Trek to St. George

While Curtis and the girls were on trek I decided to take my boys and go to St. George to visit Wendy and her kids for a couple of days. I invited my mom to go along and she said she'd like to. We ended up taking her car because its a bit taller and easier for getting out of. We left on Wednesday, June 24th after I finished cleaning. Wow. St. George is a LONNNNNNNG way away. It's quite a long drive and having 3 monkeys in the back seat didn't make it any shorter. But Mom and I had a nice time visiting and we survived it after all.

the 3 monkeys...

on, no. The crazy is starting to come out….

uh, yeah. This is pretty much how the time in the car went.

The weather was beautiful and we loved how the rays were shining down at this point. The camera just couldn't quite capture the cool effects of the rain and the sun. 

We spent Thursday just hanging out at Wendy's house and letting the kids play. I'm not one who has to always be doing things and being entertained. I like just visiting and being with family in their homes. However, summer in St. George is like winter in Monticello. You just don't go out to play. I used to be used to that, living in Mesa, but I've become soft and the heat really sapped me.

On Friday afternoon we went to the St. George Children's Museum. It was a really fun place for the kids to play and look at things and I loved the hands on nature of it all. They don't charge a fee but accept donations. The boys had a great time, I think. It's in downtown St. George, next to the Tabernacle. Lots of pictures taken here. 

Soren the mechanic, working on a race car..

changing the tires

Capts. James and Charles flying an airliner...

Watch out for those other planes

Soren handled our baggage...

Moved on to being firemen...

Charles and Ane. Hard to believe they are only 5 wks apart in age. Ane is tiny.

One area was set up as a town with shops and businesses for the kids to explore...

this was the grocery store...The kids loved loading up their carts and then checking out at the register.

Load up on those veggies!

This was the government office and the bank...

driving the truck at the dairy...

James wanted to be the 'driver'

Soren 'milking' Maggie' at the dairy
The other boys wouldn't try it.

at the vet's office... looks like he found a friend

working on fixing some animals...

Charles checking his own heartbeat...

The mailmen

Oh, no. They've gone through the windshield.

Downstairs was more of a science exhibit and some sports...

This was a video game that was projected onto the floor from the ceiling. You had to try to stomp on the rats in the holes of the cheese. The boys really got into it! I had to warn them to watch out for the baby that was trying to play with them, so they didn't knock her over.

Was it better to keep moving or wait and watch one hole?

This place was set up to let the kids pretend to be handicapped. They could try to play basketball in wheelchairs and other types of activities. Not so easy. We are blessed to have good health. Measuring Soren here, he's getting tall!

Bubble makers…this one was just a sheet of bubble when you pulled it upward...

This one made a bubble around you as you pulled it up out of the bubble solution.

it didn't work as well as we wished it had but it was a cool idea.

This was fun! The kids loved watching the 'lightening' go to wherever they touched the globe. 

electricity is amazing!

James always waited and did things after the bigger kids moved on.

Ane and James in a treehouse…cute little faces.

This was a desert environment room. Here the boys are moving mining buckets across the room on pulleys. 

There were bridges and tunnels and panels with info about desert animals.
 The 'water' was a padded play place for little ones.

Charlie peeking out of a tunnel…

After we finished in the museum we headed back out to the splash pad and 'creek' that run through the block. The city has created a water 'park' for anyone to enjoy free of charge. The kids wore their swimsuits so they could just get in and enjoy. Mom, Wendy and I sat in hot metal chairs and baked while they played. Even in the shade, it was oven-like. I was feeling like a "toasted cheese!" (from Sandlot :) ) We enjoyed some breadsticks and sodas and finally said, 'Enough!" and headed back to Wendy's for supper.

laying in the tepid water of the 'creek'

all the kiddos. I had to get one good picture of them all!
Soren, Ethan, Ane, Charles and James in front
Tilly and Laila in the back

just a closer shot

Almost a funny shot
Ane, of course, was all over it! Not a shy bone in her body.

There, that's a funny-face shot!

After dinner, we hit up a donut truck in town that sells mini gourmet donuts. The donut part is exactly like the ones my mom used to make and sell when she had a little donut machine. Then they cover them with yummies. We had Oreo, German Chocolate?, and Sprinkles….

They were yummy….

Looks like James liked the sprinkled ones...

Soren, too.

Charlie snarfing down an oreo one.
I liked them all but I think the Oreo ones were my favorite.

On Saturday we headed home to see our worn out pioneer dad and sisters. On the way we stopped at the Chow Hound in Green River. We used to always stop and eat there when I was a kid and we were traveling. It brought back lots of memories. This was a really fun trip and I'm glad that I got a chance to go with my boys and my mom. Hope the boys have good memories of their travels as kids!

Soren enjoying his meal. Yum, Fry Sauce!

Charlie wouldn't look at me.
But I love the cute smile on his sweet face so I kept this photo anyway. 

Not sure how my camera gets two slightly different pictures at the same time…
But they're both cute because of the subject.

James had had it by then, and this was the only angle I could get of him.
He was mad about his food for some reason and he refused to look at me.

I miss my sister and her family. They've been gone from Monticello for 2 years and its just not the same without them. But we are thankful we can still visit them occasionally and it is fun to explore a new part of the state. We probably ought to pick a less hot time to go next time! Whew! It was so nice to come back to a cool, lovely Monticello summer.

