Remembering Is the Seed of Gratitude- Day Two

The second day started out with morning family devotionals and yummy breakfast burritos made within each family unit.

Ma Dowdle cooking breakfast with her family


The Smart family devotional


After breaking camp, repacking the handcarts, and receiving instructions from the Trail Boss, the pioneers were again on their journey through the dusty roads and "cheatgrass". That darn cheat grass! It gets little pricklies stuck into your socks and shoes.

Brother Rice... Trail Boss


Girls picking out "cheatgrass"


Josh's family giving their sisters a ride


Me on the trail


Carli and baby


Somebody didn't want to hold the baby!



After a few hours of trekking, we arrived at our lunch destination. It was wonderful to have the cooks waiting for us with cold watermelon and tasty hamburgers. And shade. The only shade around was the man made kind. We all squeezed under the three tents and enjoyed the respite. Thankfully, there was a bit of a breeze that day.

Lunch


Joyce had made us all hymn books/journals that were small enough to fit into our pockets. The cover looked like an old brown leather hymnal. They were awesome! We sang several times a day... mornings, nights, and at breaks during our day.

Hammers and kids singing hymns


As we were about to head out again, a uniformed man (Bro. Ball) rode in and read an order for all of the menfolk to leave immediately to join the army. The Mormon Battalion received handmade guns and marched away up the hill leaving the women behind.

The Mormon Battalion Call


Boys with their guns


While the boys were gone, the girls talked about honoring the priesthood. The Spirit was felt strongly. One of my YW sang an impromptu solo of "Nearer My God To Thee". It was beautiful. Then the girls were asked to pull three of the eight handcarts up a really steep hill with large ruts in it. They worked hard together, but they didn't struggle as much as I thought they would. The young women are strong! At the top of the hill, the boys were waiting for them and sang to them as they approached. It was nice, but it should have been a lot harder.

The Women


Women's pull


Chelsea


Coming back down


After a couple more hours of pushing and pulling, the "Pony Express" came riding up with deliveries from home. Each youth received at least one letter from their parents. They took their letters up an old creek bed and read their letters privately. It was neat walking along taking pictures of them with Matt. It was so quiet, and they looked so happy and peaceful while having "solo time".

Hailey Hammer


We finally arrived at what we called "Chimney Rock"... it looked quite similar to the real Chimney Rock in Wyoming that the Mormon pioneers saw. What a great camping spot for us. Some of the kids climbed all the way to the top that night.

"Chimney Rock"


Matt and I


Pioneers flirt too!


Boys hangin' out


Dirty and blistered feet!


Ma and Pa skit night

Remembering Is the Seed of Gratitude- Day One

We owe so much to our LDS pioneer heritage... whether we have ancestors who crossed the plains or not. We have what we have because of them, and we are who we are because of them. We must remember them. And so we as the Meridian 5th Ward decided to go on a pioneer trek for the first time. We each wore a leather bracelet that had the name of one of our ancestors on it. I went to Trek remembering my 4th great grandmother Ann Christine Mortensen Neilson born in Denmark in 1837. It was humbling to think of her and the sacrifices she made for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My bracelet is at the top


We had been preparing for six months for this three night, 28 mile journey in the Owyhees of Eastern Oregon. We used 8 handcarts that were accurate replicas of the ones the Mormon handcart pioneers used. There were 54 youth ages 12-18 and 16 adults that acted as Ma's and Pa's. And then there were "support" people. Bishop Simpson and his wife, his 1st counselor Brother Ball and his wife, the Trail Boss Brother Rice, Joyce the Trek organizer, five cooks, the ever important port-o-potty driver Brigham Young (I'm not kidding... that is really his name!), and Matt who was the photographer and me who was the... what was I? Matt's assistant? Occasional handcart pusher? Videographer? Cheerleader yelling "You can do hard things!!"? Kitchen helper? I was kinda the pioneer without an official job.

We had super HOT weather on Day 1. And it was no cake walk. Actually, no day was a cake walk, and that is how we wanted it. Here are pics from that afternoon which included two steep hills. The night ended with delicious food (the pioneers certainly didn't eat as well as we did) and a super fun hoe-down. Between dinner and the dancing we encountered some pretty wild wind, rain and lightning. Thankfully, it was short lived, and we didn't get too wet.

At the trailhead at base of Mitchell Butte


We're off!


Clean for only a few minutes... dirty for 3 1/2 days


Up the 1st hill


Bishop Simpson and Chelsea's Pa, Brett Bird


Taking a rest


Josh pulling up the 2nd big hill


Jeff and Tresa Ball


Overheated


Coming down


Josh's family- The Pasketts


Chelsea's family- The Birds


Good grub


Camp at the corals after the storm


Chelsea dancing


Josh loved the dancing too (it made me happy!)

Buckets and Bikes

Besides the loud patriotic music that I played to wake up my kids and the blueberry sour cream waffles that followed, we celebrated the birthday of our country by gathering with some good friends with some delicious food and fun. It was us, the Hammers, the Bells, the Balls, and the Pierces. Several years ago when we spent 4th of July with them, we ate KFC fried chicken, so this year we decided to do the same thing and make it a tradition. We all brought buckets full of that greasy yet crispy hormone injected chicken. I can only handle it once a year... or maybe not even that often. We enjoyed strawberry lemonade, yummy side dishes, and rich desserts. I made The Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake. You HAVE to try it, I tell ya. Four sticks of butter, people. That includes the frosting. It is the BEST!

We continued another tradition last night too. We took our bikes down to Joe's Crab Shack in Boise and got out and rode our bikes a mile or two on the Greenbelt to Ann Morrison Park where the fireworks show is. There were 20 of us making our own bike parade. It was a hoot. I love riding along the river. We had to be real careful not to run over all of the pedestrians slowly making their way to the park. We arrived about an hour before the show. We found a big spot by the fountain for all 20 plus two more friends who drove. The fireworks were pretty good. Worth the effort, at least. The ride back to the cars was a lot of fun too. Here are some pictures from our evening.