More about Trek

Dan asked me to tell more about trek a few days ago. There is so much to tell.. so I put it off until now. I will just touch on the highlights.

Besides camping for two nights next to the stream that the huge heard of cows get their water from, and the dead lamb that we discovered during dinner about 40 feet from where we had just set up our tents, I had nothing to complain about. When it came to food, we were SPOILED. Lots and lots and lots and lots of walking to work it off though. As a Ma and Pa we were asked not to pull the cart so that we could have our full attention on our kids at all times. I was allowed to help my girls during the Women's pull though and it was amazing. We were asked to start treking in silence then slowly someone came and pulled the boys off and told them they were not to help anymore. They just walked beside us. At first it was pretty easy, flat ground but then we rounded a corner a saw the long climbing hill that was ahead of us. It was a long tough road. What was cool was that if a family was having trouble then the girls in back of them would put their cart down and run up to help. And when the first family finally made it up they ran back down to help others. My husband said that girls were going back and forth from cart to cart helping others. Sometimes I felt like we were hardly moving and that was because some of my girls had left us to help the cart ahead of us. Then when we were barely moving at all and I felt as though I had zero energy left I got nudged over by someone and the cart just took off. Without looking up I knew exactly who it was because I had helped this young women from our ward sew her skirt and apron before we left. This tough soccer player helped us up the last part of that hill. When women come together and help each other they can do ANYTHING! And as always, the most touching part was that it was actually harder on the boys to watch and not do anything than it was for the girls.

We were so lucky to be given the kids that were in our family. They were all so willing to help push and pull and set up camp and cook meals. Wonderful friendships developed during those four days.

Over all what I personally learned from this Trek is that I need to simplify my life somehow. The pioneers had one main goal in their lives and that was to develop a relationship with God and make it to Zion. Although I can't imagine going through the hardships they went through, I kind of envy their simple way of life and their focus on one goal. I think there is too much STUFF available to us in this day and age and it makes me loose focus on whats really important in life.

I would say the very hardest part of Trek was the preparations before and the cleanup after. And that's where I lost all of my points for last week.I had to gather and pack all of the equipment for our family plus have my own house in order for my sister who was staying with my kids while I was gone. And I had a Brother-in-Law from out of town who had my whole weekend before we left planned for me. I didn't have enough hours in a day to get everything done so I had to prioritize and didn't even think about this game. I actually gave myself full points for the days I was on Trek because I had no control over a lot of things. I lost my points the days before I left. So I think my score is fair but that's a nice gesture Dan.

Well, I think I may have won the prize for the longest blog. Top that Laureen!