Holiday in the Sun

I love holidays,

especially obscure ones.

July 24 is Pioneer Day,

the day in 1847 that Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.

After the small group of Latter-day Saints had been pushed out of every place they'd settled,

abandoning the temples they'd built,

crossing the unforgiving wilderness,

they knew that

"this is the right place."

I'm not from Utah, but I love Pioneer Day.

Today, I wore Pioneer Day clothes.

This dress is pioneer inspired for the 21st Century.

Today, I ate Pioneer Day food.

The potatoes were burnt, but hey--the pioneers burnt their food too.

Today, I watched a Pioneer Day movie.

Tell yourself it's not cheesy, and it's not.

Today, I listened to Pioneer Day music.

Okay, not exactly. But Katie & I danced crazy to "Ye Elders of Israel."
...Just like the pioneers used to.

Today, I read my favorite Pioneer Day story.

It's about the Martin handcart company.

Find it here.

I love pioneers.

I love that they lived outside & were dirty and tired.

I love being outside & dirty & tired.

I'm not gonna marry someone unless he likes the idea of volunteering to be trek parents :)

I love that the pioneers did so many hard things

so I can live wherever I want

and nobody tries to kill me!

See, doesn't this all sound nice?

Don't you wish you'd celebrated Pioneer Day, too?