Not even sure where to begin with this post. Back in January Toby and I were privilaged to be asked to go on Trek as a Ma and Pa for our Stake. It's something We've been preparing for ever since but I don't think any amount of preparation could have prepared us for Trek. Let me give you a rundown of our first day. We woke up around 4:00 a.m. so we could get to the church by 4:30 am. We got split up into our "families" and we did our best to make sure our kids felt welcome and knew we were going to have the time of our lives:) We loaded the non-air conditioned school buses around 6:00 a.m.and headed off for an 8 hour drive to Wyoming. When we got there we had about an hour long orientation and then we went to get our handcarts. We then started off on our 7 mile long hike to our campground in the heat and a pretty bad windstorm. For about 1/2 a mile of that hike our family had a "calamity" hit us and we had to walk with our shoes off. I was pretty much beat down by the time we walked into camp. We set up our sleeping bags out underneath the sky on a tarp and headed over to grab dinner which was a delicious bowl of beef broth and two rolls. Seriously I went to bed hungry. So I'm not going to stop there....woke up the next morning and had a cup of oatmeal and an apple. We walked a total of about 10 miles that day. We had a lot of neat experiences the second day such as walking in Dan Jones cove and then Martins Cove. What a story that place has to tell. I don't think there was a dry eye as we contemplated all that those pioneers had to endure in that cove. The spirit is undeniably strong there and we felt so blessed as we walked silently for a mile or two through the cove. For lunch we had a small pack of beef jerkey, half a granola bar, string cheese, and a laffy taffy. It was really tough walking so much and eating so little but looking back it just made my experience that much more real. The last day we were able to experience the womens pull. That is something that you absolutely have to experience in order to understand it. As the men headed up the hill to wait for us and we lined up to start pulling I thought to myself …this isn’t going to be that hard…it’s only a little over half a mile…no big deal…I’ve got this. I was wrong. It was really really hard. At one point one of my girls pulling next to me told me she felt like she was going to pass out. I’m not going to lie I was really scared. I knew that if I let up for one second our cart was going to go flying down the hill along with all the girls behind me. Then to get to the top of that hill and see all of our guys lined up with the hats over their hearts…the emotions made it even harder. When President Nielsen couldn’t take it anymore and yelled to the boys go help your girls- The boys didn’t just casually scatter and try to find their families. They ran. It was one of the more touching things I’ve ever experienced. And then camping at Rock Hollow...President Hinckley declared that place hallowed ground and I absolutely see why. The stories that occured at that place are unbelievable. 15 people were burried there at all different ages and reading the names and ages of the people made it so real to us. We froze that night and woke up with frost all over our sleepbags. I apologize for the length of this post but wanted so badly to have this documented here as it was an experience that Toby and I will never forget. We learned so much and are so gratful for it. The hardest part of all was leaving Elle and Cash. I'd never left them for so long and I was so grateful to have my family so willing to care for them. The night before we left as I was tucking them in bed I just couldn't stop crying. Cash kept laying his head on me and saying, "I sorry" and Elle kept saying things like, "It's okay Mom, you're going to be fine. You can call me whenever you need to." And she kept giving me toys to remember her by. So cute. I'm sure they didn't even realize we were gone..they were on vacation! I came home to this on my bed waiting for me from my brother Jordan. Since I was a little girl I've always had balloons on my ceiling and breakfast in bed on my birthday and Jordan wasn't about to let being on Trek ruin this tradition. What an awesome kid. Love you Jordan. I was able to celebrate with the Christensen's sunday- they are so great. And mom and Jamie surprised me Monday with shopping and lunch. Toby spoiled me rotten like he always does with gift cards, jewelry, a trip to the byu bookstore:), and da da da daaa...a sewing machine! (Kathy's giving me lessons- more to come on that) Could this post get any longer? Let me try...Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and for listening to me cry everytime I talk about my experiences from Trek. I am feeling extremely blessed and hope this feeling lasts a long time!!!! (pictures to come)
