Our Pioneer Trek

Jeff and I had the opportunity to be a Ma and a Pa for our Stake Pioneer Trek last week. I was so excited when we were asked, because as a youth I went on a trek and had a fantastic time. Our day started bright and early at 5:30 AM on Thursday morning, where we met at the stake center for a quick devotional and prayer, and then headed out to our starting point. We were divided into families, and then off we went to start the 11 mile journey for the first day, pulling our heavy (I heard estimates of 600 lbs!) handcarts. We had a fantastic group of 6 kids and one aunt.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful with yellow, purple, and blue wildflowers all over the mountains. It was hard to appreciate the beauty as you really needed to keep your eyes on the trail to keep you from triping over big rocks or holes.

Our boys were fantastic, they all got along so well. We had a comedian in the group, who kept us laughing for the entire 3 days.

Our girls were so sweet. We're missing our Aunt Tiffany in this photo. We discovered along the way that my dad was her Single Adult Bishop, which was so fun to make a connection.

We took little breaks along the way to stay hydrated and have potty breaks. This is usually when our comedian would say something funny and we would all burst into laughter.

When we went down big hills, we would tie ropes onto the bar and turn the handcart around so we could slowly lower it down.

The last four miles of our first day were all up hill, which took forever as we were all exhausted from our long day. We finally pulled into camp late, and had a great dinner of stew, cornbread, and salad.

Our second day started off a little wet as we were rained on the night before. It was a new experience for most of the youth (as well as adults), as we were sleeping under the stars. We scrunched down into our sleeping bags and pulled them over our heads to try and stay dry. Breakfast tasted especially good that morning, as we didn't sleep very well.

It rained for most of day 2 - which was surprising. I almost didn't pack our rain ponchos, but am so glad I threw them in.

The boys were all called off to join the Mormon Battalion, leaving the women to pull the handcarts for a few hours. This was a really neat experience for both the boys and the girls.

Day 2 also brought blisters and sore feet. Luckily there were a few medics on our journey, who came prepared for everything.

Jeff and I with a couple other Ma's & Pa's and friends.

Our last day was bittersweet. Everyone was excited at the reality of being home by evening to take showers and sleep in their own beds, but Jeff and I had a rough morning as Elvis was feeling sick and had been throwing up most of the night. The medics wanted him to quit the trek, and hang out at base camp for observation. Jeff and Elvis' trek Pa were able to give him a blessing before he left, which was a wonderful experience.

The last day we crossed 3 streams. It's all snow melt, so the water was freezing cold. Eugene was amazing for the entire trip, helping other families that needed help, but for the last day, he specifically went back to help his brother's family get across the streams and up the moutains. It was such a sweet act of kindness.

We had so many amazing experiences during the three days of our trek. The physical exhaustion, spiritual experiences, and close contact made us grow together in a very special way. We loved our trek family and every experience we shared.

A little bit of this...a little bit of that...

Summer is here, and we are having so much fun. Swimming, late nights, popsicles on the drive-way, and workbooks! ( My kids are required to do 5 pages in their workbooks a day, is that mean? They tell me so at least.. ) Here is a little of what we've been up to.

We went to Incredible Johns one day, and had a blast. I'm amazed at how fast the kids can blow through tokens. Our kids love the rides, except for Isabella. She was so excited to ride on the Frog Hopper, until she realized what it did. She started screaming and crying, so they stopped the ride to let her off. She was not pleased, as you can see in the after picture.

Jeff and Hayden loved playing air-hockey. Jeff loved scoring points against a 5 year old even more. I had to give him the "look" to back off a bit and be less competitive.

We moved the boys in on Saturday, and got their beds set up. We were able to enjoy the privileges of having teenagers in the house, as that evening was the adult session of Stake Conference. But, we had to book it home right afterwards to take them to the church dance. Hopefully driving licenses are in the future sometime soon.

Hayden didn't want a party this year, but wanted to take a few friends to the bounce house (we celebrated a week early). We all went out for Icees afterwards. I could feel all of the looks we were getting, as I marched into the gas station mini mart with 5 kids following me. I almost wanted to say, "and I have two teenagers at home too!" just for kicks.

Camping Time Again

We went camping last week. The boys are still in school, so it was just our little family. We had such a wonderful time. I am always amazed at the amount of work and "stuff" we pack into our car when we go camping, but luckily it always pays off with fun memories and good times.

We did lots of exploring and hiking.

And cooked our dinner over the fire.

Our nice camp neighbor let the kids go fishing with his poles. Callie & Hayden both reeled in a rainbow trout.

Callie, Hayden, and Isabella collected pine needles for their 'house' and made a huge pile! I think part of what I love so much about camping is seeing our children have so much fun with little to no toys from a store :)

Family Photos

Last weekend, we had our photos taken by the very talented Erin Langstraat.

See her blog for more of her beautiful work, here. I am very happy with the results. We now have some great solo shots of the kids.

And we have some great family photos with all of us.

Some readers may be wondering why we have two Hmong boys in our photos. Our family has grown! Elvis (16) and Eugene (15) Her are two fantastic boys, and we are so excited that they will be part of our family. As we have prepared to have them join our family, we have felt our Heavenly Father's hand in our lives. Our testimony of a loving Father in Heaven has grown. He knows and loves each of His children, and hears and answers prayers.

Elvis & Eugene will officially move in in August. We are grateful for the opportunity to have these two wonderful boys be a part of our family.

First Day of Summer

We have a tradition on the first day of summer. We start the morning with a special breakfast. This year is was chocolate-chip pancakes with strawberries and cream. WOW! It was more like dessert than breakfast :)

Then the kids get hair-cuts. Hayden wanted his hair buzzed, but first we wanted to see what he would look like with a mohawk.

Next year we decided to shave all of his hair on top of his head first, and leave just the sides, so we could see what he would look like as an old man :) I had a hard time recognizing him all day. The buzz is fun, but I miss his curls.

Callie wanted a short hair cut above her shoulders. I was a little sad to see her long hair go, but she was thrilled. She is so happy with her short hair.

On the first day of summer, we also talk about what fun things we want to do and what goals we are each going to set. We brainstorm our fun plan, and each pick 2 goals we want to accomplish. Then I cut it out of vinyl and stick it to our fridge so we see if everyday. We did this for the first time last year, and it was fabulous! We accomplished so many goals that summer, and did EVERYTHING on our fun list. It is a tradition for now on.

(if you are interested in getting one see here.)

WELCOME SUMMER! If we just had the warm weather to go with it :)

ps - I got a summer hair-cut too.