Oh, What A Happy Time That Was . . .

I remember a few years ago . . . well, at least five because it was before Aiden . . . we were on the mountain at a family reunion and Jill and Kenny came up a day late. They had been to Martin's Cove with the youth of their stake for a youth conference. I remember noticing something different about them, they had a distinct spirit kind of floating around them and they talked about that youth conference with such love and reverence. And I remember wishing our stake would do a youth conference at Martin's Cove and that I could go on it. And I remember thinking, "That's like wishing the atoms would all line up perfectly so that if you threw a rock threw a window it wouldn't break." Because my geometry teacher told me once that was possible :) Anyway, the atoms DID line up and this summer we got to go. And the experience was more than I ever dreamed it could be.

Our camp at night.

I was nervous about a few things, one of them being that we were asked not to bring cameras. Now, I love my camera. I love that it preserves images that evokes memories long after the event has passed. And believe it or not, it was a great test of my faith that I obeyed and left my camera behind. But my faith was answered last Wednesday when we had a stake Martin's Cove reunion and the photographers showed us their pictures. They were beyond what I hoped they would be and the best part was that I was IN most of them, something that doesn't happen when I'm taking the pictures :)

So here, without a lot of wordy explanation, are some of the pictures from our trek that I loved the most. Where we camped the first two days. (And an excellent, NOT! picture of my back side)

Dave trying to make sure I didn't forget to eat. Like THAT would ever happen :)

Me walking with my skirt up around my waist - Yikes!! I don't remember walking around with this much of my bloomers showing. So now I'm worried that I walked around like this all the time - what was I thinking? Was it hot? Was I stepping on the front of my skirt going up that hill? Was I trying to be rebellious and pretend I was in pants, not a pioneer skirt? Wow, I don't know . . .

Me applying duct tape to Rebecca's foot. If you read my prior trek post you know my issues with our medical people. So I got really good at this :)

This picture makes me laugh because this is how our boys pulled our handcart for four days. Jake never stopped talking, Dex rapped pioneer songs, Koi was always turned around talking to whomever we passed and they never stopped running :)

Our handcart and flag.

I LOVE this picture so much! It looks like we are all alone trekking through life. On the trek we were NEVER alone, so I don't know how the photographer pulled this off, but I love it.

And this one. This was taken by a different photographer on a different day. Notice we have different clothes on. I wish we were in the same clothes, that it was a close up of our hands at that same moment, but I love it anyway.

Our family crossing the Sweetwater. Dave and I are bringing up the rear :)

Dave and I crossing the Sweetwater. I can't believe people kept asking how I got my hair to stay so perfect all week. True the wind was blowing, but it's a MESS in this picture.

The woman's pull. I was also nervous about the woman's pull because of our lack of girlage - but we did great.
It was a little tough. We pulled uphill for most of a mile. I turned around at one point and saw Colleen, the lady at the back of our handcart, pushing. She smiled at me and mouthed, "I'm your angel." Brings tears to my eyes even now . .

It was so awesome to see the respect the young men showed during the woman's pull. I had never seen such visual respect shown by the priesthood for womanhood. It was very touching and the spirit was very strong.

They told us as Ma's and Pa's to be prepared for the woman's pull, that it would be hard on the young men, that it would be hard for them to have to stand by and watch the girls pull the handcarts without them. And I thought, "No it won't. Maybe those who are married will have a hard time watching their wives, but even Dave won't have a hard time with this. I've worked hard along side him all my life. This isn't going to phase any of them." Boy was I wrong!

They were touched . . .

After the woman's pull. That's me hugging Jake, one of our boys and thanking him for pulling our handcart. Which was code for "thanks for being good and righteous and honoring your priesthood." Then I started looking around for Dave. He had had some problems and wasn't sure he was even going to be able to walk this day. Everyone else had already come up the hill and still no Dave, so I started down the hill to find him. . . and I finally did. There we are hugging, me with my big ol' cold sore :)

And that's it - one of the best experiences of my life. Somehow everyone should have this experience. If it ever comes up, take it!