Pioneer Day

This past Saturday was Pioneer Day at church. It turned out to be really nice, although it was SWELTERING. I am so thankful that we don't have to wear all the clothes required of polite society in the late nineteenth century. Yuck. George and the children and I dressed up in only a fraction of the clothing they would have worn at that time, and we were so sweaty and gross by the end of the evening, I couldn't stand to be in the same shirt with myself.

Despite the heat of a NC summer day, we really had a great time. It was well-planned, with lots of fun games and activities for kids and grown-ups alike. The children got to pan for gold (gold-painted rocks and sand in a kiddie pool) using plastic sand sifters.

Drake insisted on being the only Pioneer Pirate there.




There was button-sewing, which Bart and Drake loved doing, surprisingly. There was a watermelon seed-spitting contest and sack races, which were hilarious (and dangerous).




The children got to hammer nails into boards and play tug-of-war with probably the biggest rope ever.


One of the coolest things was looking up to see Skylar and two of her friends playing Ring Around the Roses on the lawn. Girls kept drifting over to join until there was a whole big ring of girls dancing and falling in their pioneer dresses and bonnets. There was something very heart-lifting about seeing them engaging in a game that our ancestors played and probably played for ages before that.



After the games, there was a "trail" to walk. The trail consisted of walking to different points around the church yard where costumed characters told stories of the hardships the pioneers faced as they trekked across the country to the Great Salt Lake. We have some really talented story-tellers in our church. Afterward, it was time for dinner and family pictures.

Here's the cake I made for Pioneer Day. It really didn't take that long to make because there wasn't much piping involved, but it was challenging enough in its own way.




It consisted of two massive sections. The bottom was two 9x13 layers of butter cake iced with chocolate buttercream. The top section, the covered part of the wagon, was made of three 8 inch round layers, each cut in half and put together with vanilla buttercream icing between the layers to make the rounded shape. George (Mr. Geometry Wizard) came up with the idea for the top structure. Basically, it was six halves stuck together with icing, and it was very easy and effective. I covered the top in vanilla buttercream, and finished it with a 13x13 inch sheet of fondant. I ruffled the edges of the fondant to make it look like a canvas cover. The wheels were four enormous sugar cookies which I over-baked to make them hold up, with chocolate buttercream piped on for wheel spokes. I stuck them on with a dollop of icing. The bottom layer of the cake was held up atop four glasses (thanks for the great idea, Kim!) which blended in and looked way better than what I originally was going to use to lift it. All in all, I was really happy with the finished product. I only hope it was tasty and cute (we didn't take any of it home with us).

We took some adorable pictures of the children and us as a family. I'll have to post the family pictures when I get them back.




So, basically it's fun to be a Pioneer for an afternoon, but I would not trade places for the world!