Happy 24th -Boating, Food, & Fun!

So in Utah we celebrate the 24th of July in recognition of honoring the first Latter-day Saints who crossed the plains and mountains to reach the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. The trail from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley was approximately 1,300 miles long and would ultimately lead 70,000 pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the West. Every July 24, we celebrate Pioneer Day with old-fashioned picnics featuring lots of games for the children, foot races, horse races, dances, speeches, and parades. But unlike some Western pioneer celebrations, these are not exercises in nostalgia as fleeting as mid-summer. Today marks the anniversary of the day Brigham Young first looked out from the mouth of Emigration Canyon and concluded the Great Salt Lake Valley was the place for the Saints to stop their westward trek. Pioneer Day celebrations are religious rituals that remind us and LDS faith communities of a signal event in our past. Just as Passover prompts members of the Jewish community to remember the Hebrews’ successful escape from Egypt, so Pioneer Day reminds Latter-day Saints of what our forebears accomplished. I'm grateful for these Saints that suffered through so much physically, mentally, and spiritually to bring forth this beautiful gospel and the prophecies of our prophet Joeseph Smith. I love our gospel and am so blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ which protects, and fosters unconditional love in all that we do. I'm bummed that both Dan and I don't have holiday today, so we won't be celebrating the 24th until later after work. On my mom's side of the family we are all meeting later this eveing at Provo

Harbor for some boating and a nice potluck dinner. We never really got into boating because first of all we don't have a boat, but after Uncle Beni purchased one the kids love love it! Happy 24th!