Eliza's Fire by Princess - Part 1

Last year, I wrote a book about one of my pioneer ancestors. I could talk for hours about what that experience has meant to me. In fact, I kind of have. I recorded my own audio book and made an hour-long podcast. 

But that’s not what we are talking about today. 

Back in July, I decided I wanted to visit the Relic Home in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. It’s a little museum about pioneers about a mile from where my ancestor (Eliza) is buried. So, my two youngest and I stopped at the cemetery first, and then went on to the Relic Home. (It was pioneer day, hence the outfits.) 

It felt a little strange opening someone else’s door, so I inched it open just a crack and peeked my head in. The only thing I could see was an old floor and a picture hanging on the wall. Many of my fears subsided as I discovered I recognized the face in the frame. It was my ancestor’s husband. 

So we had a beautiful time at the Relic Home. They didn’t have any info about Eliza that I didn’t already know, but I got to learn about other pioneers she would have interacted with and see some really awesome stuff. If I hadn’t had my kids, I could have spent hours in that place. 

When we went to leave, our tour guide asked me if I had heard of Mt. Pleasant’s Walk with the Dead day. When I said I hadn’t, she quickly told me about a Halloween themed family history event that took place in the cemetery. Volunteers would stand by a grave dressed like the person buried there and tell their story. She asked if I would come and portray Eliza. 

I said yes and just this last weekend, I finally got to do it. It was challenging pairing down a story I knew so well into a 5 minute presentation, but I loved getting to feel close to Eliza again.

I think my biggest takeaway from this experience was that people do want to talk about their ancestors. I can’t tell you how many times I would finish my speech and people would immediately tell me a story about someone from their family tree. It was such a neat and spiritual experience. The people may be dead, but their stories can live on if we continue to share them. 

A huge shoutout to my husband, kids, and mom who came to support me. I haven’t really done anything like this since high school, and I appreciated my little fan club who not only cheered me on, but worked with people to get my books for sale at the event and now in the Relic Home while I was busy acting.

If you want your own copy of the book, find it on Amazon, the Relic Home, or come see me at my book signing on November 7th in Spanish Fork. :)

Pink Night at Copper Hills

Baby Doll was so good at the game tonight!! I snapped a few pics for you. She is #33, remember? Long blond ponytail and pink shoes... 😀

 

Calling Elder Curly

First letter from the MTC in Provo:

Week 2 has been so fun, but so tiring. I got to the MTC on Wednesday afternoon. It was kinda sad but it was exciting to finally get here! 

Day 1: We just did a welcome meeting and mostly went over rules, procedures and where everything is. It was crazy to see all the people I knew on zoom IRL. 

Day 2: Was our first full day. We had a great first class, shout Sister C! Then went and did some baptisms and initatoroy. My comp Elder G baptized me. He is 10 inches shorter and 150 lbs lighter then me so it was hilarious. Even the name recorder guy was laughing. I confirmed him for a guy named I Won-bung. Let's just say it was a struggle to be reverent. Got to see some football boys to which was fun. 

Day 3: We had class in the morning and temple in the afternoon. We did sealings which was great! We had a little workshop about self reliance which was good. Having so much fun with the boys at night. I need to get more sleep though.

Day 4: We did temple in the morning. We did an endowment session. I may or may not have slept through half of it. It was really good though. We had afternoon class after, shout out Sister G! After class we played some volleyball with the district. I tore it up. 

Day 5: Sunday was so spiritual. We got to do church which was awesome and then we did this thing called Go and Do. We did an hour and a half straight of personal study and I got so much out of it. We then had a devosh with the GOATs president and Sister O! Our district review after was so spiritual and I felt the spirit so strong! Really cool stuff. 

Day 6: We had our first full day of classes. It was hard to stay locked in after so long of classes, but I'm learning a ton. Played some more volleyball and had some cool opportunities to do missionary work over the phone to people back at home. 

Day 7: It's P-Day!!! We have some service and then we are playing sand volleyball and have a devosh. It should be super hype! 

Don't worry the emails will be shorter once I'm in the field. 

Spiritual thought: 

Be like Sam! I have been reading in the Book of Mormon obviously, and I have been thinking about Nephi's brother Sam. He is so righteous but not over the top. He follows the commandments and the prophet but doesn't do anything crazy. I think Sam is someone in the scriptures we can all look up to because it seems like a realistic goal. 

2 Nephi 4: 11

"11 And after he had made an end of speaking unto them, he spake unto Sam, saying: Blessed art thou, and thy seed; for thou shalt inherit the land like unto thy brother Nephi. And thy seed shall be numbered with his seed; and thou shalt be even like unto thy brother, and thy seed like unto his seed; and thou shalt be blessed in all thy days."

-Elder C

Lots of Volleyball

Baby Doll has been playing so well for Bingham this year! She is permanently on the JV team now. Scout took some beautiful pics of her.

It was a great match!