Summer Reading Program

Summer is right around the corner. Each summer we participate in a summer reading program. This summer we thought we learn about one of our ancestors and how far they walked. We have determined to read 2,000 pages for each of the miles that he traveled with the Mormon Battalion.

I grew up learning about Israel Evans who walked the 2,000 miles in Company B. He was stationed in San Diego after arriving in San Diego. He later was a captain of a handcart company. Lance, my husband, and I have talked about him. On his messenger at work, he had written "Israel Evans walked 5,000 miles." One day he was asked by a co-worker why Israel did that. He  responded, "Because he believed a prophet."

Before we went to the presentation, we looked up on Family Search to see if Lance had a member in the battalion. He did. His name was Riley Garner Clark. He was in Company A and was assigned to Los Angeles after arriving in San Diego. He eventually settled in Panguitch, Utah. We haven't learned much about him yet.

The only battle that the Mormon Battalion fought was against bulls south of Tucson. Their march took them through the desert in the winter.When they arrived in San Diego, most had no shoes, and their clothes were in tatters. After the presentation, the boys got to dress up and see different displays. We are glad we learned about our history.

This summer we will start our summer at the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center in San Diego, CA. We will keep track of the pages we read. We hope that as a family we can meet the 2,000 miles. We haven't determine how we will celebrate when we reach our goal. Maybe we will built something like the soldiers did when they arrived in San Diego.

Independence, Missouri

After church on Sunday, the boys and I visited LDS Church history sites 

in the Kansas City area.

We went to Independence, Missouri LDS Visitor's Center.

A children's area was a lot of fun 

with a covered wagon, a cabin, and a well.

 

A sister missionary gave us a tour. 

The presentation talked about why the Saints moved from Ohio to Missouri.

The Saints built a very beautiful community and were very happy.

Eventually the other settlers were concerned 

because so many Saints were moving into their communities.

The Saints were eventually forced to leave.

We had family members who moved to Missouri and then moved to Illinois. 

The faith they had in God was stronger than a place or their circumstances.

I want to believe that God has a plan and being willing to follow his plan 

like our ancestors.

Mormon Battalion

We went to a presentation about the Mormon Battalion 

that was an active military unit during the Mexican-American War. 

It is the only battalion named after a religious group. 

Hurricane was enchanted by the brass band that played.

He counted how many instruments have mouth pieces,

 how many boys and girls, and how many songs. 

I grew up learning about Israel Evans who walked the 2,000 miles in Company B.

He was stationed in San Diego after arriving in San Diego. 

He later was a captain of a handcart company. 

Sweetheart and I have talked about him.

On his messager at work, he has "Israel Evans walked 5,000 miles."

One day he was asked why Israel did that.

Sweetheart responded, "Because he believed a prophet."

Before we went, we looked up on Family Search to see 

if Sweetheart had a member in the battalion. 

He did. His name was Riley Garner Clark.

He was in Company A and was assigned to Los Angeles

after arriving in San Diego.

He eventually settled in Panguitch, Utah.

We haven't learned much about him yet.

The only battle that the Mormon Battalion fought was against bulls south of Tucson. 

Their march took them through the desert in the winter.

When they arrived in San Diego, most had no shoes, and their clothes were in tatters.

After the presentation, the boys got to dress up and see different displays.

We are glad we learned about our history.

Pioneer Day

We celebrated Pioneer Day with our ward on Saturday.

We arrived for pancakes, sausage, and eggs.

Sweetheart stepped up to flip pancakes.

A bike parade was held. Hurricane brought the side car.

Sweetheart brought out his Scout and drove it around all day.

The day before we watched 17 Miracles and talked about our ancestors.

We talked about their courage, faith, and determination.

We asked the boys how they were pioneers and to think about it.

Watermelon Cake

We had this for family home evening.

Watermelon ice cream...

My Gamma Rae made it one summer.

I remember sneaking into the freezing and getting caught.

I decided to make it again this summer.

I still don't have a good method making it to share a recipe.

We enjoy it around here.

In the background, you can see our grape juice.

Coupon

I was going through Grandma Kirkham's recipe files.

I found a coupon from the 1960s.

There was no expiration date. 

I wonder if it is valid. 

Home Improvement

We traded the rooms around. 

The Grandma Room (a.k.a. Guest Room) 

was moved to the end of the hall. 

This room used to be our library (a.k.a. office.)

We thought room could use some paint.

Here are some before shots.

We would see this quote every day at the end of our hallway.

We decided to keep the stripe down the middle.

The original stripe was the primer coat.

The original owner painted the greens but not the white.

After:

We kept the green but softened the color green.

This is the only "girly" room in the house.

The cast iron bed is one of my favorites from home.

The doll is an embroidered pillowcase from my great-Grandma Smith.

My Aunt Karol made it into a doll.

The rocking chair and little green frame were also embroidered by Grandma Smith.

She did the work in 1941.

The blessing dress is my Grandma Bodell's dress.

It hung next to her bed for as long as I could remember.

Watermelon Ice Cream Cake

Gamma Rae would make a fun ice cream cake.

I remember her making it only once.

We decided to have it as a family home evening treat.

The treat is made from lime sherbert, strawberry ice cream, and mini chocolate chips.

