Ward Family Trek

Yes, that's correct: Ward Family Trek.  About a year ago Jeff Dunford, who was our bishop at the time, had come up with this idea for the Kaysville 2nd Ward after going on a Stake Youth Trek.  Everybody loved the idea of our whole ward going on Trek but the difference was that we would be taking our own families, babies and all. This was a different experience for sure with ages ranging from 4 months old to 76!  We had a total of 187 people that came.  This felt like a true pioneer experience which we will never forget.  It took place August 3rd-6th. We actually didn't even know if we would be going for sure since we knew that Grandma Cottrell was drifting away a little more each day and we may have needed to go to California for her funeral instead.  We were happy to have had the chance to experience this with the entire family (almost-Clayton was still working at Aspen Ridge scout camp) which I felt brought us closer together and helped us all appreciate what the pioneers sacrificed on our behalf.  The photo above is our "family" which consisted of the Peels, Porters, Osbergs and the Walls.  We came up with a "chant" that was kinda funny, along the lines of boom chicka boom: "P.P.O.W."

 The first day of trekking we had to cross this mud stream-pretty sure everyone got muddy that day.  That's Eli in the foreground on the right and I'm on the front of the handcart on the left.

 Our trek was located at Deseret Land and Livestock just outside of Evanston, Wyoming.  The dust was at a minimum since there was a huge rain storm the night before we arrived.  The overall weather was perfect: 70s in the daytime and 50s at night-we were truly blessed.

 

 The air seemed so clean and the skies were so bright and clear. 

Here we are taking a much anticipated lunch break.  I think I may have even caught a power nap here.  One thing everyone worried about is how to entertain all of these kids for 4 days.  I was amazed to see that they didn't even complain of boredom or even walking so much.  The second day Kate walked for just under 10 miles!  She was tired of course, as were the rest of us but she didn't complain about it at all.  It was satisfying to do something like this that was hard and know that you CAN do it!  There was another day where the women and girls were given the option of doing the "women's pull" or not.  This is where there was a LONG steep hill where the women and girls had to push the handcarts to the top.  It was close to a mile long and it was hard!  Hard to watch all of these women suffer and hard for all of the men and boys to let them do it alone.  This activity is done to simulate the men and boys being called to the Mormon Batallion back in the day.  It was cool to see some of the women who made it to the top (Heather and some others), run back to help those who were struggling-truly unforgettable.  It was a testimony builder for all who were present that day. 

I brought my cell phone with me so that I could get a call, if necessary, from Mom if there was any news about Grandma.  On the 2nd day when we took a break for lunch, I checked my phone and noticed that Mom had called.  I called her back and through her tears she told me that Grandma had passed away peacefully that morming.  It was indeed very sad but we had a good conversation about how happy she must be now that she's reunited with Grandpa and free from pain. There was a special spirit about trek for our family because of Grandma's passing.  We couldn't help but think of what a woderful person she was and how worthy she was to be in Heavenly Father's presence again and back with Grandpa.

 I'm so glad that our ward was able to have this experience-I will always remember it.  Rumor has it that we will do it again in about 5 years...I'm looking forward to it.