Ward Trek

Hi Hi Ho it's off to Trek we go, Scott and his friend our "Adopted Son" Andrew

Away we go

Our 1st stop, Scott didn't care how hard the ground was.

One of the babies being carried by his parents.

Aw a break to sit on the ground.

Ward Trek

Some of our trek family square dancing

2 cute and happy Trekkers from our ward.

Some more of our ward membersAnother picture of me and my men, I believe this was day 3. Trek family in the background.

Another picture of our "Trek Family"Just treking along, Scott and I are in the back of the cart, me with the brown skirt and bonnet, Scott is in the middle with his white t-shirt. This is all of our Trek family.

The back side of me with the brown bonnet on as we walk down one of our many hills.

This is a good portion of our ward clear down at the bottom of the hill.

Not one of my most flattering pictures, proof that I did wear a hat. Love those glasses...not. Didn't realize they looked so dumb.

Friday night's Square dancing, got roped into that one. Looking my "best" on our 3rd day.My "Trek Pa" and Square Dance Partner, lovin my hair by then....not!Swing your partner round and round.Our Trek family's young love. They were so cute together the whole trek.

Our Trek Captain and his Wife, his is our former Bishop, Trek was his idea.

One of the many families that ventured this Trek together. Robert giving a thought at our final devtional Saturday morning, some of our Trek family in the background.

A few ward members, our current Bishop and Wife are on the far right.

August 3rd our family loaded our few meager belongings for a 4 day Ward Trek and headed off to Deseret Land Management and Live Stock just 10 miles East of Evanston Wyoming on the Utah side. We arrived and were ready to load our hand carts by 11:30. We were assigned our Trek Family for the week prior to this, so excited to associate with them and to get to know each of them better. We had 10 adults, 5 children under the age of 12 and 3 teenagers. One of whom was my son Scott and his friend in our ward who decided at the last minute to go with us. His parents where not able to come so he became our "Adopted Son" for 4 days. The 1st day we walked around 7 miles, I pulled and pushed the handcart most of the way that day, we had to go over a muddy yucky stream, too wide to just jump over. Those pulling the carts had to go straight through, I chose to take off my shoes and socks to walk through. We did have a log to help make it a little easier to cross. Our 1st nights camp was in an area with lots of cow pies, and it was a little wet due to rain before we came. So you had to really watch where you stepped. We had 3 good meals a day, with lunch being on the trail each day. The 2nd day was the killer, we walked 10 miles that day, I haven't felt that tired and ached like that in a long time. That was my best night of sleeping, even with our air mattress having a slow leak and almost being on the ground in the morning. That was also I think our prettiest stop, you could see forever, and it was beautiful. The 3rd day which was Friday was another 6-7 mile day, this was the day that we did the Women's Pull. For those who aren't familiar with that term, it is when Women and girls only pull the hand carts up a pretty good hill without the help of the men in their family. This represents when the Pioneers came across the plains and many lost their husbands along the way. They had to endure to the end by themselves. I was at the front of the cart, it was one of the difficult yet Spiritual things I have done. Some of the men stood along the side with tears rolling down their cheeks as they knew there was nothing they could do to help. My son Scott was misty eyed as he watched his mom struggle and cry up the hill. For me I knew that Robert would be there waiting for me as did the other women unlike our Pioneers. We did have some widows pulling and for them I would imagine this experience was much more surreal . Robert asked Scott what he thought of me after I made it to the top, he told me he was proud. I did break down and cry when Robert came a gave me a hug, a satisfaction of making it, and having my family there to greet me. I cried for my friend in my family who didn't think she could even do this Trek because she has 2 bad knees, yet she felt no pain as we pushed our hand cart to the top. That was the "Tender Mercy" from the Priesthood Blessing she had received that morning before we started walking. The last night in camp was the square dance, and much celebration for our journey thus far. The fact that we were all tired and sore and dirty (thanks to wet wipes we weren't filthy), but the love and closeness that we felt towards one another after making this Trek was so great. I got to know my Trek family better and had such love towards them for helping make my journey a wonderful Spiritual Experience. It brought those of us from our ward closer to each other. We had people from the age of 80 down to 5 mos making this Trek with us, it showed me that you can do anything when you work together. Those mothers and fathers that carried their babies the whole way are so amazing to me. We finished up our last day with a 3 mile walk back to our cars, many cheers of excitement as we came up over the hill and saw what we knew meant we'd made it. Total miles walked in those 4 days was around 27.

I didn't want to make this trek in the beginning, I was fighting it tooth and nail. But I would do it again in a heart beat, to feel what I felt and experience what I felt was like none other. To make this trek with my 2 favorite men by my side meant the world to me. The Lord blessed our camp with many miracles that we saw daily. The power of a Priesthood blessing was witnessed several times and the Tender mercies were amazing. I realized that I am stronger than I think I am. I am not a camper and don't like to go without a shower or fixing my hair, but I survived. Those who know me laugh and tease me, but many said they knew I could do it. As one of my friends says, "It's all about the Experience". This is one that I won't ever forget.

Isn't he handsome

Scott was invited by his choir teacher before Christmas break to join Concert Choir. He was excited and we were proud of him, he has really enjoyed singing this year. The Concert Choir was asked to participate in the State Honors Choir Concert the end of January in Salt Lake, his Jr. High was one of 3 in the State who were invited. Scott had just over 3 weeks to learn the 3 songs that his choir would be singing. This picture is the morning of his concert, he looks so handsome and sharp. His concert was really good, his school had the largest choir, as they combined with another select choir from his school. My boy is slowly turning into quite the young man, it makes his mother proud.

