Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lincoln Stake Trek: Walking With God

The Lincoln Stake did a 3 day pioneer trek in Bone, Idaho. We were called to be the Ma and Pa of a family on the trek. This was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had with the youth of the church. I loved every minute of it! Nothing I write will do the actual experience justice, but I will do my best to summarize a great 3 days.

We met at the church on a Wednesday night to get assigned to a family, and load all of our stuff. We met in a room to get acquainted, and had to decorate our family flag. We drew a handcart on ours, and wrote 'Pulling with Pleasure', and had all of our family members sign it. It's the one thing I didn't get a picture of. We each received a piece of wood to wear around our neck with the name of an actual pioneer carved into it. This is the pioneer we would be walking for on the trek. We received the first half of this persons history to carry with us.

Our family: Bailey Varvel, Tricia Varvel (Ma), Mark Varvel (Pa), Julian Holm, Morgan Parker, Taylor Muckleroy, Breeanna Attebury, Ashley Ayers, Mike Hulet, Beth Ann Baker, Sam Skinner. We had no idea we would grow to love these kids so much in just 3 days. They are all awesome!

We met at the church on Thursday morning, drove to Bone, and loaded our handcarts. It was 96 degrees, and we were ready to start trekking our 10.1 mile day.

Sawyer's family: Cristina, Abby, Makayla, Sister Orr (Ma), Cheyenna, Matt, Brother Orr (Pa), Mike, Darrin, Sawyer. Sawyer had an awesome family too.

Ready to start pulling!

The first day was long, hot, hard, dusty, and had tons of big hills. They had us stop at the top of one of the big hills so they could tell us a story. They told us the story of James Kirkwood.

James was an 11 year old boy who crossed the plains in the Willie Handcart Company. He crossed with his widowed mother, and 3 brothers, one of whom, Thomas, was 19 and crippled and had to ride in the handcart. James' primary responsibility on the trek was to care for his little 4 year old brother, Joseph, while his mother and oldest brother, Robert, pulled the cart. As they climbed Rocky Ridge, it was snowing and there was bitter cold wind blowing. It took the whole company 27 hours to travel 15 miles. When little Joseph became too weary to walk, James had no choice but to carry him. Left behind the main group, James slowly made his way to camp. When he finally arrived at the fireside, James handed over his little brother, and collapsed and died from exposure and over exertion.

They gave us little clear rocks to wear around our necks to remind us of the stories of Rocky Ridge. After that, the kids were able to keep climbing and pushing without uttering a single word of complaint. They told us amazing pioneer stories all along the way at just the right moments. We stopped for lunch at about 5 miles. It was a nice break, but then it was back to pushing and pulling. A lot more heat and hills awaited us. Some families even had their carts break along the way. Luckily ours held up the whole way. We rolled into camp late. By the time we set up tents, and got dinner made, we didn't even eat until around 10:30. As tired as the kids were, they still found the energy to square dance that night.

Lunch break: Taylor, Bailey, Morgan, Laura, Brandy, Emily, Christie

The girls were awesome at setting up their tent. I guess it helped that they were all so cute, so boys from the other families would come over to help them :)!

Let's just say that the boys struggled the first night with the tent, but did much better the second time around. It was hilarious to watch these guys.

Mark and Bailey


Getting ready to square dance: Mike, Sawyer, Ethan, Sammy, Brandy.

On Friday, we trekked 5.7 miles. The terrain was much like the first day...hills, hills, and more hills. The weather was very different though....we had rain. It was a nice break from the heat, but it sure made everything a muddy mess. We got to a certain point and they built us a fire. We waited there for about an hour for all the handcarts to get there. When we got started again, they had us trek in silence about 200 yards to the base of a BIG hill. They told us that all the men and boys in our group had been called to war. They made all the men and boys walk to the top of the hill, where they talked to them about respecting women. The women and girls were left at the bottom of the hill with all the handcarts. Janae Fuquae did an amazing job talking to us about what the pioneer women had to go through, and how strong they were. She told some amazing stories. They had the guys line the hill, and they weren't allowed to talk to us or help us at all. They had to act like they weren't even there. The women had to get all the loaded carts up the hill on their own. There were so many carts, and not so many women. One lady was left completely by herself with her cart. All her family was at the top of the hill. It was a hard, but incredible experience for both the men and the women. We struggled up the hill, knowing that most of us were going to have to go back down several times to help get the carts up. I think it was harder for the guys to watch us, then it was for us to actually get the carts up the hill. Most of the grown men were crying watching there wives and daughters struggle, and several of the youth were as well. Two girls from my ward were injured. Katie Parker twisted her knee on the first day, and Laura Waters had infected feet. Dr. Baker told both of these girls that they were done walking and they had to ride on the 4 wheelers the rest of the time. Neither girl could sit back and do nothing during the Women's Pull. They both were in a lot of pain, but they helped get the handcarts to the top of the hill before they both collapsed in tears. They were both quite a sight to see. I was very proud of them both. From there, it was not much farther into camp.


We got to camp a lot earlier than the day before, so once we got set up, we actually had some time to mess around and relax. Our campsite was swarming with grasshoppers...they were everywhere! That entertained Bailey. She actually got 3 grasshoppers and brought them the rest of the way on the trek with us. She still has one of them now :).


