MANTI, Utah -- Every summer for four weeks running, Kaylene Yardley loads her boys, a trunk of costumes and sometimes her husband into the car to make the 324-mile round-trip from Clinton, Utah, to Manti so they can be in the Mormon Miracle Pageant.

When school's still in session, the family doesn't even take a break between school, rehearsal, bed and school again for two weeks.

But it's absolutely worth it, says Yardley.

"You can't buy an experience like this. The kids feel the spirit every night for a month and they're giving service. Then, they learn so much and they make friends. They love it," she said.

Yardley has been part of the pageant since she was 5 years old. Her parents have been involved for 30 years, either in the cast with their four children, working with the scenery, as chaperones or, as it happens today, helping with language translation.

Jesse Birch, her father, says everyone who moves into town just naturally becomes part of the show.

Yardley officially became a cast member when she was 10 and asked to square dance in the pioneer scene.

Today she plays multiple roles, starting as a Lamanite woman, progressing to a pioneer mother hauling a handcart and finishing as an angel. on top of the temple wall. When he can, her husband joins the family in multiple group scenes in the annual event that tells the story of the Book of Mormon.

Her three teenage sons start out marking the ground for the chair layout and setting up the 12,500 folding chairs before they don warrior costumes and headdresses. After that they become pioneers and, every other night, they square dance on the prairie.

Before and after the shows, they mingle in costume with the audience, signing autographs, posing for pictures and doing a little missionary work.

"I hate this long hair. How do girls stand it?" said 12-year-old Colten Yardley, pulling at his long black yarn locks that are part of his headdress as a Lamanite warrior.

They shiver in the cold night air in elaborate costumes that leave their chests and feet bare. They become free lunch for the local mosquitoes and burn in the hot afternnoon sun. They are asked to run up and down Temple Hill again and again. But they don't complain.

"You can't swat when you're out there," said 15-year-old brother Brandon. "Everybody will see you."

"Our feet are quite used to it," said Colten. "We run up and down (the path to the costume and makeup shed behind the temple) all the time."

"I'm here because I want to be," said Colten. "It's just like fun being a warrior. We all have tomahawks and knives and we get to fight without getting in trouble and we all die but six!"

Over the years, there have been a few broken fingers (from the battles) but nothing very serious," said his mother. Once in a while, a handcart gets away from somebody on the steep hill in the dark but there have been no serious injuries. "There's some miracles in that," she said.

Tyrell, 17 and the oldest, has a principal role this year. As Zerahemnah, he displays his prowess as a high school track star when he streaks across the lawn leading the attack on the Nephites. When he's not "on stage" he's a cast missionary.

"It's pretty spiritual," said Tyrell. "It increases your testimony."

The Yardleys also have an older daughter, Kylie, who joins the group scenes when she can get away from work.

The Yardley family isn't the only dedicated clan in the pageant, which is a source of pride for the Manti LDS community. There are many in the community who work tirelessly every year to serve up barbecue turkey dinners to 10,000 to 12,000 visitors a night, to welcome those from out of town and who are either in the pageant or who make sacrifices for the six-night run each summer.

Mimi Hancock, from Ephraim, helps oversee props and costumes for the hundreds of performers -- this year the pageant boasts the largest cast ever with 930 members. Her son Dakotah is Captain Moroni. Her daughter Alex is a high priestess. This is their ninth year in the show.

Ben Westfall, who plays the mortal Moroni, says he figures he gets more out of the pageant than he can get from Disneyland.

And everyone has a miracle story.

"We made 200 costumes in one day. That's a miracle," said Mimi Hancock.
"The other night when it was pouring, you could see the sheets of rain coming down but we didn't feel it," said Kaylene Yardley.

The live Angel Moroni stays on top of the temple spire despite the wind.

And nobody trips in the dark and falls down the steep, grassy hill.

"That's just one of our many miracles," said Laren Swensen, director of the pageant that in its 43rd year and drew more than 85,000 visitors last year.

"We love being a part of it," said Kaylene Yardley.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com