Pioneer Day

I think this is the first year we've actually sort of celebrated Pioneer Day! First we had a family night lesson about our pioneer ancestors.
As you can see, we really dug into the pioneer spirit. That's Sadie being a boy. Haha:)


I read from my great, great, great grandfather, Mads Christensen's autobiography, and the kids acted it out :)

These are 3 brothers from Denmark migrating to America.

Then on Pioneer Day, Amy asked if we wanted to go to a celebration at the Mesa temple. She even supplied some appropriate apparel.


Love that these cousins love each other so much!

They had a lot more people show up than they had expected, so the missionaries running the show seemed a little overwhelmed. The kids were pretty much on their own to try and figure out how to use this homemade pioneer toy.

But once they did, they loved it!

Emma too :)


Of course there was a little stick-pulling competition.


Since it was Mesa in July, it was hot so we went inside the visitor's center to cool off.


Then we went to a little story time performance in the visitor's center. These cute older missionaries led the kids in a little dance.

Fun stuff!

Hopefully we'll be better about remembering the sacrifices made, and celebrating the pioneer's accomplishments each year!