TREK

 Day 1 began at 5:45 AM. Sean and I got up early and got dressed in our pioneer gear. The girls and I  headed to the church early to help set up the breakfast and Sean and Brett came at 6:45. Everyone brought their buckets and water bottles and put them in family piles. We ate a good breakfast and then went into the chapel for a devotional. As we walked into the chapel the spirit was tangible! All these awesome kids coming together to think about the sacrifices made for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the sacrifices they are willing to make for the gospel and blessings of the temple.  After the devotional we went out to the parking lot and the kids loaded on the busses. Sean and I drove up in our night fury car since it was the medical vehicle. When we got there, the families all got together and started to load up their handcarts. We made sure everyone had their packed lunch and then we hit the trails. It took a long time to actually start trekking because all the mas and pas and medical people had to have training with the missionaries. The first part of the trail was super super dusty! The ground was uneven and there were lots of holes and cow pies. There were also lots of cows everywhere! We paused for lunch and a devotional, then kept trekking. We arrived at the campsite and Sean and all the trekkers went to set up tents and rest for awhile. I went to the food trailer and helped all the food ladies make bacon cheeseburgers and a bunch of sides. We decided to help with portion control and spread of germs we would serve at each meal. It was time consuming but so fun to see so many smiling happy faces come through the line. They were so polite and grateful! It felt rather chaotic to get dinner out and then figure out that we wanted to make lunches that night and then pass out smores stuff as well. It was a miracle it all went together so well. Sean got our tent put up and all the sleeping things out. And he helped all the people with their medical stuff (mostly blisters at this point). I think we finally got to sleep at 11 that night and we were so tired. It was really cold and hard to sleep, but we managed ok. Lizzie slept in our tent with us and Alana slept with Grace in the family tent and Brett was with his family. As Sean and I said our couple prayer and personal prayers that night Lizzie joined in. She has been suffering with some pretty bad nosebleeds this summer. She had one during the day that first day and after her personal prayer that night she said "I think we should put some vaseline in my nose to help not get nosebleeds". I helped her get some and we talked about how as she was praying that her nose wouldn't bleed, the spirit whispered to her that she could use vaseline to help. She did have one or two more nosebleeds that week (lots of people did with the dry heat and the high altitude) but hers were short and easily treatable with the afrin medicine Sean had brought. Through all the preparation for trek and then as we were there I was continually struck with how many people came together and prepared different aspects of the trip. People were so dedicated and brought all they had. It made me think a lot about the idea of Zion. We are all a people coming together with different skills and talents trying to serve each other. We didn't always get a long and it was really really hard, but we were trying and it was beautiful! Sean and I attached ourselves to the Ford family. Our girls wanted to walk with them because our neighbor Grace was walking with them too. We had so much fun getting to know Alan and Becky better and all the amazing youth in their group! 

The medical people had a tent at each stop called Wagon Wheel Wellness =)

Here are the three ladies Sean worked with on the medical team. Melissa, Jena and Whitney were all lovely and skilled women! 

Me with my girls before we got completely caked in dirt! 

Jason Peterson was in charge of equipment and he went above and beyond! He brought lights and made propane fire pits (since we weren't allowed to have campfires) It felt like he though of everything! 

Lizzie needed some dragon rides to make it through that first day! 

Becky and I had a good time pulling the cart, man was it a lot of work to push or pull! 

The beautiful food committee. They were amazing and so willing and ready to help! They were also so supportive of me wanting to trek with my family! I felt so grateful for them! 

Here is Brett with his family. His ma and pa were Brighton and Nash Wilson and they had 7 strapping boys in their family. Brett says they all liked to push and pull the wagon and that no one got overly tired =) 

Brett bought some cards and had a good time playing black jack and texas holdem with his brothers. 

Heres the breakfast before we left the stake center. 

The s'mores were a huge hit! 

