Sunday, July 27, 2008

Pioneer Party--Primary Activity

On July 26th our primary hosted a pioneer day party for the ward. Growing up in Utah, pioneer day had always been a big deal. In Utah people get the day off work, and spend the day celebrating with parades, bbq's, fireworks, music and parties. Since I have moved to Alabama, there has been hardly any mention of pioneers at all around pioneer day. We may have been lucky enough to sing "Come Come Ye Saints" at church, but thats about it. 
Last January as we began planning our quarterly primary activities, I was quick to suggest something with a pioneer theme. And our Pioneer party just grew from that.
The activity was from 10-12 with a ward potluck (boasting pioneer themed foods: stews, cornbreads, cobblers, etc.) at noon. We had several activities for people to participate in at their leisure. These included:






Candle Making











Taffy Pulling









Crafts-yarn dolls and soap whittling









and Butter Churning. 


We also had some physical activities and competitions planned. We had relay races including: three legged, potato sack, and the wheel barrow. Plus we had the traditional stick pulling competition.
(I tried one, and lost. Brett did better winning one match and losing another.) We also had great fiddling music to enhance the mood of the event. We were going to finish up with some square dancing, but everyone was having so much fun with the other activities we never got to the square dancing. I'm thinking we'll just save it for next year. 
I love being part of the planning of activities like this. Its fun to set up and decorate. And it's fun to watch everything come together and be successful. (I also decided to make myself a pioneer dress for the event. That was fun too.) Even though I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off during the party, I could see that everyone was having a great time. It was so fun to take a morning and remember and honor our pioneer heritage. 

Happy Pioneer Day!

5 comments:

earlh75 said...

wow! looks like fun. It is fun to try the things they did in the past. I took my kids to this is the place heritage park in salt lake, and they loved it..totally worth the $$ and time, they need to know how their ancestors did things.

Michelle said...

That was a terrific activity. Our family really loved it! Thanks for all the hard work!

Wayne said...

Now if we could just convince everybody's school's and employer's to let us off for Pioneer Day then I think it might get a little more attention or mention here in Alabama. Until then...not so much. It's nice to use it for an excuse for a sweet activity. I hate that we had to miss that one! Looks like it was a lot of fun.

Megan Rogers said...

So cute! I remember when I was little, we had an activity like that- I loved it.
Great pictures I love that last one of you and Em! It is so cute!

Kaija said...

You pull off the coolest parties Lar! How fun! I wish I could've come! You will have to give me some of the pioneer recipes if you got any! You are amazing and know i just love ya and think about you often!