Thank you Pioneers!

Here in Utah, we have a special holiday today, Pioneer Day. It's something I never knew existed but without question pioneers definitely deserve to have their own special day. Just look at the picture above, none of that looks like fun: long dresses, tumbleweeds, dry skin, hot weather and kissing that beard? Well thanks to the many sacrifices of these trailblazers we have scrapbooking. How, you might ask? Well through many difficulties these pioneers settled much of the west, including the great state of Utah.

I'm not sure if you know, but Utah is the unofficial scrapbooking capital of America. Although first signs of scrapbooking have been around since the time of Aristotle, it took the World Conference of Records to make it what it is today. In 1980, Marielen Christensen shared 50 volumes of her family history at this conference that was held in Utah, and modern scrapbooking was born. Afterwards, the Christensens opened the first retail scrapbooking store here in Utah and called it Keeping Memories Alive. So in this long round about way, we have much to thank the pioneers for. If they wouldn't have settled Utah, the World Conference of Records may have never taken place and we would still have shoe boxes filled with photos. Ok, even if it the chances of that happening are slim, scrapbooking can still be one of the reasons we say, Thank You Pioneers!