Day 2 of Trek started with some delicious breakfast burritos. The tortillas we ordered were HUGE. We had accounted for everyone having 2 tortillas for breakfast burritos, tacos, and sandwich wraps, but most people could only barely finish one! We had a lot of leftover tortillas! Thursday was designated as the Women's pull. I had debated whether to trek or help with food that day. I felt a lot of guilt about all the hauling and setting up the rest of the committee was having to do! The ladies on the committee were so gracious and kind and really encouraged me to go trek. I know it probably made more work for them, but they were so sweet! We got the camp all packed up and headed out on the trail. There were some nasty hills that day. Two huge ones before we even got to the Women's pull. On the first one I was pushing the cart from behind and my muscles were doing fine, but I just couldn't breathe! Sean and Alan were encouraging us girls to take it easier that morning to prepare for the women's pull, but we had two teenagers who were sick and didn't come trekking that day. The Ford family had two handcarts and there simply wasn't enough pushers and pullers to go around. So Becky and I kept pushing and pulling. Lizzie got to ride in the cart for a while that day. One of the missionaries had told me about other groups that let littles do it and President Parry told us that she could absolutely ride in the wagon. After going up a huge hill, we would have to come down and so people would have to grab ropes from the back and pull the handcart as the people in the front steered. It was a bit scary and we all had to work together to not lose control. We got to the base of the women's pull hill and it was an ominous sight. They had organized it so that each cart would have a minimum of 5 girls helping. The boys took the rest of the carts up to the top and had a devotional up there. We stayed at the base and had a devotional. The sister missionary talked with us about doing hard things in life and that this was symbolic of needing angels and the Savior to help us when we don't think we can do it anymore. We sang As Sister's in Zion and had a prayer. Then we got in our positions and went up the hill. It was pretty short but very steep. As we came up the hill, all the men were standing with their hats off watching us. They were silent, but didn't help us. There were some women who came from the food committee and other stake leaders who came to help us. They pushed our backs and Jena even took my pushing spot for the last few steps. It always amazes me to think of the powerful role that women have in this world. It is vital that we are strong and that we don't depend on others testimonies. We have to be strong ourselves to raise children in this world and teach them about their Divine Nature. I am so grateful for the women who have come before me and done impossibly hard things to ensure I have the gospel and an education and even a life. Sean said the devotional they did at the  top of the mountain was given by president Parry. He talked about how the women's pull is not about feminism but how we need each other and how we rely on the Lord first and foremost. After we all caught out breath, we went to a nice grassy area and had lunch. After lunch a missionary came and told us a great story in first person about Ephraim Hanks (I think) He told us about how he was a rider for the pony express and how he was called by the Lord in the middle of the night 3 times to go help the Martin and Willy handcart companies. He told about miracles of finding buffalo for meat and warmth. He did a great job and bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon through the story. After lunch and the story, we had about 90 min left of trekking for the day. We made it to the campsite and the food committee had cold watermelon for us to grab right as we came off the trail. I went to work with the food team to prepare pulled pork sandwiches and to get ready for the hoe down. Sean helped with lots of blisters and soreness and allergies. He also put up our tent and got all our gear out again. I came over at one point and Sean seemed pretty frustrated. The ground was really hard and it was hard to get the stakes in just right. Our tent wasn't looking too solid. President Parry came at that moment and did some magic tent reinforcement. Sean and I both told him how he was our angel for helping us non-campers =) It really was a tender mercy to have his help. That night was my favorite. We had planned to have cookies and soda for the kids during the hoe down. Each of us on the food committee made around 200 cookies so we had about 1400 different types of homemade cookies for the kids to enjoy. The hoe down caller was wonderful and it was so fun to watch all the kids and leaders dance. Our Stake President came up that night as well and brought more mole skin and cooking oil. Sean started dancing with Liz, but got called away quickly to help with medical. I tried to dance with Lizzie for a minute but also needed to go, so I grabbed Spencer who was from our family and kinda threw him in there. We enjoyed watching all of the dancing and got everything all set and planned for the next day and then we went to our tent. It was much warmer than the night before so Sean and I opened our window and layed and talked while we watched the gorgeous stars. 

The porter johns and equipment trucks took all our food and tents and sleeping gear from one stop to the next. They worked so hard to clean up and set up each day! 

Kristi snuck some diet coke =) 

Day two when I woke up at 6 AM, I found Reed Simmons outside our tent studying his scriptures. What an incredible example! 

Todd Westberg was our photographer and he was trying to get the cows to come closer =) 

This was the horse named Splinter that Ephraim Hanks rode in to tell us his story. He let this cute girl take care of it for a while. 

Sean, Reed, and Mitchell

The cookies! 

