody will come." "Everybody takes the month of July off." Despite all that good advice, we planned and held our annual Bike Rodeo on Tuesday night. We set up a bigger course this year, hoping for a larger crowd.

We passed out over a 120 fliers and I was thinking 50 kids, so I wasn't too disappointed when we had nearly 40 show up! Of course we had parents and baby brothers and sisters too. Oh, and some older siblings who just watched.

Sadly, I forgot my good camera so I was only able to snap a few cell phone pics for you. I couldn't possibly send Drama Queen back after it, I had already sent her back for half a dozen things I had forgotten.

My friend, Kevin, was there from the Salt Lake County Health Department as was Officer Wright from the South Jordan Police Department. The Dog Walker and I helped set up the course, but then they took over and ran things for us which was awesome!

The kids rode round and round for nearly an hour before we finally wrapped things up. We still had to move everyone inside and hand out awards. I know, you are wondering why we didn't just give them out in the parking lot. Normally we could have, but this time we happened to have two boys who were earning their Arrow of Light awards and my sweetie does this huge light show with lasers and a large lighted arrow. That wouldn't have worked very well without the darkened room.

Who says you can't have a fantastic Pack Meeting in July?

I beg to differ.

Pioneer Day 2013

We had been struggling all week for a plan for Pioneer Day. Since my little ones start school on the 25th, we didn't want to stray too far from home. My sweetie thought we ought to clean the garage, but at that suggestion he received a loud veto.

When he got up this morning and everyone was still in bed, he decided to make it just like any other day so he preserved his floating holiday and headed off to work.

When I was the first one up at about 9:30, I was disappointed at first, but then I decided we could still have fun right here at home. Inspired by my sweet bloggy friend, LeAnn at Living Waters, I decided I wanted to share her pioneer story with my kids. That planted a seed that just grew and grew into something amazing!

Fortunately I had convinced Prima Donna and Princess to mix up a big batch of sourdough bread last night. As I was forming the loaves, I wracked my brain to think of something fun to honor our pioneer ancestors. That's when I thought maybe we could add a dutch oven cookout to that rising bread.

And maybe a few pioneer games...could we all dress in pioneer garb? Did we have enough skirts? I started assigning out tasks, then I texted my sweetie and told him the party started at 6:00, pioneer dress recommended. (I also invited Bossy's family, but they had other plans.) Then I got to work.

My sweetie arrived a few minutes to 6:00 and we convinced him that he needed to quickly assemble all of the parts we had prepared for the dutch oven. Princess and I were finishing up the dessert, and yes, we were all decked out like a little pioneer family.

While my sweetie got the coals ready, I shared LeAnn's story. Then Prima Donna shared another story and a song. Then it was time for games. Sport and Princess were in charge and they had scoured the internet. The first one was called "My Little Birdie." We all sat in a circle and someone in the middle was holding a cup of water. That person asked for a color and if you had the wrong color he flipped a bit of water at you. But if you happened upon the right color, that cup of water got poured on your head! Curly got me good. It was so hot the water dried quickly.

Then we played the pioneer version of Ring Toss. Each team had a 15" dowel and a canning ring. They stood 10-feeet apart and tossed the ring to the other party. They had one minute to catch as many as they could. My sweetie and I were the winners with four catches.

The most popular game by far was the three-legged race. My sweetie and I sat that one out, but the kids loved it. Curly and Scout moved really well together, until I said "Go!" Then they couldn't keep it together at all. Crafty and Sport were the hands-down winners although Drama Queen and Prima Donna tried really hard.

We had a few more relays and then a game from Crafty and Scout. They had prepared a button swap game. I hadn't realized that the pioneer girls loved their buttons and trading was a huge thing for them. We each started with 10 buttons and had to make trades until we had 10 unique buttons that we threaded on a string for a necklace. Baby Doll loved this game but she didn't really like giving up her buttons to get one from someone else. I think a few of the girls ended up with only 9.

Dinner was a huge success! After food we decided to crank up Drama Queen's mood music and kick up our heels for a little square dancing. The Virginia Reel was easy enough that everyone could participate. My sweetie and I were in a threesome with Baby Doll and she giggled the entire time.

After we were all sweaty and tired, we pulled up our chairs and had scriptures and family prayer followed by peach cobbler hot from the dutch oven. I have to say, other than last year when we were somewhere far away on our perfect vacation, this was definitely the

best.
pioneer day.
ever!

Pioneer Day in Utah

Today is a holiday for the state of Utah. It is Pioneer Day and it commemorates the day that Brigham Young first looked over the valley and said, "This is the place!" We have many pioneer ancestors in our family lines and I wanted to share a story with you in honor of this special day.

One of my favorite stories is actually from my sweetie's family tree and it didn't have anything to do with the Utah pioneers. It happened during the Civil War and it goes something like this:

While Alex was away in the War, Mary Ann moved with the children back to her father's home in Chattam Hill. Her two sisters' husbands were also away fighting in the Civil War and all three girls with their children moved back into their father's home with his second wife, Martha Jane. All together there were 31 people living in this house. 

Perhaps their home looked something like this one.

The Union Army, in an effort to win the War, had started the campaign of burning the homes and farms of the people. The people in Chattam Hill could smell the burning coming closer and closer. Martha Jane is the narrator of this story.

We had all just finished breakfast when these soldiers rode up and shouted for everyone to get out of the house. I was speechless with fear. I went first and told the children to follow and stay by me. As all the children and all of us came pouring out, you should have seen the shocked speechless faces of the men. One of the soldiers said, "How many more are there? Where are they all coming from?"

