1) Breakfast, 2) Nathanael and butter, 3) Girls making fry bread, 4) Our kids were teasing me about doing the dishes, as we were told not to help… but I just couldn’t help myself. I believe that we should work together as a family. I refuse to ask my kids to do something that I am not willing to do myself, 5) all youth, 6) tents, 7) The Dr. checking out Chandler’s leg, 8) Eli and Daniel cooking, 9) poor sick Savannah, hanging with Jaycie, 10) Cassie and Franky, 11) Kaatlin with ladybug, 12) Savannah braiding my hair, 13) Riana and Kylie and twins
We started on the trail, the second day, and walked for only
about ½ mile, over a really cool bridge, over a river, when we had to stop.
One of the twins in Riana’s family, was strapped to the
front of one of the girls, when the baby fell out and “died.” So they had to have a funeral. Riana was especially upset because she had
mentioned that people shouldn’t hold the babies that way. She was determined that their other baby
would not die.
While we waited, we shared inspiring pioneer stories, favorite things, and just tried to make the best of it. This time, Chandler and I had a little water fight. Since it was very hot, it actually felt really good.
1-2) funeral for “baby Walter”, 3) Nathanael and Yuki (Misako and Travis’s nephew, who happened to be in Nathanael’s group) 4) unsuspecting Ma, 5) water fight… don’t worry, I got him back!! J
6) The “Big Brother” and “Big Sister” meeting
At this meeting, they talked about the hill we were about to
embark on, which was the toughest hill of the whole trek. It was nicknamed, “Big Bertha” and it was a
tough one.
We were one of the first families to go up “Big
Bertha.” Other kids from other families
helped each of the families get up the hill and if you didn’t want to help, you
didn’t have to. And of course, Ma’s and
Pa’s were not allowed to physically help, which was really torturous… I pretty
much hated that part. We shouted words
of encouragement and had to watch them struggle up the hill. Watching all of the families (I believe 15 of
them), overcome this hill was truly humbling for me and made me emotional. It was amazing to see these kids, who were in
pain and were hungry and tired, pull these handcarts up the hill, or just walk
(which was hard enough for some), and other kids, who repeatedly ran back down
the hill to help yet another family made it up.
They looked utterly exhausted and yet they continued to serve. I will never forget the looks of
determination on their faces, even though they looked completely beat up. It reminded me of the stories you hear of the
selfless teenagers on the real pioneer trek.
1) Our family going up Big Bertha, 2) Celeste and Eli leading the way, 3) Working hard, 4) Quintin, Ben, and Collin, 5) Cassie and Quintin and some other youth running down to help another cart, 6) Cassie, 7) Collin, 8) Riana, 9) Daniel
After we all made it up the hill, we celebrated with a nice
long rest and lots of water.
1) Logan and friends, 2) Ashlyn and Sabrina, 3) Butterfly 4) Grant, Angela, Riana, our nephew Nathanael, our niece Kaatlin, and Celeste
After our rest, we went on our way.
After walking for a while, we came upon a “man” with an
American flag. He was asking for volunteers
for Zion’s Camp. He wanted Mormon men to
fight with the American troops. (This
was based on the actual historical event.
The Mormons were frustrated because after the treatment which they
received from the American leaders, and after the extermination notice against
the Mormons, they weren’t too excited to send some of their men to help with
the war… however they did it anyway. In
this situation on the Trek, many reacted in the same way, saying they didn’t
want to send our men. Some men
volunteered. Then President Coppin came
in, representing Brigham Young, I believe, and said that he felt we should
support the American government and that all men should go… so they did.
1-2) man with flag, 3) 1st volunteers, 4) Pres. Coppin, 5) all volunteers, 5) boys/men leaving, 6) sad girls-- Naomi, Jaycie, and Savannah
I personally had been waiting for this time because I knew I
would get to pull the handcart. Seeing
the girls/women cry, and imagining what it would’ve been like for the women
pioneers, not knowing if they would see their men again, made me emotional
though. But I was super excited to
finally get to help... well, legally. :) Our cart had very
few numbers, but we were strong in spirits!
