happy pioneer day, y'all!

to most people, today is just july 24th.

but to us mormon-folk, today is pioneer day!

this is the day that the saints entered in to the salt lake valley after the 1300 mile long journey from nauvoo, il, using nothing but covered wagon and oxen.

i imagine, they didn't have much to eat on the road.

it's not like they could stop by mcdonald's and order ten double cheeseburgers and three happy meals to feed their starving families.

in celebration of this holiday, zachary and i decided to eat how we thought they might
 have eaten back then:

porridge, hard biscuits, and dirty water.

{ok, maybe the biscuits weren't hard, but rather hot and fresh out of the oven. and that porridge you see right there, is actually cream-of-wheat, which happens to be a favorite meal here in the averett household. and the water was really red and green food coloring.}

it was kind of fun, pretending that we were living in the 'olden days' and had to fight to survive.

it got me thinking though, what if it wasn't pretend?

what if we really lived during that cold winter of 1846 and had to leave everything we had?

would we do it?

i am in awe at the great faith of those pioneers that did everything that was necessary

to keep their religion alive.

to keep my religion alive.

i can't begin to count the ways that the gospel has impacted my life or even think about

where i would be without it.

it has given me faith in trying times and hope in moments of despair.

it brings me more joy than possibly imaginable.

i couldn't be more grateful for the two mormon missionaries that knocked on

my dad's door nearly 45 years ago.

without that single event, i may not have the greatest blessing i have 

now; the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

"How can we pay our debt of gratitude for the heritage of faith demonstrated by pioneers in many lands across the earth who struggled and sacrificed so that the gospel might take root? How is thankfulness expressed for the intrepid handcart pioneers who, by their own brute strength, pulled their meager belongings in handcarts across the scorching plains and through the snows of the high mountain passes to escape persecution and find peaceful worship in these valleys? How can the debt of gratitude possibly be paid by the descendants of the Martin and the Willie and the other handcart companies for the faith of their forebears? The descendants of these pioneers can partially settle the account by being true to the cause for which their ancestors suffered so much to be part of."

-James E. Faust

i love The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and i am proud to be a member of it!

i am grateful for the pioneers that paved the way for my eternal happiness.

i am grateful to know that through the gospel of Jesus Christ, i can be with my family forever.

-the wife