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.