August 3, 2016

Here we are waiting for our own ward to arrive on Tuesday

July 28th.  It was about 2:00 pm when they got here.

It was so fun to have people we already knew and

we didn't have to memorize names or try to even remember

if we had talked with them before.

They had 60 of them including their wonderful support staff.

They had great helpers in the kitchen, porta johns and water buffalo.

One of the great things they did was what we call solo time.

They spread out on their buckets and spent some alone

time reading and writing in their journals.  This was

a spot on Lake Hollow Road on Thursday morning.

They did a silent walk where they passed people who

stood on the side of the trail holding up signs with different

things written on them to  inspire them to think about

their lives and the choices they are making.  After the

walk they spent 30 minutes alone thinking.

Then they took family pictures in front of their carts and

at the end a big group picture of all of them.

What a great photo.  I love this place.

On Friday morning we did the womans pull, Christy's Kid 

Killer, lucky for all of us, no one died.  Because it was

my ward I decided to push the cart all the way to the top.

Each week I  walk the trail but don't push the cart with

them.  But this felt different and I wanted to be a real part

of it.  So I helped with the Baker Family cart.

It will be a special memory forever and one that

will always be in my heart.  Thank you Willowwood

for coming here with us.!

After the pull while we were eating some lunch this is the

sky we got to see.  It was amazing to look at.  We all

took several pictures.  I think they call it a sun dog and it

is said that when you see this it means rain in the next few days. 

That was Friday, today is Monday and it has rained all day long.

This is Jeff with our two missionaries.  Bret leaves in two

weeks for California and Geneal leaves in a couple of months

for Mexico City.  They were such a great example to all

the youth.  What service they provided to all of us.

Photo bomb by Jeff, Dee and Sue were so much fun to

have on the trek.  They took care of the water truck for

us plus so many other things. Dee and Sue  faithful blog readers

 so I figured they deserved to see

their cute faces on the screen!  Hello and THANKS!

This was our youngest trekker, 11 years old.  He did

a great job and walked the whole way pushing and pulling.

At the finish they let the kids change their clothes for the bus

ride home.  This one didn't want to part with his 

suspenders.  I think it is a great look, don't you?

The bus assigned to pick them up got wrong instructions and

drove past us and on to Fort Bridger, a hour away.  So

they had to find shade and wait for the bus to turn around and 

return to pick them up.  As they waited they welcomed into

staging two other trek groups.  They cheered them and rang

our cow bells we have.  It was fun to watch them encourage

other groups.  We were real proud of their attitudes.

Each morning they would go out kneel and pray by themselves.

What a beautiful picture that is.  I will miss seeing that each morning.

My favorite Brenda spent all her time fixing and caring for

all the trekkers, all 59 of them.  She did an amazing job and

they kept her pretty busy.  Thanks Brenda for being such

a good sport and coming on Trek.  I think she even enjoyed

the nights under the stars.  Spending time with Brenda

made the week even better.

Saturdays finishes are always a happy day.

Willowwood spent 5 days and 4 nights with us.

We share memories that will link us forever.

On Monday, today, Ray and Georgia came and picked

us up and we drove up to see the Temple being built in

Star Valley Wyoming.  We drove through Cokeville

and I decided I needed to drink a Coke in Cokeville.

Somethings are too good to miss.  We rode around

the town.  It rained most of the day on us and 

what beautiful scenery we saw.

They have a visitor center that is a trailer there on site.

We are excited to know that this week, Aug 8 the gold

shovels goes in the ground in Cedar City!

They had a pile of rocks there for you to take.  They were

from the ground where they dug the foundation.  They

were offering them to each visitor, so we took one.

We will have to return in a couple of years and see the finished

building.  What a great place for a Temple.  Who knows, 

maybe we can live there, work in the Temple.  Jeff

likes it because they have a golf course, of course.

Thanks for a great day Ray and Georgia.  We saw

beautiful country, talked non stop, ate great food and

have four bags of Georgia's homemade chocolate chip

cookies in our freezer, life doesn't get any better.

This is our last week of trekking, nine weeks in all.

Now we have family trek, trek training and the 

work of putting everything away.  How quickly the time

has passed.  We miss our family but we will miss the

peace of the DL & L.