Trekkies

Last week Ben and I became the proud parents of 12 energetic teenagers. We went on a five day pioneer trek with our stake: no soap, no deodorant, no toothpaste, no tents, very little food, a lot of walking, and A LOT OF DIRT - but we loved almost every minute of it and came back stronger - both physically and spiritually. We sure got a lot of curious looks from the cars driving by on the road, but thanks to our INCREDIBLE kids, we had an amazing week. We spent the first 2 days walking. And walking. And walking. And walking....It was amazing how quickly this little family of strangers pulled together to help each other out. During the women's pull (one of the steepest, rockiest hills of the entire trail), when the boys were not allowed to touch the cart at all - tears came to my eyes as I saw our two "little brothers" run to the front of the cart to hold their sisters' hands. My daughters ROCKED that cart as they struggled up and over the rough terrain - but it made it so much easier to know their brothers were rooting them on. The tough work, long hours, and lack of food were very unifying even on the first day - Ben and I found ourselves rooting on our kids like they were our very own. Our kids did their best to keep their spirits high, even when it was long past dark and they were STILL. WALKING. Once we arrived at our base camp, we had the chance to cook like pioneers. The only day Ben and I did any cooking was on Friday, (our fake "Sabbath") while the kids were out on solo. When they came back to see homemade dutch oven bread, chicken and corn-on-the-cob - you would have thought they'd died and gone to heaven. They were so thankful - it made us want to cook every meal for them. It's amazing how much something so little means when you're away from the comforts of home.

Our kids turned out to be pretty good cooks, although we all admitted that just about anything tastes good on the trail.

The boys worked hard to ensure that our camp had the most playground attractions of the whole trek. We had our own rope swing and teeter totter by the first afternoon, Thanks Aaron!

It was inspiring to see how quickly the kids pitched in to do the dirty work of keeping our camp running. Even when it was cleaning out the Crisco-caked dutch oven...with NO soap - blegh! Thanks Bryton!

Every evening was spent singing hymns, telling pioneer stories, and reflecting on the day around the campfire. We could have stayed up talking all night long.

The scenery was spectacular - a great backdrop for reflecting on the sacrifices our pioneer ancestors made to settle our beautiful valley!

We created our own "pillar of light" around the campfire.

Our awesome kids took good care of their ma and pa. Thanks kids!

We even pulled our own taffy for dessert!

I think Nikki liked it!We played pioneer games.I shot a gun for the very first time!But one of our favorite activities was the hair washing. After 3 days on the dirty, sweaty, stinky, smoky trail - we let our hair down and washed it with Palmolive! (This is the before shot - what a bunch of dirty chicks!)But after, we were nice and refreshed. So what if Pa and our son were sportin' buns...we were CLEAN! (well, relatively speaking of course.)It didn't last long though, Thursday night was a dusty hoedown. We were covered in filth - but it sure was a good time!On Friday, each of the kids had a 4 hour "solo" time to reflect on their trek experiences. Ben and I spent a good part of that time breaking up couples in the meadow (not our OWN children, of course) - but thought this obedient child made for quite the picturesque photo.
I even snuck in a few minutes of quiet time. Back at camp, my daughters were the best. They cooked, they cleaned, they sang, they bonded,
and they picked me a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers from the meadow! Thanks daughters!

After five days without combing his hair, washing his face, or brushing his teeth, how this kid could still pull off the GQ pose is beyond me.

When it was all said and done, Ben and I came home feeling an intense gratitude for the little comforts of home - food, clean kitchens, soap, gum, toothpaste...the list goes on and on. But beyond that, we were strengthened. Trek was an experience we will not soon forget - our "kids" truly became a part of our family - we love them and learned so much from their stalwart examples. We grew closer as a couple and our testimonies were strenghtened. We would do it again in a heartbeat.