We are so glad that we live in Utah and get to celebrate this holiday by taking the day off. I want to pay tribute to my Great Great Great Grandma Rhoda Young who crossed the plains in 1850. I had to talk in church a couple of weeks ago and shared her amazing story. This is the abbreviated version. She left Nauvoo in 1847 with her family and headed to Council Bluffs. They spent the winter at Winter Quarters and then the summer preparing to go west. It was then that her baby died from Black Scurvy. Her husband went back to Tennessee to see if he could get more money from their property and while back there he got sick and wrote for Rhoda to come home. She packed up her kids and headed back east to take care of him. Then she lost one of her daughters that next spring to congestive chills. Finally in 1850 they headed back west. They decided to go up the Mississippi to save time and the same day they boarded the boat, it blew up. They made it to shore but couldn't find Baby Brigham. They searched everywhere and finally she went into the bushes to pray. She could hear someone singing and couldn't believe that they could be so happy when she was so sad. She walked out and saw a negro carry a young boy singing him lullabies. It was Baby Brigham! He had found him crying by the creek. Oh the power of prayer. Finally they made it back to Council Bluffs and started their journey west in May of 1850. In July her husband contracted Cholera and died. Two days later she lost another son. That left Grandma and her oldest daughter to drive the wagon train. They would yoke the oxen in the morning and unyoke them at night. One morning they woke up to find their oxen gone. The wagon train left without them. They searched all day long and could not find them anywhere. They woke up the next morning to find them laying there chewing their cuds. They finally made it to Salt Lake in September, where she was left to fend for her family on her own. She was able to remarry and finally settled in Kanab. I am so grateful for her and the "Legacy of Faith" that she has left to us! The Pioneers are incredible! I know that I could not have done what they did. They sacrificed everything that they had. What a Priceless Heritage!
On a lighter note, we spent the day at Seven Peaks for the Oil-n-Go work party. Sophia loved it! I was kind of worried that she would only last an hour or so because we were there right during nap time, but she had a ball. She loved playing with Grandma Kaye and splashing Mommy! Grandma was a good sport and even went on the Boomerang with Ryan. He tried to get me to go, but I have been on it before and that slide scares me to death! I wish I would have had the camera to document the historic event! She said she was so scared that she couldn't even scream! Go Grandma! At 63 she has more guts than I do.
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