August 16th was the Family Trek Day. We had Morgan's
family come, Zach's family, and Katie's mother, Pam and her brother
Christian and his wife Mandy and children come. What a fun time
they had running all around the Depot and area. Lots of
fun for them. They bought tents and camped on the lawn
in front of the Depot. They were lucky enough to hear
coyotes calling and howling during the night. On the last
day, Sunday as we left to go to Church the Greene family
was able to see a coyote right by the Depot.
Miah has on my bonnet, yep I bought Pioneer clothes
for Jeff and I. Miah looked cute in the bonnet, Ruby
looked cute in the skeleton jammies.
This would be a truck full of boys. There were several
we had 12 children ten and under on the trek with us.
We had several families of the other Missionaries
come and participate with us.
This is our crew and we took one cart. With all
the little ones we needed all the adults we could find.
Katie carried Sully the whole time. Morgan and Jeremiah
carried Ruby the whole way. Zach had to carry Ollie
most of the way. They wouldn't ride in the cart.
Our Sam actually helped push the cart a lot of the way.
He was a real pioneer boy. He found it fun sometimes
and hard at other times.
Miah helped most of the time. This is she and Mandy
pulling the cart into the Depot. What girl power
they showed.
Morgan and Zach looked great as they took a turn
in the front. What a memory that made for me, watching
the two of them together pulling the cart.
Jeff was the cute one in the puffy shirt! Notice how short
the sleeves are. He had a great time showing off the
ranch to all of them.
This is Jeff, sitting on a bucket telling a pioneer story
to the trek group.
This is the King of the cart. He had the best seat
and he loved being in the cart. He had the control of
the speed and the direction we took.
Mothers on the Prairie would have loved a carrier
like Katie has. Little Sully was pretty content.
Ollie was a in and out rider.
The rest of the kids spent their time running along
the trail looking for all kinds of things. Finally they
discovered the magic of Bones. That became their
obsession.
The scary thing is, this is not the first time Ammon
has worn bones on his head. Should we be worried?
This was a small portion of the bones they collected.
Morgan actually let them take the cow skull home
with them in the van, it was in a black plastic bag,
I know weird.
After the Trek we had games and activities for the kids.
Miah made pioneer cloth dolls for her and Ruby. They
were fun to make.
We had some square dancing. Miah really loved that.
Sam liked the stick pull game.
After the lunch and activities we headed to a place
on the ranch to baptize Quinn.
What a beautiful setting it was and fun for Jeff and
I to know this is where he was baptized.
The actual name is Saleratus Reservoir 2.
This is Jeff telling Quinn, "You are the only person
I know that was baptized in a lake."
The proud and happy family afterwards.
The only bad point was the biting red ants that decided
to attend the baptism also, they were not invited!
Jeff and I didn't notice them when we were scoping the
place out. They went after those who had bare toes
and bare legs. Miah was one of those victims, so
Jeremiah was holding her up off the ground.
Christian played his guitar to accompany our songs.
The last song we sang was "I Belong to the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", we sang it as
we quickly marched away from the BITING RED ANTS.
Little Sully was just glad to be along and he really
enjoyed the icing on the cookies Mandy brought to
share with all of us. I think Morgan was photo
bombing without knowing realizing it. Oh, that red
skirt of hers was covered with burr's and stickers.
We all took turns pulling them off of the skirt.
This would be all 12 of our little group, actually in
one spot at the same time. Shortly after this photo
Jeff discovered someone had locked the truck and his
keys were inside the truck! We had driven 3 trucks
down to the site so we all piled into 2 trucks and
drove back to the Depot and then Jeff and I
had to go to the Director and tell him we needed
a spare set of keys to get into the truck we had
borrowed from him. Yes, we got a lot of teasing
from that one! Again, we show how competent we
are!
One last photo moment on the gate as the Cowan's and
the Siggs left the ranch. Deseret Land & Livestock
survived the visit.
On Monday we drove up to Bone Hollow with Elder
Pratt and his grandchildren. We took all the bones
our grandchildren had collected and we deposited them
along the trail.
Again we saw the magic of bones in delighting
the hearts of children.
They had so much fun adding to the bones that were
already there. The teeth were a new addition to
this post. We all thought it was rather cleaver looking.
Each one of the boys took a bone home with them
also. Their mom wasn't to excited about the
LARGE PELVIS BONE they selected. But,
being a great mom she relented and let them take
it with them when they left.
Even Elder Pratt wanted a bone to take home. This is
the one he selected. I wish I could see it on his
desk, he is a Judge. That should put fear into
others hearts. He should be called Judge Bone Collector.
Monday morning the sunrise was totally awesome.
Everyday we are amazed at the beauty that
surrounds us.
Can you doubt that God lives and that He loves us?
I know God lives for I see His hand everyday.
