Pioneer Trek

Last weekend we went on the trek with Austin's moms side of the family. There were about 60 of us all together. At first I didn't want to go AT ALL, but I am sooo happy I went. It was such a blast. I have about 400 pictures of it, but here are just a few. Don't mind the yucky clothes and greasy hair and dirty bodies...

They had the coolest sunsets both nights!!!

The first night we did some square dancin... those kids are soo cute dancing. Austin danced with little Camden.

Our pioneer family with Uncle Scott and Seth and Jenny and their kids... We had a good fam :)

I got the braiding job for the girls' hair, which of course I loved. I swear I did a hundred french braids haha. Just hanging out at camp..... Cute cousins.... LOVE THEM! The women's pull, which was sooo hard. I about died, but we made it! We were lucky enough to go to Martin's Cove. Like my dad said "There's a feeling there that you can't find anywhere else in the world". It's so awesome. If you haven't been, you definitely should!!! This is the cove we were at before we made the long walk up to Martin's Cove. Austin's cousins, Madie and Cody sang the most beautiful song, Uncle Steve gave a great talk, and Jeff gave a great prayer.....such a good family. All of us had pioneer characters. I was Sarah Ann Franks and Austin was my fiancee, George Padley. The story is that we were from England and engaged to be married, but we wanted to get married in the Temple so we joined the handcart company and began trekking with them. We got to the Platte River on October 19, 2856, which was the date of the horrible storm. We had to cross the river, and George offered to help carry the women and children across it. Afterwards, he got very sick and made it to Martin's Cove 2 weeks later where he died. I couldn't bear the thought of the wolves getting his body, so I took off my shawl, which was the only thing to keep me warm and used it to wrap him in it and tie him in a tree. Everyone told their stories at different times on the trek, and we told ours at this cove. The stories made the Trek so much more real! It was kind of crazy. When I got home from the Trek, I was telling my parents about the story, and they told me that Sarah Ann Franks is my great-great-great grandmother on my dad's side, and I had no idea. It was pretty cool. Cindi was inspired, I guess :) Ari and I with Aubrey and Afton....

Hahaha Me and Ellie got bloody noses at the exact same time for no reason? It was weird. I don't even remember the last I had a bloody nose before this. Here is our group at the monument on our way up to Martin's Cove.

Us with Papa Jeff just taking a break on the trail.

The walk up to Martin's cold was pretty long and hard. The kids were troopers!

Ari and I eating lunch after Martin's Cove. We seriously ate the BEST food the whole trip. I felt like I gained 100 pounds even though we walked so much. We had breakfast burritos, strawberry pancakes, dutch oven chicken & potatoes, peach cobbler, peanut butter bars, smores, bbq sandwiches, and LOTS of snacks. Mmm so good.

Surprise Surprise...

Has anyone read the July article in the friend about Oscar? This is the link if you want to read it -- http://lds.org/churchmagazines/FR_2009_07_00___04267_000_000.pdf

But this is kind of a cute story. Austin's little cousins read the story in the friend about Oscar the dog. He is from a ranch, and every summer he comes and treks with some people. Austin's cousins prayed soo hard that they would get to see Oscar, and we got to have him trek with us the whole time! He walked with us and kept the coyotes away at night. It was fun! He is huge. And this is EVERYONE!!

Thanks CINDI for putting it together!!!

I'm sorry, the layout got messed up again!!