Trek 2015

Our Stake had the fabulous opportunity to go to Martins Cove for Trek this year. It took a long time (1.5 yrs) to plan and pull together and was an awful lot of work for those in charge. But it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime chances that I am so thankful my girls had. Curtis is a counselor in the Stake YM presidency so he was involved in all of the planning/preparing. The girls and I were pretty good procrastinators and left our sewing/preparing to the last minute. But we pulled it all together and off they went to Wyoming in June. They left on Tuesday morning (23rd), early, and returned VERY late on Friday night/early Saturday morning. There were photographers assigned by the stake to take pictures. I sent disposable cameras with my girls and Curtis had his phone, but I ended up having to pull pictures off the Stake Trek website. I was thankful that they took so many photos and made them accessible to everyone.

Curtis and Bro. Veach at the Stake Center on the day that everyone dropped off their stuff.
It was quite the process to label and transport everyone's bucket and bedding. 

After the last bus fiasco for a stake youth activity, they hired these chartered buses. 

Each person was given this wagon wheel necklace.  I like the saying they lasered into them…
"Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven."

They spent time at Martin's Cove and Rocky Ridge/Rock Creek Hollow

Martins Cove

This monument is at Rock Creek Hollow

The group burial at Rock Creek Hollow, includes Jens and Elsie Neilson's son, Jens,
and Bodil Mortinsen, who was traveling with them. 

There were quite a few pictures of my 'mountain man' Curtis. Our original plan was for me to go with them and be part of the cooking crew, but as the time grew closer I didn't feel good about leaving my boys. I know Shiala and Ford would have taken good care of them, but it just didn't feel like the thing to do. When I told Curtis I was going to stay home, he told me he'd been having the same feelings. So I stayed home with my three boys. (Actually, we had our own little trek to St. George to spend time with the Crane family :))

Curtis enjoyed talking to the missionaries that work there….

Some of the stake leaders

Everyone thought he grew his beard (and hair) for Trek, so they were all awfully surprised when he didn't cut and shave after Trek was over…. 

walking up into Martins Cove

Curtis wasn't too sure that it was a good idea to go to the expense of transporting the youth of the whole stake clear to Wyoming. He thought that the same objectives could be met doing something locally, perhaps down in Bluff. But the Stake President was pretty set on making this happen so he did his part. After he got home, he told me that he loved the whole thing so much that he hadn't been ready to come home. I was happy to see that it had been a good experience not only for the youth but for him as well. After we went to Martin's Cove as a family in 2007 and feeling of the spirit of the place, I have wanted my children to have the opportunity to go with a church group if possible. Cambria was eligible to go this year as well, but an opportunity for a good summer job came along and she decided to take it instead. I'm sorry she missed this chance.

Square dancing. Love the hat! He said it helped keep the bugs out of his face better that way.
Looks like a sombrero…I keep hearing Mexican hat dance music…..

Each youth was supposed to choose an ancestor to 'trek' for. They didn't have to have been a handcart pioneer or anything, but just someone who was one of the first in their family to join the church. We are lucky in our family to have ancestors in both the Martin and Willie handcart companies.
Hannah 'trekked' for Sarah Crossley, who was a member of the Martin Handcart Company. She is Hannah's 4th great-grandmother who was a plural wife to Peregrine Sessions and mother of James Crossley Sessions. She joined the church in England as a girl, when Peregrine Sessions was a missionary there. After getting to Utah, he asked the Crossley family to let one of their children live with his family and Sarah was the one who went. She says she loved Elder Sessions from the time he helped convert her family and was thrilled to be married to him after getting to Utah. I appreciate how our families were put together and am thankful for those strong women and men who lived  the 'Principle' but boy, I'm sure glad that polygamy is no longer practiced in our day. Don't think I could do it.

Sadie 'trekked' for Catherine (Katrine) Jorgensen, her 3rd great-grandmother who was Jens Nielson's 3rd plural wife. Katrine didn't come to Utah until later and was living in Cedar City when Jens became a member of the Hole-In-The-Rock/San Juan group. She was not healthy so stayed behind with her 3 young children. She died a couple of years later and her children went with friends by wagon to Bluff where they were raised by Kirsten, Jens' 2nd plural wife. The life of a pioneer was never easy, and often incredibly hard. So much loss.

This is Hannah with her 'family'.
She is in the pink shirt and green floral skirt there on the far left. I'm sure the pioneers had pink sunglasses. 

I got this text from Hannah's 'ma' a week or two after Trek. I so appreciated her kind words.

There's not much out on the high plains of Wyoming except sagebrush…and wind.

Hannah and some friends...

Crossing the Sweetwater River….(Hannah in front pulling)

Sadie on far left with yellow shirt

Sadie did a good job of avoiding the camera. In fact, I was starting to get pretty sad, after going through 1000s of pictures without finding one of her. But then I found these. And I love them, because they tell such a good story about her….

Here Sadie, in the white shirt/blue skirt at the back of the handcart, notices some spear grass growing by the trail….

Here Sadie bends to pick some spear grass growing by the trail….

Here you can see Sadie and Ashton scheming to throw the speargrass at the boys pulling the handcart…Hoping to get the speargrass to stick in their clothing and irritate their skin…. stinkers :)

Monticello Stake Leaders

Curtis at the far right of the group photo...

The whole group-not sure where the girls are...

I liked this group photo taken at Rock Creek Hollow as they listened to some pioneer stories and spiritual thoughts. 

I know that we don't have to walk the roads of Israel to have strong feelings for the Savior. Likewise, we don't have to go on a handcart trek to learn from the pioneers. But there is a very tangible something that you feel when you walk in their footsteps. There is a strong spirit that can touch hearts and change lives in those sacred, hallowed places where some gave their all for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love, honor and revere my own pioneer ancestors, as well as those not related to me who walked though this refiner's fire. They left big shoes to fill, but each day I try to live in such a way as to make them pleased with my efforts.