In late January 2022, San Diego celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Mormon Battalion's arrival to the county! This US military group marched the longest distance military march in American history, helped establish peace at the end of the Spanish-American War, and provided valuable service to the region which included building over 20 brick water wells. To celebrate all that their service and amazing story of sacrifice, the community had a huge celebration.
As the newly called primary president in the ward, I decided we needed to highlight this unique learning opportunity for our kids. After-all, the Mormon Battalion resides in our ward boundaries, and one of the 12 apostles was coming to visit during the celebrations.
To prepare for the big day, we took the children to the museum at the Mormon Batallion historic site and enjoyed the interactive tour there! We are all wearing Covid masks because this was still in the midst of the pandemic. January was actually a high peak in Covid cases.
We also helped the children make bandanas and banners for the parade that we were going to march in on the big anniversary day.
Then the big day came! Members of the church came from all over the region of 12 stakes. There were hundreds of kids that marched in the children's parade. Our ward had a couple of signs and little wagons, windmills and ribbons to hold as we marched and waved to everyone. We even waved to Elder Christopherson!!
Jeremy's parents came down for the event, so Jeremy and Gary got to march together in the parade, where each man bore the name of a real soldier from the Batallion.
Holy smokes, my boys are so stinkin' cute!
Dallin is not a fan of pictures. I try really hard to keep it brief and not worry if he is smiling or not.
After the parades and ceremony where Elder Christofferson spoke, we enjoyed all the booths and activities!
Notice that Tanner brought a change of clothes so he could be more comfortable. I was really proud of him for taking initiative and bringing things he knew could help him be comfortable.
Seriously, what a cutie!
Then we stopped by the synagogue for a smaller event. We ran into Elder Christofferson and got to shake hands with him. He asked Tanner about baseball because of his hat.
The following night, me and Jeremy went to a huge devotional at our church building with Elder Christofferson speaking. Jeremy was the high councilman in charge of the building to help host the apostle. It was a pretty neat way to end the weekend!