We started counting noses to see if anyone was missing and would have to start over. Then I would ask the children if anyone was missing and they would start counting and moving round to see and asking me all kinds of questions, "What are the men going to do, Aunt Jane?"

Little Jim didn't know where his cat was and wanted to go find her and they all agreed he should. Then one of them said, "Maybe they are going to burn the house down like they did the O'Bryans." Then I had to try and do the impossible, keep them quiet and from going back into the house, for they all remembered something they wanted. They couldn't let it get burned up.

All the time the soldiers were gathering pine cones and chips from the wood shed and piling them under the porch. All this time I was sick. I was never so sick in my life. I wished Mother Nancy was here. She would have known what to do. 

Some of the little ones were using my legs for a hugging post, they were so frightened. Some of the children said to the men, "Go home, we don't like you here!" Another child said, "Go home to your children, we want our papa home." "We want our grandpa home too." "You couldn't hurt us if they were here." "Our soldiers are better!" One of the men said, "That's right, Lad, always stick up for your own side and your own General Lee." The Sergeant said, "We won't hurt any of you, we are just following orders." Then he called out loud, "Is everyone out? Better get out!"

Oh, how I was praying with my eyes opened. What can we do to stop this? Oh, angel of mercy, help us! Then Mary Ann came to the door, our own sweet Mary Ann. One of the grandchildren said, "Grandma!" Then there was silence. There at the door was Mary looking just like Grandma Nancy Pritchett. I always knew Mary Ann resembled her mother, but she was so much like her then that I, too, thought it was the children's grandmother. Merciful heavens, she even spoke and moved like Grandma Nancy.

Union Soldiers but not the ones from the actual story.

It seemed like Nancy had come to save her home. Mary Ann spoke very little, but looked straight at the soldiers; her face and eyes did the pleading. Then the sergeant gave the orders for the men to ride on. They all seemed glad to oblige. Not a thing was touched on the place except the chips and pine cones they had been piling under the porch to start the fire.

Mary Ann later said, "I could not follow the others out. I went to Mother's chair and knelt down and prayed for mother to help me know what to do and say. At first I was frightened. Then I became calm and said, "Mother, what shall I do? What would you do if you were here? Help me to save the home we all love. The home you and Pa built. Where we were all born. A home we need for so many of us." Then it seemed that mother was with me as I went to the door. I was frightened no more. It did not seem like I was speaking, but I was. When the men left, I went back into the room and thanked my Heavenly Father for my many blessings and for his help.

I do believe in the power of prayer and I am grateful for all of these ancestors who sacrificed for us. I wish more of them had written down their stories so we could have them today. That's one of the reasons I blog every day. I always want my kids and my grandkids and my great-grandkids to remember the things we did.
 
Not that they are nearly as cool as this story...

Utah Symphony for FHE

It's not often that we get a chance to see the Utah Symphony perform in Abravanel Hall. It's just too expensive and the little kids would never sit still that long. So when Princess and Prima Donna were looking for another another classical concert for their music class, I jumped on the idea of seeing the Symphony play at the Draper Amphitheater. The show was free and outside so it would be much easier to keep the little ones kids entertained. Besides, the music would likely be more fun than traditional concert fare.

We decided to make an evening of the event and we took the kids to the new Firehouse Subs for dinner. They let kids eat for free on Monday nights. It was a little crazy and for a while I was worried that we were going to be late for the concert. Then Baby Doll decided to fill her diaper and we had to make a quick trip back home since I never remember to bring a diaper bag any more. One of our goals for next week is to get her potty trained. But I digress...

When we arrived at the amphitheater, there was NO parking anywhere. People were parking clear down the hill on the street, so my sweetie pulled into the parking lot and generously offered to park and walk while we all went in and found seats.

The Draper Amphitheater has an interesting design. It's like a kiva with graduated seating about six feet wide and each step of the kiva is covered with grass. We were really glad we remembered to bring blankets, but next time I'm definitely bringing a hat. Sport was the only smart one among us. We spread ourselves out on a seat near the top and waited for the show to begin. It only took about 10 minutes before the Symphony started to play. My sweetie got in the theater just as they began playing the Star Spangled Banner.

I was not disappointed with the program! We got the Armed Forces Salute which brought tears to my eyes as veterans were asked to stand during their respective songs. I loved the tenderness I saw on the row behind us as a son helped his aged father to stand during the Caissons Song. I was kind of wishing we had thought to invite Grandpa.

We got the fun stuff tonight too, including West Side Story and part of every song from The Music Man. The kids were mostly good and right before the intermission my sweetie sent a couple of the girls to the snack bar for otter pops. They were delicious. The bees thought so too and we had a few tense moments when we thought Baby Doll might get stung, but all turned out well and Crafty took all the wrappers down to the garbage can so the bees soon left us alone.

The sun was just setting as the intermission ended. I snapped a few pics for you because it was so beautiful, but I'm afraid my cell phone camera just didn't do them justice. I was sure wishing we had brought the good camera with us.

We enjoyed the second half of the program.so much that the audience gave them a standing ovation, but I guess they didn't have another piece prepared for an encore, so they just played their last song again which I thought was a little weird.

We only had one casualty when Scout slipped on one of the retaining bricks and scraped up her leg. And the kids only made about 10 trips up and down the stairs for the restrooms. That must have something to do with the fact that they had to try all the soda at Firehouse Subs since they had one of those cool soda machines with about 50 different flavors in it.

It couldn't have been that they were bored...