My Pioneers

Happy Pioneer Day! I'm grateful to my pioneer ancestors for sacrificing and enduring unimaginable trials so that their posterity (me and mine) could have the Church in our lives.

They were so much tougher than I am.

This is the Barton family.

John and Susannah Barton are my great-great-great grandparents. They joined the Church in Pennsylvania and were storekeepers in Nauvoo when they were driven out with the rest of the saints in 1846. Susannah delivered a baby at Council Bluffs. Then they traveled 1300 miles by wagon to the Salt Lake Valley. First they settled in Bountiful, then they moved to Mt. Pleasant, where they lived the rest of their lives. Besides the Bartons, I have 4 Seely pioneers and 2 Ericksen pioneers in my direct line of ancestors.

There are Stratford pioneers too. This is Edwin and Marianna Stratford.

There is a large monument in the Ogden City Cemetery dedicated to these 2 pioneers. They settled in Ogden and stayed here all their lives, along with the generations that have come after them. I love and appreciate my pioneer legacy!

Mission Pride

I think the missionaries in the New Zealand Wellington Mission take a lot of pride in their mission. Here's the latest evidence of that:

It's good to have a happy missionary!

He's Riding a What?

I know you've all been wondering what Lil Missionary has been up to lately. After all, last you saw him, he was gnawing on a zombie leg.

I found this the other day and was quite impressed:

I didn't know they even had those in New Zealand!

Girl's Trip

Look at this stylish bunch:

I'm the one wearing orange. Orange?! Mom, what in the world were you thinking? From head to toe I'm just a homogeneous blob of orange. And look- even at that young age, M is not smiling with her teeth.

We're going away together for a few days to my sister's cabin in Idaho. We will talk, take walks, watch a few movies, make handmade cards, probably do a bit of stitching and eat like queens. There's no phone service at the cabin, which is part of it's appeal.

I'm sure I'll have a few good stories to tell when I get back. :)

Summer Road Trip- Balboa Park

Another place I wanted to take pictures was Balboa Park. It's buildings have the most amazing architecture!

 I like them so much that I want to make black and white prints of some of some of the building's details and hang them in my bathroom. Very Moorish, don't ya think?

The Botanical Building is basically amazing.

The Speckles Organ Pavilion. Built in 1915. I'm pretty sure the organists that play here play the foot pedals. (That eliminates me right off!) :)

I'm throwing in this shot of a bird who was taking a bath in the Pavilion fountain. I like the flying water drops.

While I was there I went to an exhibit of furniture made during the Arts and Crafts Movement. Have I mentioned how much I love everything about the Arts and Crafts Movement? Well, that's a subject for another day!

Summer Road Trip- Um, I Think The Temple Ladies Forgot About Me.

 Isn't the San Diego Temple beautiful? So modern! Bruce and I drove up to do a session one evening. We were doing family names that needed initatory work done before the session, so we were in a bit of a rush. The nice initatory ladies put me in a booth, told me to wait, then disappeared. For at least 20 minutes.

I waited patiently, for at least the first 15 minutes, after which I started making little coughing sounds, then I heard a lady say, "Has anyone seen Sister Stratford?" I poked my head out. "O, there you are!" They had put me in the wrong place. Well, everything got done in a hurry and I made it to the session by the skin of my teeth.

Do you know that they have an atrium on top of the middle part of the temple? Pretty cool.

I love the windows in this temple.

It was nice to get away from the world for a few hours.

Summer Road Trip- Excuse Me, I'm looking For Zorro.

 After loving and spending so much time in Capistrano, I knew the next mission on my list to visit would have to be different. I had read that they had filmed some of the old Zorro tv series episodes where I was headed. And I was right- from the time I arrived. Mission San Luis Rey de Francia (Mission of Saint Louis, King of France), sits on one of those golden, rolling, inland California hills that are fairly bare except for a huge oak here and there. The Mission is perfectly white. Now everyone together, "Out of the night, when the full moon is bright, rides a horseman known as Zorro!"

As I got out of my car, I saw a man dressed in a monk's outfit and thought, "Oh, it's a living history museum, like This Is The Place or Williamsburg." Nope. It was a working mission with nuns, monks, priests an active cemetery and religious retreats.

The historic church was ornate, with life-sized statues of saints. For Amanda, why aren't LDS chapels more ornate? Can you imagine what everyone would be doing in a chapel full of statues and paintings and gold leaf and carvings? I know what I'd be doing- staring at all of them, counting the cherubs, naming the cherubs, making up imaginary cherub adventures...you get the idea.

The cemetery was pretty, with statues, a fountain and a creepy wall carving over the main gate.

 I couldn't get to the gardens, because they were in the Retreat area, but I took what pictures I could, standing behind the fence. They were amazing. "This bold renegade carves a "Z" with his blade. A "Z" that stands for Zorro!"

I could totally picture this as a place where Zorro would hang out- I'm glad I stopped!