Courage Exercise and Pioneer Day Celebrations

So this post is actually long overdue, these activities took place much closer to Pioneer Day in July, but better late than never! This year we carried on our tradition of celebrating the pioneers and having the courage exercise. We try to do as many "pioneer type" activities as possible. It seems to be so much fun for everyone involved.

We started out Friday evening by cooking our food over the fire (and on the grill for those who wanted a burger). And even though I'm pretty sure it's not something the pioneers ever ate, we also had some s'mores in their honor. :)

It looks as though Kally and Brad had a good discussion with the kids first about how the pioneers got their food and how much work it was to prepare it. It looks very serious based on their expressions.

And not at all in true pioneer spirit, Erin insisted her hair needed to be dyed - but at least she hung out with us for a bit! :)

After we ate, we went into the house where grandma taught us a lesson about the pioneers and what it means to have courage.

As an intro to the courage exercise, grandma showed a video, and told the story of the crickets eating the crops and how the people prayed for Heavenly Father's help. Soon the seagulls came and ate all the crickets so the people could continue growing their crops. And then Eden came out with the cage full of crickets that we would be using for the courage exercise and everyone starting getting a little nervous. My parents had used some paper to make a seagull's head and attached it to a glass jar. So the courage exercise was that we would each reach into the cage, grab a cricket, and feed it to the "seagull".

Before we could start though, we had to put on a little war paint so we all felt a little more brave.

I have to say, crickets are gross, but we pulled it off! I was absolutely shocked by Eden. She was so nervous but when her turn came she was so brave and just quickly grabbed one out and threw it to the seagull. She seemed excited, but relieved to be done. However, after everyone else had taken their turn, she jumped back in there and just went at it with those crickets. She ended up feeding the whole cage to the seagull without fear at all. Way to go Eden! Bentley was extremely curious the whole time, but there was no way he was sticking his hand into the cage.

Last year's courage exercise was catching a toad and bringing it back to the house. After we were all done with the crickets, they decided to find a toad and redo last year's exercise too. Eden loved it.

Because none of the adults wanted to volunteer to sleep outdoors with the kids like the real pioneers, Brad improvised and built a pretty sweet tent inside where Eden and some of the Harding boys slept. Brad was also good and slept in there on the couch with them to provide some supervision. Such a good pioneer dad...

The next morning after breakfast, the pioneer activities were sort of put on hold while us women made some freezer jam. This year we made strawberry, raspberry and blackberry. I think we ended up calling it quits before using up all our berries, and we still make something like 65 jars of jam. It sure is good though!

Poor Dallen works nights and so he was so exhausted. For some reason, he felt the doorway to the tent was a pretty good place for a quick nap.

While Kally and I worked on the jam, Brad and my mom supervised a great activity for the kids - a mud pit! It was a mess, but completely entertaining for a very long time. Eden jumped right in and was loving it until she got splashed in the face. After that happened she decided she was done in the mud. Bentley would really only get his feet dirty, but even then, he seemed mostly content to just watch everyone else.

The kids also jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath and they had fun exploring the obstacle course that grandma and grandpa built.

Once the jam was all done and we were preparing for our next meal, the kids helped to make their own biscuits which they thought was pretty cool. We were sure to keep a kid tray separate from the adult tray. Although it was pretty easy by just looking at them to tell which ones were made with kid hands and which were made by adults.

For some reason this next picture was really funny to me. Lincoln looks like he is sleeping, and my dad in the background obviously didn't know he was in the shot. Funny times with these people.

While the biscuits were cooking, the kids then made their own butter to put on them. They were mostly way too impatient and tired of shaking before the butter was totally ready, but they did pretty good - and it tasted pretty good too.

We tried to come up with some good pioneer games, but the kids are still so little so we ended up settling on a sack race which ended up being really fun for them.

We also made some yummy chocolate ice cream. Eden supervised the ice cream maker as it churned away.

Bentley definitely found the perfect seat between two very generous cousins. Bentley would turn towards Lincoln who would give him a bite, and then he would turn to Carson who would give him a bite, and so on until all the ice cream was gone. It was really cute to watch.

I'm so grateful for these fun traditions and the opportunity we have to live near family. It's so fun to watch my kids make memories and experience so many fun things with their cousins. A huge thanks to my mom and Brad who did a lot of the planning for this. It's so much fun. I'm anxious to see what next year's courage exercise will be....