Trek

This was our cute family

Gabby, Scott, Jasmine, Kim, Olivia Ben and Sam there on the front

Gabby is quite young...doesn't turn 14 till November, so I'm not sure how she got to go.
She was pretty quiet and kept to herself. Ben was quiet too. The other kids...not so much! They were really outgoing and fun.
All of the kids got along with each other and we didn't have any problems that way.

Jasmine was an interesting gal. She was put with our family at the last minute, so we didn't know anything about her. She was really straight forward and would let you know whenever she needed anything or thought things should be run differently. She was very mature in many ways, but then would have tantrums and cry over other small things like losing her hand sanitizer.
The first day it was pretty windy, and she had this big bonnet on that kept getting blown all over. She would get really frustrated and yell and stomp her feet. She kept pulling so much on it, that it finally broke. Then she was really upset. I tried to fix it for her, but it was pretty much impossible without some sewing stuff.
I told her she could wear mine, but she was pretty hesitant, saying her mom was going to be so mad that her bonnet was broken.
I finally got her to put my bonnet on and she liked it and wore it the rest of the trek.
When we started walking, it seemed like she was having trouble, but we thought it was because she had her apron so loaded down with stuff, she was about to tip over . I had her put some of her stuff on the handcart so it would be easier to walk, but she was still struggling.

Then sister Sorenson (the trek missionary...a really neat outgoing lady) came up to Jasmine and just came right out and asked her why she was walking like that.
She was walking right behind us, so we heard the whole story.
She was adopted by her parents from an orphanage in china. She was born with legs that turned the wrong way, so she spent her childhood in braces. Then they tried to get them to turn by cutting the tendons. It left her with very tight legs...cant bend them much at all. Can't sit cross legged or squat down. And when she runs, she keeps them her legs straight and just swings them out to the sides.

She said the things she had been through had been hard, but it had made her a stronger person.
Kelley and I just looked at each other like "man what a couple of jerks we are!"
She had a real hard time the second night. It was a lot colder and she didn't have a very good sleeping bag. I could hear her thrashing around trying to get comfortable. Then I heard her shivering and crying. I told her to snuggle down in her sleeping bag and cover her head. She said she couldn't breath like that. I gave her my coat and told her to put the hood up so her head would be warm. That seemed to help and she finally fell asleep.
My heart went out to her and by the end of the trek, we had become quite close. I learned from people in her ward that she is a pretty amazing young woman and has overcome a lot in her young life.

You just never know what people have been through in their lives...until you have walked a while in their shoes. Jasmine taught me about not judging a book by it's cover and being more compassionate and kind.

This guy, Eduardo, was a special kid. He is not a member of the church, but came on trek with Sam. He told us the missionaries had been teaching their family and he believed what they were teaching them. I think he had some good experiences on trek... Him and Kelley really hit it off. He was definitely the life of our family's party! He was always teasing the girls, spraying them with the spray bottle, or trying to get us all to sing songs or telling us funny stories. He taught Kelley a lot of Spanish and shared some of his favorite recipes of Mexican food.





This was the awesome women after the woman's pull.

It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done (physically)

We started out pretty good, but it got harder and harder the farther up the hill we went. Olivia and Kim were in front and Gabby, Jasmine and I were in back pushing. We were all really struggling. The girls in front hollered for me to come up front and pull, so I ran up there. We were barely moving and all of us in tears.

We came over this first hill then could see all the men standing on the sides of the trail. They were singing 'come, come ye saints' Oh man, then we really broke down.

We couldn't go another step...completely exhausted. Suddenly, there next to us were other women who had already made it to the top and had turned around to see us struggling, and had come to
save us. They didn't say anything, but just gave us the extra strength to make it to the top.
It was pretty wonderful when we got to the top and were surrounded by all of our men, telling us they were proud of us.

The Ma's and Pa's weren't supposed to help, but Kelley stepped in when the going got really rough.




Making our tent out of the handcart and two tarps....Not an easy task. But everyone pitched in to help.

This guy, Scott, was a hard one to get to know. He had written on his bio, that the reason he was going on trek was because his parents were making him go, and that became pretty evident. He was always respectful and did what was asked, but you could tell he didn't want to be there. Kelley and I tried to talk with him, but he was pretty closed up. His little brother was on trek too, and Scott kept wandering away from our family to be with him.

