Pioneer Trek 2011

Jared and I had the wonderful opportunity to be Ma and Pa's on a Stake Pioneer Trek  this past month. We walked about 20 miles ate about 1 lb of dirt, slept with insects and sweated all our body away. It was so much fun! We had 8 teenagers that were part of our family and we loved all of them. We were the youngest ma and pa which helped with relating to our family.  When talking with others who have done a Trek before they were saying how awesome and wonderful it was, but once we got out there all I could like about is how HARD it was. Literally  hard, sometimes it was hard to stay positive and to keep pushing... Let me tell you i have gained a much deeper appreciation  and respect for our early ancestors the pioneers. They were amazing! 

I have a hard time being dirty, I do not like dirty things, a house, a car, clothes. I take at least 1 shower a day and am constantly washing my hands, my face, my feet blah blah blah. By all means I love to have a good mud fight  or food fight , if I can shower right after. It was VERY hard for me to go all day soaking my clothes in sweat and dirt then to sleep in those clothes to do it again the next day tromping through dirt and mud and water to sleep in those clothes again and then the next day hike the last few miles home. I went through a whole pack of baby wipes trying to keep at least my hands and face clean. I ended up changing into some shorts and shirt on the 2nd night because i couldn't handle the dirtiness... haha I can be such a baby.  We had porta-potties so I was thankful. I didn't sleep very well because we had to keep our heads in our sleeping bags otherwise the mosquitoes would attack your face no matter how much repellent you put on. I even brought dryer sheets and set it right above my head and they didn't care. I think they were just so excited to have so much food to choose from with all of us there sleeping.

Anyways the food was great and the overall experience was awesome. To be able to gain a deeper testimony and appreciation of this gospel made every minute so worth it and so much fun. We were given a baby to care for and we named her Molly Mae. 

I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking...