Was it worth getting up at at 4:30 so I could shower before we left for trek? Why, yes, yes it was. We met at the church at 5:15 and loaded up the suburban with kids and gear and headed out to the Marriott ranch in Hume VA. We met "our kids”: 7 boys and 5 girls. 
We picked out our handkerchief color: navy blue. The boys got right to work assembling the hand carts while the girls painted our banner with our name to go on the side. Mostly Vienna Ward boys:
and some of the girls: Syd, MK, Meagan and Jenessa
The first morning was a little on the chilly side but I wasn’t complaining since there was a zero percent chance of rain for the next 3 days. All of our kids had good attitudes and were willing to work. Which was really nice. We had two spring lakers, Carlos Sanchez and Anthony Batres plus Matthew Fredrickson and Rachel Epps as the big bro and big sister. We also had Sarah Quan, Sarah Stevenson, Kate Heninger and Ashley Patrick. Rounding out the boys were Thomas Landrith, Peter Crawford, John Teare and Wade Whitt. The first part of the pull was WAY harder than it was 4 years ago. We were the lead cart and the kids worked hard to get over pretty rough and steep terrain. 
By the time we stopped for lunch we were more than ready to rest and eat. 
The food was absolutely fantastic the whole time. The girl's pull was ridiculously tough. Here they are before it got hard: 
We had to be rescued by boys. The wives of the members of the stake presidency gave good talks before the pull that gave the girls good stuff to think about. We walked 7 miles the first day and it was sunny and not too hot. Wade dug the fire pit and helped Bruce build the fire. The girls peeled potatoes, cut up carrots and celery and got them into the dutch oven. 
We added the canned beef towards the end of the cooking time. It was soooooo good. There were also rolls to go with it. We also made an apple crisp in the dutch oven that was good for dessert. The first night we slept under the stars for the first time in my life and it was really neat. Lucky for us there was no moon so the stars were that much brighter. It got down into the 50s but I stayed nice and warm and comfy in my sleeping bag and air mattress. I slept well but was awakened by what sounded like a bunch of girls playing a prank making lots of noise. Found out the next day that it was actually coyotes howling.
Day two was by far the longest. We were up at 6:00 and since there was a heavy dew fall it was pretty cold and wet. After we made oatmeal over our fire for breakfast we got packed up and headed out for a 3 mile pull to the place where we had the activities. After we made sandwiches for lunch there were tons of activities-- hair washing, friendship bracelets,
stick pull, whip cracking, ax throwing, three legged races, stilts, scones and butter making, a water melon eating contest, leather bracelet branding and a place to brainstorm our skit. 
A lot of the kids just ended up socializing and playing in the stream, but they all had a good time. For dinner there was 400 pounds of chicken to feed 200 people. And that is a lot of chicken. I think the 14 of us in our family ended up throwing out at least the equivalent of a whole chicken. It was pretty cool how they prepared it on spits of rebar over a blazing hot inferno.
Mikey sauced the chicken before it went over the flames and helped to get it off the re-bar. 
After we cleaned up from dinner and got our bed rolls laid out, we headed up to the meadow for the nights’ program. Unfortunately they staged the evening up hill so it was a killer to try sitting there on the ground. The night started out with the some cute skits put on by each family and sweet musical numbers. Sarah Q,, Sarah S and Rachel from our family played their violins and were they ever good. By the time the skits were over it was getting late so the stake presidency gave their messages in the dark. P Hatch spoke about being a Pa 4 years ago and having Laura in his family and how happy he was to see her sealed to Jordan last week. All of the messages were really good. By the time we made it back to the river it was bishop’s time and pushing 10:30.
The bane of my existence: 
We finally got into our sleeping bags, once again under a clear starry night. 
The next morning we walked back to the meadow and had a testimony meeting. It was 3 hours but really want by fast. All in all the testimonies were good and the kids were reverent and totally into the whole pioneer experience. The pull up the last hill to the catered barbecue was a breeze
and the food was really good. Mikey and Garrett Bourne 
were among the boys who pulled the empty handcarts another mile to the sheep barn where they helped to take them apart and put them away. We got home around 3:00 in the afternoon and was I ever ready to take a shower and collapse in a heap. Instead after showering and checking for ticks, I did tons of laundry and went to the mall to pick up Laura’s glasses. At 8:00 went to the trek dance/slide show (which was a huge hit) at the stake center for a while. Mikey and MK both had a blast.
No comments:
Post a Comment