He got way ahead of us at one point and I think the other kids were kind of resentful cause he was just walking and they were having to push the cart over some pretty tough terrain.

Kelley caught up with him and told him that his family really needed his help. He stayed with us after that.

He opened up a little later on, telling how his family had moved a lot through all of his growing up years. I guess there's always a reason why people are the way they are...once again, the thought came to me " Be kinder that necessary, because every one is fighting some battle in their lives."

This was the moon coming up that first night. It was really a cool sight...light as day all through the night...and believe me, I saw the whole night. No sleep.
Even my sleep potion couldn't help me through this one.

Jerry was photographer on trek. He is such a good guy. Glad to have him for my friend....(although I would like to get ahold of that camera and destroy some of those pictures!)

This is Sam. A real good kid. Was a tremendous help all through the trek.

Packing up our cart...not the prettiest, but it worked.

The trek is run on a huge cattle ranch. We ran into the herds a few times...and their poop was everywhere.

When we walked along we would call back to those coming after us if there was a big hole in the road or something else they needed to watch out for. We ended up calling out mostly to watch for poop on the right, poop in the middle, poop on the left...then there was fresh poop....that was the worst. We were definitely in their territory!

Kim and Olivia were both great girls....Very willing to pitch in and help without being asked.
Olivia was visiting her cousins that are in our stake and decided to go on trek with them. She was from Pima Arizona but fit in perfectly with all the other kids. Real friendly, hardworking, and sweet. She was a great example to me when I watched her reaching out to Eduardo, talking to him about the gospel. ( I think she kind of liked him) Then she suggested we have a testimony meeting with our family to help him feel the spirit.

Kelley put Scott in charge of getting the ropes strung up on the top of the cart....a pretty scary job if you ask me....your life is really in the hands of the ones holding the cart up, and the wind was blowing really hard! I think it helped him feel like he was important to our family.

Kelley taught the boys a fancy knot that helped a lot in setting up our tent.

The second day, the wind was blowing so hard when we tried to set up our tents, it was almost impossible. The tarp would whip around and pull out of your hands. One family had their tarp all ripped up from the wind so they couldn't even use it and had to sleep out under the stars.
President Morton suggested we all say a prayer that the wind would be calmed so we could enjoy the activities prepared for that night. Within an hour or so, it was completely calm.

They had some fun old fashioned games for the kids to play. I think the favorite was the stick pull.

Tug of war...our family ruled!

Kelley with Mike...I think that bonnet is working for him.

I think Eduardo had a thing for Olivia too.

Everyone wanted to do the stick pull with Kelley...he was the man to beat...


Until they found Tye...he was with the cooking crew and a pretty big guy. It was pretty exciting...they held even and strong for what seemed like forever ...the crowd was cheering, then Kelley came off the ground and went flying.

This was the trek missionary. He did a great portrayal of Ephriam Hanks and told story after story of his amazing life. Everybody loved it!

Nancy stepped in a hole the first day and did a number on her ankle. She is a trouper though and wanted to stay with the trek. She gave a great portrayal of Bodel Mortenson...a very touching story.

The last day before we started out, President Mendenhall was talking to everyone. He said he had noticed how some of the families weren't staying together. The stronger ones want to go faster than the slow ones, so they will run ahead and try to be first. One family had one of their boys left behind and he was really sad to think that his family would leave him.

Then he said something that really struck me . He said " It doesn't matter who gets there first, what is most important is that you help each one in your family to arrive there safely" I don't know why, but in my mind this opened up into the big picture of our journey through mortality. What is most important is that we help every one in our family so that they can arrive "there" safely. I had tears running behind my sunglasses I was so moved by the image of the different struggles, temptations, and trials each one of my own children are faced with every day, and how very much I hope, pray and plead with Heavenly Father to help them get through this journey and arrive there safely.There was a change in the route the last day. The cattle were coming through the area we had planned to go, so we went off on some pretty challenging trails. It was a tough pull and by the time we reached the camp, I think everyone was DONE!!!
Kelley picked me a pretty sego lily. They were blooming all over the place.

Another amazing trek....I should never say never, but I think that should be my last. They should let lots of other people have the experience! Kelley and I were recruited to go about a month before trek because three of the ma's had gotten pregnant. We were joking with the other ones that had already gone before as a ma...we decided it's like giving birth... it's so hard on your body, you swear you'll never do it again...then after a little while, you forget the pain and remember how awesome it was and you think...I can do that...