We started with 5, however Elizabeth was really struggling with her
asthma, especially in the dustier parts, so it was mainly Cassie, Celeste,
Leena, and I pulling the whole thing. At
first, it wasn’t really too bad.
However, then we heard the boys singing.
We stopped and sung back. The
only problem was that the girls, including myself, thought that this meant the
boys were just right around the corner.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t true.
Therefore, the next leg of the journey felt super long and it was hotter
because it was in the sun… and it was uphill.
We started really struggling.
Sweat was pouring down our faces.
I was starting to feel discouraged.
Right about then, we started seeing some men in the bushes. The girls started making jokes about who was
that watching us in the bushes. And then
they started walking out. They were all
wearing white (or khaki.) And very soon,
our loads started to get lighter. They
were angels coming out to push our loads with us. (I believe this was based off of a true
story, as well, when the pioneers felt angels helping them.) Our angels turned out to be our Bishops (or
members of the Bishopric) and some youth leaders, who had driven 3 hours just
to help with the Angel Pull. It was
pretty incredible to me that they would sacrifice their day just to do this. When we were nearing the top of the hill, our
boys came running down to us. I can’t
believe how much joy entered my heart to see them. They tried to kick me out and do it for me,
but I refused to go. I much prefer to be
helping then to be watching so I was going to enjoy this to the end. We ran into our Bishop. He made sure and said hi to each member of
our ward.
1-2) our family women pulling the handcart, 3) Riana’s family, 4-5) some of our angels, 6-7)
our men are back, 8) Celeste, Daniel, Kaatlin, and Alex, 9) whole group
Once we were back together, we had a small devotional and
sang some spiritual songs.
Then we gathered together for some lunch finally… it was
pretty late in the afternoon by this point and we were all starving. The fry bread tasted so good and somehow it
fed everyone. We had homemade butter on
it, some peanut butter and jam, and even some cinnamon and sugar. All of a sudden in the middle of a nice relaxing lunch, some “anti-Mormon people” came in and told us we weren’t welcome here and that we needed to leave right away. Riana and I were off in the trees, but when we came back, everyone told me what we had missed. My kids were glad I missed it because the bad people were on horses. They were so good at watching out for me the whole trek. They would say, “Ma, run! The horses are coming.” Or whatever. It was so cute!! I did spend a lot of times running ahead or staying behind to avoid the horses. Surprising, I didn’t really have too many problems with them… just a little here and there.
So we had to gather everything right then and leave.
1) our family eating lunch, talking about things we had learned so far, 2) Riana’s family, 3-4) "
We walked a while longer and then we arrived in our camp for the next two nights. We looked around for the perfect camping spot… and then we found it. Several people commented on our perfect spot over the two days we were there. After a bit of rest, we unloaded the wagon, set up camp, and began cooking dinner. Everyone took different jobs and helped, which was wonderful!
1-3) relaxing then setting up camp, 4-6) making dinner, 7) While we were preparing dinner, Pa brought me some flowers that he picked for me. All our kids thought it was super sweet… so did I., 8) eating dinner… so yummy!
After dinner, the “Pony Express” arrived to deliver mail for
everyone. The kids either received
letters from home or letters from the Stake.
And we received a letter from the Stake as well. Ours was a thank you for being Ma and Pa and
it also explained that our babies were named after special pioneers. Our pioneer was Levi Savage, one of my
favorite pioneers, who I had been sharing stories with the kids about all week. When we found this out, we were even more
motivated to keep our baby alive.
1-2) Stake Presidency on horseback delivering “Pony
Express” mail, 3) other kids reading their letters, 4) Celeste reading letters, 5) Jaycie and Savannah (Poor Savannah was feeling sick most of Trek. She gave me the sweetest, longest hug that night. It broke my heart that she was so miserable! Honestly, I think that Trek would've been a breeze for her, so she needed an extra challenge. She was such a good sport though, even though she was miserable.)
6) Riana, Brooke, Jaiden M, 7-9) Testimony meeting
That night, we had a more spiritual time of singing and a
testimony meeting. So many people wanted
to share their testimonies that they had to put a time limit on it. I loved Sabrina Wolf’s testimony about how
much she looked up to her brother for the example he had been for her. I loved the power in Logan’s testimony and
what a good example he is to so many youth.
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