Day 3 of Trek we all woke up nice and early to make bacon, eggs, muffins, and yogurt with toppings. We had made lunches the night before again which was very nice! Sean helped bandage up people's feet and then took down our tent and cleaned up our stuff. I was planning to stay and help with food that day because Kristi wanted to go drive the water truck with her husband. As we talked that morning and Lizzie tried to decided if she wanted to stay with me or go trekking, I told Lizzie that I couldn't come and that she would have to walk because the Ford family was going down to one handcart and there wasn't room for her to ride. President Parry again made it clear that we would find a place for her to ride if needed and that she should come! The food committee also reassured me again that I could trek and they would be fine! So  off we went on our 7 mile day. They said it was much flatter this day. But there still were some hills and we were all pretty tired from all the pushing and pulling. There was about a 3 mile trek in the middle of the day where there was a flat gorgeous meadow filled with tall grass and wild flowers. It was beautiful. And everyone was sneezing and asking for zyrtec. We covered ourselves in bug spray to ward off ticks and enjoyed the beauty as we trekked. We stopped for lunch in a beautiful spot! After lunch we kept trekking and one missionary said it was only about a half hour more. It was a lot longer and Grace and Alana were pretty tearful and emotional as we finished up this day. 7 miles was a lot! We arrived at our final campsite and were told to circle our tents and not to pop them up because the wind was too strong. We got started making tacos and then we were able to attend a big devotional all together. They also did a sing around and shared each families cheers and songs. The Ford Family picked Once there was a snowman and Lizzie got on Reed's shoulders and they sang growing tall and small. After the devotional they excused the kids to go have 15 minutes of private study and prayer time. Brett said this was his favorite part of trek. He found a place by the creek and he felt the spirit testify so strongly that its all true! Grace also mentioned loving this time to feel personal revelation. Sean and I were able to attend the Ford Family devotional and testimony meeting that night. It always amazes me to feel the strength of youth. Their testimonies and strong and they are incredible children of God. Sean bore testimony of how God had prepared him to come on trek for 5 years and how Heavenly Father prepares us all to be in the places we need to be in the times we need to be there. We set out all the cookies and brownie bites that night and then the activities people had put together a faith walk with different quotes and pretty lights. I got to make the last call for cookies and the kids were very excited to go run and grab more. We weren't able to light the fire pits one last time because the wind was so bad. We got all the food put away and figured out our plan for the next morning. We got in our tent and the wind was just blowing like crazy. Reed mentioned to us that his tent wasn't staying up. We told him it would hopefully hold. Then some rowdy kids were horsing around near the girls tent and fell over on them. Alana was pretty emotional as she was just so so tired. As the wind continued the boys tent broke. We helped them find refuge with Brett's family tent and our girls tent was about to collapse. All the other girls had found other places to sleep and so we had Alana and Lizzie and Grace come in our tent. I called Kari to make sure she was ok with it since its not usually ok to have leaders sleep with children who are not their family. Kari was fine with it and so were the other leaders. Many tents were blowing like crazy and a few others had broken or blown away. Sean went with President Parry and President McIntyre and the equipment guy to help strengthen and re-stake the tents. Sean held the flashlight and watched in wonder as these skilled men tightened and strengthened all the tents. Alana, Lizzie, and Grace got into our tent and they were sound asleep within 5 minutes. The tent was literally flapping over their heads and it was remarkable to me that they could sleep. Alana later shared with me that she had prayed that the wind would stop and when it seemed like Heavenly Father couldn't answer that prayer, she prayed that she could sleep. Sean arrived back at out tent at about 1 am and the wind finally died down. Around 3 or 4 we heard coyotes howling! Haha, we all survived though and Sean said the time he spent with the stake presidency watching them serve everyone else was his favorite. When Sean took our tent down the next morning, three of the corners were about 80% ripped. It was truly a miracle that it stayed up and kept us safe all night! 

Day 4 of Trek started at 6:30 AM. I went to start the water boiling for breakfast. We had sausage, eggs, yogurt, rolls, fruit and all kinds of leftover stuff. It was a bit slower of a morning. I helped Kristi organize the fridge and get all the stuff we would need for hotdogs in the most easy access. We did dishes, cleaned up, helped load the equipment trucks and cleaned everything up. The trekkers lined up to leave and Brother Westberg took family photos of everyone. Then we started out last 4 miles to the busses. Alan told us amazing stories that kept us entertained for a long time. By the end of the tail that day we were last in line and struggling to make it to the end. Alana and Grace were so tired, but they did it! 23 miles in 4 days! I was so proud of them and of all of us! We arrived to cheers and hot dogs and then the busses came and we were so so happy to see them. We loaded up and headed home. When we arrived home I noticed right away that Nick had mowed our lawn. It was such a wonderful service. We went to church and unloaded all the gear and food and we had so much leftover food! We all had super long showers and my Dad brought Oreo back home. They also brought us a meatloaf and potatoes for dinner on Sunday! We had dominos on Saturday night and sat and talked and enjoyed being together the 5 of us. Everyone had fun stories to tell and we just enjoyed being together, clean, in our own house. 

Some of the craziest medical things that happened were that Spencer got a metal thing impaled through his finger, a girl caught a mouse and got bitten, and one of the leaders had a dangerous blood sugar and administered dangerous amounts of insulin to try and correct it. We definitely felt grateful that everyone arrived home in one piece! 

The rest of the pictures got kinda mixed up in our files so I will just share them here. 

We had the closing fireside on Sunday after we got back and it was wonderful to come together and share memories and pictures. Here is the link for the movie our Stake made:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11NAXoLfvjolB0-9kehIAvZ6w3fcKeC2M/view?usp=sharing