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!
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.
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.