Hurricane liked it so much that he wrote about it in his class.

Watermelon Ice Cream Cake
1 quart Lime Sherbert
1 quart Strawberry Ice Cream
2 cups mini chocolate chips

Line a 6 quart bowl with wax paper or parchment paper. Soften the Lime Sherbert and line the sherbert like the rind of a watermelon. Freeze until hard. Soften the Strawberry Ice Cream and mix it the mini chocolate chips. Add the mixture on top of the sherbert. Freeze. Once frozen, invert the "watermelon" half and cut with a knife and serve like watermelon.

Car Balls

Grandpa Hoggan has a treasure box.

Every day you stay at his house you may pick one treasure.

Underfoot picked a soft soccer ball. 

While at the Ryan home, 

Miss Cyndy gave us a puzzle ball.

This became a favorite as we drove down the road.

Grandpa Hoggan and Ducks

Grandpa Hoggan welcomed us for the night.

He fed us breakfast - cold cereal and milk.

Grandpa gets day old bread to feed to the ducks and fish.

We fed the fish and ducks. The boys enjoyed it.

Family Tree

Quinton L. Cook said,
"We need to be connected to both our roots and branches."

After listening to his address, 

I completed a project that I've been thinking about for 2 years.

We made a picture family tree on our wall. The end result is cool.

We bought some frames to display family pictures.

They looked really crowded on the mantel.

I laid the pictures and the tree out on the ground.

This helped with appropriate spacing and placing.

Here is the beginning of the tree.
I built the tree while Sweetheart was at a camp out.
Camp outs are always are a good time to get stuff done.

Grandma's Cookie Tins

The film canisters remind me of cookies not movies. 

My great-Grandma Melba used them.

Then my Gamma Rae used them.

Then my Mom.

And now us!

We store cookie and muffins in the tins.

The large cookies were shared at the Pine Wood Derby for our pack.

The Cub Master shared the recipe.

The boys enjoy the cookies and here are some pictures of them.

For Unto Us....

We put up a different type of Christmas tree this year.

Isaiah 9:6 is a favorite because of the Messiah.

Grandma Kirkham loved to decorate for Christmas. 

December 1st marked the first day to put up decorations. 

She usually gifted to her family a decoration of the December 1st.

So in honor of Grandma Kirkham, this is our December 1st decoration.

Scouting for 100 Year

The LDS Church has participated in 100 years of Boy Scouting.

To commemorate this milestone, a broadcast was held on October 29.

Each ward was asked to have a display of how Scouting is done from Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.

I was given the assignment and this is the display that represents our 4 Scouting units.

I was very stressed out because I didn't know the expectation of what it was to look like.

I believe the display was lovely.

The boys really liked seeing their pictures up.

I also added suckers to the blank space so people would come look.

The interesting thing is my great-Grandpa was 12 the year the LDS Church decided to participate. He participated and earned the rank of 1st class. In those days, some of the requirements had to be passed off by a professional at the Scout office. He went and started a fire to earn his rank. My Grandpa then participated as a young man. Both of my parents have participated in Scouting. I am now involved in Scouting in Cub Scouting in our ward. So for 4 generations Scouting has been apart of my family. We've been doing this for about 100 years.....

Meridell Park Apples

One of the joys of fall is picking fruit.

My Dad loves fruit trees. 

When my parents were looking for a home,

they wanted space enough for an orchard.

After living in their home for a while, they counted their fruit trees one day.

The count was 60 or more trees.

If having one orchard wasn't enough,

Grandpa Kirkham had another orchard.

Meridell Park's orchard has many, many trees 

- apple, white peach, pear.

We wanted Underfoot and Hurricane to know 

where some of our favorite foods come from 

and how to to pick, juice, and preserve apples.

The boys climbed in the trees to pick the apples.

The climbing wasn't always easy.

We picked clean 14 of the many trees available.

If we had had more time, we would have picked the entire orchard.

Mr. Awesome had pruned some of the trees very well.

The fruit on these trees was huge, sweet, and heavy.

A parable is told about having trials and that it is like God is pruning us

because when great efforts have been put forth 

then to have a trial to come and clip that experience away.

The parable goes on to say that pruning is necessary for 

the greatest blessings.

The boys loved climbing the trees and ladders. 

After picking for an entire morning, they were tired. 

Picking apples is the hardest part of processing or just eating.

They were hard workers and for that I am grateful.

We took an 8 foot trailer being optimistic to fill it to the top!

The sides are probably 3 foot.

Our optimism was greater than the time we had to spend.

We boxed up 5 banana boxes full of apples after juicing

with still a few apple left to be juiced by my brother and his wife.

Pressing apples is a lot of fun.

The apples are washed, 

chopped in the press' shredder, 

smooched with the pressing tool, 

pasteurized, and canned.

Our nieces came and helped.

Dark Hair stuck with me to end. We call the juice liquid gold.

In the end, we came home with 16 gallons of juice.

 We packed up 5 banana boxes full of apples.

We shared 4 of the 5 boxes and came home to can applesauce.

I still have a few left to put into a pie for the pie party.

We are grateful the apples were shared with us!

Thanks to my brothers, their wives, and children for hosting us!