Our Pioneers

"We must never permit ourselves to lose sight of the great and singular achievements of those who first came to this valley in 1847. They came not for riches or gold, but rather to find a place where they could worship God under the revelations which are the foundation of this work. They were outcasts, driven and hounded, persecuted and peeled. Their reliance was on the God of heaven. When they reached this place, they stopped in spite of entreaties to go on to California or the Northwest. As I have said before, they knew nothing really of the climate of the area, of the conditions of the soil, of the crickets or the grasshoppers with which they soon became acquainted. They had learned all they could concerning the Great Basin, but that was precious little. No one before them had ever grown a potato or an ear of corn or moved a plow to break this sunbaked soil.
I absolutely marvel at the boldness of Brigham Young. In 1868 he said, speaking of their coming here: “We made and broke the road from Nauvoo to this place. … Some of the time we followed Indian trails; some of the time we ran by the compass. When we left the Missouri River we followed the Platte. And we killed rattlesnakes by the cord in some places; and made roads and built bridges till our backs ached. Where we could not build bridges across rivers we ferried our people across, until we arrived here, where we found a few naked Indians, a few wolves and rabbits, and any amount of crickets; but as for any green tree or a fruit tree, or any green fields, we found nothing of the kind, with the exception of a few cottonwoods and willows on the edge of City Creek. For some 1,200 or 1,300 miles we carried every particle of provisions we had when we arrived here.”
He went on to say: “We prayed over the land, and dedicated it, and the water, air and everything pertaining to them unto the Lord, and the smiles of heaven rested on the land and it became productive, and today yields us the best of grain, fruits and vegetables” (quoted in Nibley, Brigham Young, 441–42).
We must never allow recognition of their trials, of their sacrifices, of their tenacity, of their faith and their prayers in establishing this great community to lapse or be forgotten.
Even after they had made their first beginnings, the temptation to move to California was powerful. Gold had been discovered there in January of 1848. Their own brethren of the Mormon Battalion had participated in that discovery.
Many were discouraged here, and some said they would go there and get rich and then return. In these circumstances President Young stood before the people and said: “Some have asked me about going. I have told them that God has appointed this place for the gathering of his Saints, and you will do better right here than you will by going to the gold mines. Some have thought they would go there and get fitted out and come back, but I told them to stop here and get fitted out. Those who stop here and are faithful to God and his people will make more money and get richer than you that run after the [god] of this world; and I promise you in the name of the Lord that many of you that go thinking you will get rich and come back, will wish you had never gone away from here, and will long to come back, but will not be able to do so. Some of you will come back, but your friends who remain here will have to help you; and the rest of you who are spared to return will not make as much money as your brethren do who stay here and help build up the Church and Kingdom of God; they will prosper and be able to buy you twice over. Here is the place God has appointed for his people.
“We have been kicked out of the frying pan into the fire, and out of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay. God has shown me that this is the spot to locate his people and here is where they will prosper; he will temper the elements for the good of his Saints; he will rebuke the frost and the sterility of the soil, and the land shall become fruitful. Brethren, go to, now, and plant out your fruit seeds. …
“… We shall build a city and a temple to the Most High God in this place. … This will become the great highway of the nation. Kings and Emperors and the noble and wise of the earth will visit us here, while the wicked and ungodly will envy us our comfortable homes and possessions” (quoted in Nibley, Brigham Young, 127–28)."
Exerpt taken from a talk President Hinckley gave at the Pioneer Commemeration Concert in the Conference Center (2001)

I think so much, about the sacrifices, hardships and persecution the pioneers had to deal with just in order to enjoy the freedom of religion that was guaranteed to us, by our forefathers. The things they suffered are beyond comprehension for me. The loss of family members, more than once to the same families, starvation, disease for lack of food and shelter, loss of homes so hard fought for.

How grateful I am to them for their example of faith.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. ~Martin Luther King Jr.

Puppy Dog Tales!

Well, my buddy, Clancy's visit to the eye doctor was better than I thought it would be. He only has an ulcer. Don't get me wrong, and ulcer is bad enough, but there are tons of other things that are much worse. The issues that Clancy was having fit right in with them, but thankfully there are a ton of awesome people up there at Eye Care for Animals, who know a ton more than me.

They were concerned that the ulcer wasn't healing fast enough because he had been having pain and squinting for almost a week, so, they did that dreaded procedure that would destin us to hot dogs the rest of our lives, but Clancys doctor only charged us a fraction of what it could have been. The original estimate was "right around $950.00." As it was, it was just a small part of that, which was a real blessing. That doctor has done things like that for me before and I am very grateful for her kindness. She has helped us through a lot and Clancy too.

