Trek

Happy Father's Day!  I don't spend a lot of time on social media, but I read Christine's Instagram post and I loved the scripture she quoted.  Since it applies to Roy as well, I will re-quote it here:

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in in the gate."  Psalm 126:3-5

Roy is a wonderful husband and father.  He was always happy to welcome another child into our family.  He is forever thinking of ways to serve others, and he has always treated me like a queen.  

Roy and Catharine on Trek

The day before Trek, Sara told us to watch TV the next day to see Ori and Effie help Good Day, Utah, show off some great summer toys.  We missed it, but she sent us the link.  It was fun--and especially fun since they got to keep a bunch of the toys.  They got the dinosaur (below), a beach ball, some sand toys, a blow up pool and some bubble guns.  Sara's neighbor (and member of her YW presidency), had arranged for them to be on the segment, she works for Good Day, Utah.  Afterwards, Ori asked her, "When can we be on TV again?"

Roy and I left for Trek early Monday morning a couple of hours before the youth left the Stake Center.  He was in charge of hauling all the buckets and then helping to set up the kitchen and food tent, etc.

Church parking lot prior to departure.

Roy (in the red shirt) helping to set up the "kitchen"

The guys set up everything while the few women mostly watched and visited.

When it was time for the kids to arrive, those of us who were trail walkers set off to meet them at the trail head.  Our first day was supposed to be seven miles.  The historic "Brigham's arrow" was just a short way from the trail head. Well, somehow we missed it, even though it was enclosed by a fence, so we just kept walking--getting off track right from the beginning :)  After about a half mile of trekking the wrong way, we realized our error and turned around.  I had been at the front and was now at the back.  We were lucky that the temperature was only in the low 70's, because with the sun shining it felt really hot.
After we had walked at least the 7 miles, we headed off in the wrong direction once again.  Again, I was in the lead (I needed the bathroom and was anxious to get back).  My phone rang and since it was Roy I answered it. "You're going the wrong way," he said.  I called out to the trail boss who was a little ahead of me, and told him that the camp could see us and we were headed the wrong way.  We corrected the course, and...I ended up in the back again.  After about another mile, I was in desperate need of a bathroom.  There was sage brush everywhere, but no cover.  I hailed the medical vehicle and told them I really had to go.  "That is a medical emergency, get in." he said smiling.  So I rode the last half mile and beat everyone to the porta-potties.  I had still walked at least 8 miles.  I heard that we ended up hiking more than 9 miles because of the detours.

On the first day, the main challenge was "Gravel Hill."  The youth had
to turn the cart backward, attach a rope, and hang on.  The gravel
consisted of small boulders, and they really did make the course
hazardous, as it was hard to get a foothold.

Tammy Mederios (my 2nd counselor, myself [great picture!]
Kathy Hurst (my 1st counselor) and Tiffany Shaw, another trail walker.

  This is Philo Dibble rock.  Philo Dibble carved
his name and date in the rock while he was stationed here, watching
for Johnson's army.  It was an extra short but steep hike to see this.
 (I'm obviously not close enough here to show it off) This was on the trail
on the 3rd day.

The 2nd day was shorter.  We hiked about 3 miles to lunch, and then hiked a little ways to where there were more trees so the kids could have solo time.  I sat down in the shade and was immediately surrounded by gnats.  I decided it wasn't worth it, so, after finding that Travis Johnson and his wife (Stake YM president) were heading back to camp early to help fix dinner, I joined them.  It was a very relaxed afternoon and evening with games, dinner and a square dance. The dancing looked fun, but I decided I needed to save my feet for the 7 + miles on the following day.  It was fun watching, though.

The days felt hot, but the nights were cold.  

Ready to head out--2nd day (I'm on the left by my counselor, Tammy Mederios
She and her husband were a ma and pa.

Fireside (1st night)

How much are you roughing it when it takes 6 huge trailers to
haul everything needed for a 3 day trek?

Roy and I ran one of the games on the 2nd day.  The Trek leader that gave me the hula hoops for my game gave me the hoops and said, "sorry."  Sorry because the idea was to roll the hoop with a stick and make it a race.  It didn't work because she had purchased the cheapest hula hoops she could possibly find.  They were adjustable hula hoops.  They came apart, and they had ridges underneath so you certainly could NOT roll the hoop with the sticks.  We changed the game up so they would work, and the kids had fun anyway.  

I must have been pretty tired the last day, because as we had our last rest stop, maybe the last mile or so of the journey, I sat down on the little camp stool I'd been carrying.  I started thinking that maybe I should put the stool in the cart so I didn't have to carry it.  Then I realized it wasn't in my hands and I said, out loud, "Where's my stool?" in that panicked way I talk when I think I've misplaced something.  My counselor, Kathy, who was walking with me said, "You're sitting on it."  We laughed, and then the trail captain jokingly called out, "MEDICAL!"  

Final stretch.  Notice the train on the left.

An eagle's nest close to our camp on the 2nd night



These pictures that Elise sent us brought back a lot of Georgia memories.  We used to take the kids to Krispie Kreme
in downtown Atlanta about once a month when we first lived there.  When they built a Krispie Kreme closer to
home, it lost some of it's specialness, so we didn't go nearly as often.

I meant to put the above picture in a couple of weeks ago.  Matt was awarded a Partnership award by the Logan Police department for all the work he's been doing to get people to support their department.

And Dan's mushroom search continues.  He's going to cut this open tonight, and depending on what he finds, cook it up.  Yum yum!