Pioneer Day

The LDS church celebrates its Mormon heritage every year on the 24th of July. The pioneers entered the SLC valley on July 24th, 1847 and now that day is deemed "Pioneer Day".  In Utah, it's a big holiday with a huge parade and activities and fireworks. But in our corner of Idaho, the celebrations aren't as grandiose. Salmon stake celebrated on Saturday July 20th this year with all-day outdoor activities for all ages at the Hwy 28 church building. 

 

The stake primary had games for kids, including a treasure hunt, water games, and relay races. One of the relay races was to dress like a pioneer, run to the other side, take off all the pioneer clothes, and have the next person dress up and run. It was funny to watch the kids try and run while wearing the giant boots, oversized hat, and large gloves!

 

 

It was a super hot day, and all the water games were a big hit! There were water guns, pools, slip & slide, and water dunking games. The boys played for hours!

 

There was also a baseball tournament happening all day long with teams representing the different wards in our stake competing for the champion title. Ammon was on the youth team from our ward, and they played 3 games. The adult team from our ward ended up winning the tournament AGAIN! We have earned the trophy 5 years in a row!

There were other pioneer activities happening all day, too, like a pie-eating contest (the guy from our ward won that too!), cow-pie chucking contest, and a hay-bale throwing contest.

It was a fun day for our family to participate in. And dinner served that evening was delicious, too! I had a great time watching my kiddos play and I enjoyed visiting with other adults from our stake throughout the day and evening.

I'm so grateful for our pioneer heritage, and for our ancestors who sacrificed so much to go to a place where they could freely practice their religion. I'm thankful for their examples of faith and courage and honor. I'm amazed at all the hardships they endured, and I admire them for remaining faithful followers of our Savior, Jesus Christ through it all.