What they ended up doing was to take a surgical blade of some kind and scraping the surface of the eyeball. I know..................just hurts to think about it!!! Anyway, the concept is to have the whole thing heal at the same rate, instead of just the spot where the ulcer is. So, I am leaving it up to the ones who know, but it sure is scary looking. His eye is all cloudy looking and he doesn't see as well as he did before. But, the cloudiness is part of the healing process and will go away.

The poor dog has to have eye drops and ointment put in his eye four times a day. My dining room table looks like a pharmacy!!! He has pain meds, (three times a day), antibiotics, (four times a day), ointment to help draw water from the eye, (twice a day), pain pills, (three times a day), his regular eye drops, (twice a day) and doggie asprin, (twice a day). They all have to be spaced 5 minutes apart. At least the eye drops do, so I feel like I am giving meds all day long.

Friday, I called them and asked them if it was supposed to be so cloudy and they said yes and it would look worse, before it got better. So, I am just trying hard to be patient and do all I can for him. Ever since this whole eye thing started, I have been told that if I see anything wrong with his eye, get him in to the clinic right away, so now I have to sit here and see something wrong with his eye and not worry. Just have to trust them. They are good at what they do so, ...........!

Here is a picture of his little eye. I feel so bad for him cause it hurts him an awful lot and he has tears even!!!! He is such an awesome little dog, and being so good about all of this. Wish I could let him know that things are going to be better.

So, here is my little friend taking it easy while we weed the garden.

Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend. ~Corey Ford

Cars, Cars, Cars!!!!!

Yesterday was the coolest!!! Well, not weather-wise!!! It was a fun day tho. Norm, Chad Buttars and I went to a "cruise" for Steel Days in American Fork. The whole street was lined with people while the cars passed by, sometimes giving a little show....if you know what I mean. I love cars. It is so neat to see people who have worked long and hard and spent tons of money, enjoying their beautiful cars.

Here is an absolutely beautiful 1964 Chevrolet Malibu Super Sport. The best car in the whole show!!! A 64 Malibu SS has been my favorite care forever, and this one is beautiful, as you can see. You don't see them very often for some reason, but they sure are nice to look at. Especially one like this. Don't you see how pretty it is!

Here is an awesome GTO. The pale green paint job really sets it off, don't you think??? Just look at that nice straight body, with no ripples or nicks. It sounded really good too and was just flawless.

Here is a really nice 55 Chev and my georgeous 64 Malibu. These two cars were so impressive. I loved the wheels on the 64. Right across the street is my friend Gary Godfreys Dodge Dart, that is about as hot as anything I have ever seen. One awesome car.

Here is another picture of Gary's Dodge Dart. That car is really quick and it was really hard for it to go slow enough to be in the cruise. It is built for high end speed and heats up if you go too slow. In fact Gary had to park it a couple of times, to let it cool off. He and his wife live right behind us and we can hear that car start up way over at our house. It is a really sweet car.

Here is another picture of Gary's sweet little Dart, taken just before he came and picked me up and took me for a ride the length of the cruise route. Yup, you heard me!!!!! I got a ride in that!!!!! Now, if you don't think that was a real treat. He got on it a couple of times and it was awesome!!! That thing is so powerful!!! What a blast!!!

I love cars and could go to shows and cruises 24-7. Good pictures really help to show others the fantastic paint jobs and the detailed work that has gone into these cars. I think I rank right up there with Ansel Adams, don't you think??? You can see the cars so clearly.

After the cruise, we went to a fireworks display on the other end of town, high up on a hill where you could see everything. Not a tree, or a power line was in the way. Again, another dazzling display of my photographic talent!!!!

Stupid camera!!!!

It's got to be the camera, not me!!! Just so I would stop crying, Chad said that he would make me a cd of the pictures he took with his big humungo camera. It had a lens about fifty miles long and you needed a crane to carry it!!! Huge, Huge!!! I was trying to get some pictures of this particular car, and kind of followed it with my camera, snapping, snapping, snapping!!! I sat back down and Chad said "I bet I got more pictures than you did!!!" I wanted to slap him. He was right!!! He got a lot more. But of course, one would have been more than I got!!!!

It was an awful fun day tho. Just wish I could show it to you!!!!!

Happiness is never stopping to think if you are.

~Palmer Sondreal