Not even sure where to begin with this post. Back in January Toby and I were privilaged to be asked to go on Trek as a Ma and Pa for our Stake. It's something We've been preparing for ever since but I don't think any amount of preparation could have prepared us for Trek. Let me give you a rundown of our first day. We woke up around 4:00 a.m. so we could get to the church by 4:30 am. We got split up into our "families" and we did our best to make sure our kids felt welcome and knew we were going to have the time of our lives:) We loaded the non-air conditioned school buses around 6:00 a.m.and headed off for an 8 hour drive to Wyoming. When we got there we had about an hour long orientation and then we went to get our handcarts. We then started off on our 7 mile long hike to our campground in the heat and a pretty bad windstorm. For about 1/2 a mile of that hike our family had a "calamity" hit us and we had to walk with our shoes off. I was pretty much beat down by the time we walked into camp. We set up our sleeping bags out underneath the sky on a tarp and headed over to grab dinner which was a delicious bowl of beef broth and two rolls. Seriously I went to bed hungry. So I'm not going to stop there....woke up the next morning and had a cup of oatmeal and an apple. We walked a total of about 10 miles that day. We had a lot of neat experiences the second day such as walking in Dan Jones cove and then Martins Cove. What a story that place has to tell. I don't think there was a dry eye as we contemplated all that those pioneers had to endure in that cove. The spirit is undeniably strong there and we felt so blessed as we walked silently for a mile or two through the cove. For lunch we had a small pack of beef jerkey, half a granola bar, string cheese, and a laffy taffy. It was really tough walking so much and eating so little but looking back it just made my experience that much more real. The last day we were able to experience the womens pull. That is something that you absolutely have to experience in order to understand it. As the men headed up the hill to wait for us and we lined up to start pulling I thought to myself …this isn’t going to be that hard…it’s only a little over half a mile…no big deal…I’ve got this. I was wrong. It was really really hard. At one point one of my girls pulling next to me told me she felt like she was going to pass out. I’m not going to lie I was really scared. I knew that if I let up for one second our cart was going to go flying down the hill along with all the girls behind me. Then to get to the top of that hill and see all of our guys lined up with the hats over their hearts…the emotions made it even harder. When President Nielsen couldn’t take it anymore and yelled to the boys go help your girls- The boys didn’t just casually scatter and try to find their families. They ran. It was one of the more touching things I’ve ever experienced. And then camping at Rock Hollow...President Hinckley declared that place hallowed ground and I absolutely see why. The stories that occured at that place are unbelievable. 15 people were burried there at all different ages and reading the names and ages of the people made it so real to us. We froze that night and woke up with frost all over our sleepbags. I apologize for the length of this post but wanted so badly to have this documented here as it was an experience that Toby and I will never forget. We learned so much and are so gratful for it. The hardest part of all was leaving Elle and Cash. I'd never left them for so long and I was so grateful to have my family so willing to care for them. The night before we left as I was tucking them in bed I just couldn't stop crying. Cash kept laying his head on me and saying, "I sorry" and Elle kept saying things like, "It's okay Mom, you're going to be fine. You can call me whenever you need to." And she kept giving me toys to remember her by. So cute. I'm sure they didn't even realize we were gone..they were on vacation! I came home to this on my bed waiting for me from my brother Jordan. Since I was a little girl I've always had balloons on my ceiling and breakfast in bed on my birthday and Jordan wasn't about to let being on Trek ruin this tradition. What an awesome kid. Love you Jordan. I was able to celebrate with the Christensen's sunday- they are so great. And mom and Jamie surprised me Monday with shopping and lunch. Toby spoiled me rotten like he always does with gift cards, jewelry, a trip to the byu bookstore:), and da da da daaa...a sewing machine! (Kathy's giving me lessons- more to come on that) Could this post get any longer? Let me try...Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and for listening to me cry everytime I talk about my experiences from Trek. I am feeling extremely blessed and hope this feeling lasts a long time!!!! (pictures to come)