That afternoon the Pony Express rode into camp. They had a letter for each youth from their parents. It was a nice surprise for the kids. Even all the adults got letters from the Stake President. That night, each individual family had their own campfires and testimony meeting. It was an all around AWESOME day.


My family taking a break.



All wet, waiting for everyone to make it to the rest spot. Katie, Christie, Emily, Breeana, Sammy, Sawyer, and Julian.

The whole group waiting for the Women's Pull to start.

Our line of trekkers.


Taylor was great at helping us cook dinner each night.



Sara, Marlee, and Bailey with the Pony Express horses.

Marlee and Bailey with their grasshopper friend.


We found out that Saturday was going to be shortened from 8 miles, to 3 miles.....whaahooo! This meant that we could stay in camp longer in the morning and play pioneer games. It was really fun. Then it was another day of hills, but the handcarts were supposed to stay together. The groups that had a lot of strong pullers, were sending people back to help other carts up the hills. This was the day they rationed our food. We got a roll and some beef jerky for lunch. We were hot and tired, so it really didn't bother us much. We got to a certain point and went into a group of trees. This is where we were given the rest of the history of the pioneer we were walking for. We found out if they lived or died when they crossed the plains. 3 members of our family died. They had to go ahead and walk into camp ahead of the handcarts. The surviving members of our family had to push the handcarts the rest of the way into camp. Mark, Beth Ann, and Morgan died from our group. It was so sad to see them walk away from us, and to not be able to finish the trek together.


Mark in the gunnysack races.


Sawyer in the gunnysack race.

This is how Mark and Sawyer ended up in the 3 legged race.

Sawyer beating Bailey in the stick pull.


Mark beating Sawyer in the stick pull.




Each family got a spirit stick. We named ours Larry.




The survivors of our family.




Morgan, Beth Ann, and our very own Pa, did not survive the journey.


We ended the trek by reloading our handcarts when we got back to Idaho Falls, and trekking through the neighborhood, and into the church for the annual Stake pioneer celebration. It was such a great experience. I'm so glad my real family, and my trek family got to be a part of it.


Monday, July 27, 2009

Poor Oreo!

Oreo is such a good sport!


Who needs a baby doll when you have a puppy who is so willing!

This is 'Cheerleader Oreo'!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Girl's Camp/Super Activity!

I love my church calling in Young Women's. I get to work with so many AMAZING girls. I LOVE them all, and consider so many of them like my own daughters. I spent 4 days at Girl's Camp with them, and had a GREAT time. It was really more like a retreat because we were in a cabin in Island Park. We had 2 amazing camp leaders this year, Marcee Holm and Jenni Hughes. They put so much work into it, and it paid off, because everything was perfect.


Our camp theme was Candy Land. Needles to say, we ate lots of treats!


We went to The Play Mill in West Yellowstone and watched Guys and Dolls. It was so funny! My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.


Colette let us use her cabin and dock for a super fun afternoon on the lake. They had a tube, a canoe, a kayak, and a 5 person paddle boat. The girl's had a blast.



Super Activity

We ended camp on a Saturday morning, but then met the boys at the Brunt's cabin for our Youth Super Activity. We went down the river in canoes. It was so much fun!



Brandy, Mason, Sawyer, and Mark


Ethan, Mason, Sawyer

Some of the group

Mark and Sawyer


Morgan, Maddie, Payton


Maddie, Sarah, Emily, Heather


Terri, Sami, Kassidy, Julie


Brett, Laura, Randy


Katie, Brandy, Mark, Chloe, Ali

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Braces!

Bailey has finally started her long process with the orthodontist. She has to have the top 4 braces on for awhile, then on to a retainer. After that she may or may not have to have the full set of braces on. It will basically be the same process Sawyer went through (and is still going through) for his mouth. They will both be so grateful that they got this done while they were young. They will love their beautiful, straight smiles when they are done.

Before

After

Monday, July 6, 2009

God Bless America!

We LOVE the 4th of July! We always have so much fun, and this year was no exception! We kicked off our celebration on Thursday night with our annual neighborhood fireworks. Everyone in the neighborhood brings a treat to share, and whatever fireworks they want to light off. The culdesac is filled with fireworks, all going off at the same time, kids running everywhere, and parents chatting. It is complete chaos, but so much fun!



We started a new tradition this year. We have been running all summer, so we signed up for the Firecracker Fun Run 5K. It was great. Sawyer had the best showing of the family. He beat us all, and he was on the news! We left before the awards because we wanted to make it to the parade on time, but we later found out that Bailey won her division. She was so excited! We can't wait to do it again next year!


My cute little runners!

We love the small town parade in Idaho Falls! It's so fun to see people that we know in it. Sawyer is too 'mature' now to run for the candy they throw, but Mark and Bailey still love it :)!


The cousins were here this year for the 4th! They don't get to see each other very often, so when they do, they have the best time. Sawyer, Noah, Bailey, Sydnie, Cali, Bella.

Sawyer, Grammy, and Bailey.

We always have a BBQ before we go down to the fireworks. There is nothing quite like a big hamburger on a sunny afternoon on the 4th of July.

Sawyer, Noah, Cali.

Bailey, Bella, Sydnie.

Then it's off to the river to watch the weird people and the fireworks! Melaluca always puts on a great show. We love how the whole town shows up for the fireworks. Every space of grass is taken up by chairs and blankets. So much fun!




Kim and Shawn

Grammy and Papa

Sawyer, Noah, Bella, Sydnie, Bailey, Cali.