Christmas Day

Christmas was a little different at our house this year.....the older our kids get the more expensive the wish list gets. This year Scott wanted a 32" flat screen TV for his room for gaming and to watch movies, and that's all he wanted. Well Santa brought his TV, but Mom and Dad wanted to put a few more present under the tree for him to open. The sad part of that was that he picked out most of those presents....a PS3 game, and few movies, I managed to sneak 1 movie under the tree that he didn't know about. He is too picky about the clothes he wears, so I didn't dare buy any. He had his present from his Grandparents. He didn't care as much about all the other little things, he only wanted his "TV". He is now in heaven, he can read all the things on the screen that before were too small to see, he had a 13" TV. He has either been watching a movie or playing games since Christmas. The grandchildren are at the age where they just want to see how many presents were for them and what was in them. So the things that I was excited about were not the things they were excited about. Our Granddaughter couldn't wait to leave our house and go to her other Grandparents to see what she had there. I did my own Christmas shopping this year, and all before the 24th. Robert says the 24th is Black Friday for the guys, that is usually the day he is scrambling to get presents. I told Robert that I didn't want any more gifts after I had got some for myself, so he got off easy this year.

I took down the Christmas tree on the 27th, I was ready to close another chapter in 2010. It has been a hard year at our house this year, Robert has had more health issues this year than ever. Along with all the other things we had dealt with I will be ready to bid adieu to 2010 and ring in 2011 with a bang, in hopes that it will be a much better year.

Happy Birthday Kaiser

December 17, 2008 Kaiser Cobb enters the world
Scoring his 1st touch down
And so his love for balls begins

Those baby blues....they melt my heart everytime

Hanging with his favorite sister


My little man so handsome



He's getting so big


He still loves any kind of a ball.
His 1st haircut

Happy Birthday my lil man....today Kaiser turned 2. He is such a a boy through and through, he loves all those things that little boys love. He loves, balls, the train under his grandparents Christmas tree, playing or banging on Grandma's piano, turning the pages of the piano book as if he can actually read them. He loves to play outside in the summer, run in the backyard, jump on the neighbor's tramp, play in their playhouse, going down the curly slide and swing on the swings. He loves to watch "Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang at Grandma's house. He loves to lock Uncle Scott's bedroom door which locks from the outside.....with Scott in his room. He loves to get into mischief, has more energy at times than one knows what to do with. He loves to play with the dogs food bowl, he puts the food in Buddy's water. He get into all of Grandma's cupboards, kitchen or bathroom. He loves his "Bapa" and loves to be his shadow, especially when they are outside. He loves his mommy, daddy and big sister. Loves to eat any food at Grandma's,cause grandma always has the treats, but his favorite thing to ask for is sliced cheese, which he usually feeds to Buddy the dog. He has the cutest laugh, especially when he's being tickled. He loves his "shoes", but also loves to take them off, and then wants his socks off as well. He has the smile and eyes that melt your heart.

Kaiser has brought lots of laughter and joy into our lives in his short 2 years. We are lucky that we get to see him often and watch him grow.....Happy Birthday Kaiser....Grandma and Grandpa love you lots.

Christmas Photo 2010

Our Family Christmas photo, a good picture of our family. My grandchildren are so cute.

Kaiser's 1st haircut

So my daughter and her husband thought it would be cute for Kaiser's 1st haircut to give him a mow hawk...Grandma is not so sure she likes it. He's my lil man, and a mow hawk makes his look to grown up. My friend cut it, she did a buzz 1st and then started shaving to get the mow hawk. I personally liked the buzz cut. It took 2 years for his hair to get to the point of a hair cut, now it may take another 2 years for it to grow out. Probably not....but it took his sister awhile for her hair to grow. My lil Kaiser man....handsome and growing up.

Our back yard, the walnut tree dumped pretty much all of it's leaves this past week.
Not many left to fall

Scott and Robert working together

Every year at this time it's a major project cleaning up after this tree. It is a Walnut tree, so between the Walnuts falling as well as the leaves....it's a pain. It is good to see my men working together on this project. Scott is maturing....the past few weeks he has spent most of the day on Saturday helping his Dad with projects. I help pick up the walnuts, it seem like thousands of them fall over a months time. Until next year.....

Go-Kart racing

Robert and Scott - Go-Kart racing

Get ready, get set, Go
Last month I decided that we needed a family play afternoon, life gets hectic and we hadn't had one for a long time. I went and got Scott out of school at lunch, we drove to Robert's work in Salt Lake and kidnapped him. We ate lunch and then drove back out to where we live and went to Boondocks for a few games of bowling. Robert beat Scott and I both times, pretty sad because I even bowled with bumpers. I did bowl Granny style....since I am one.....: ) what the heck, I still didn't do that great. Scott really wanted to try out the Go-Karts, so he and Robert took a few laps around the track....Scott held the lead until the last lap around.....while turning the last corner Robert snuck into the inside lane and took the lead, he won!

Sometimes you need a reminder about what's important....it's spending time together as a family, even if it means missing a couple of classes at school and some time at work.....it was worth it!