The Trek~June 16-18th, 2011

Aaron and I had the opportunity to chaperone on the Trek for youth conference in our stake this year.  I will be honest.  When they first asked us, I wasn't so sure it was for me.  Leaving all 4 of my kids for 3 days to hike through windy WY with no electricity or running water did not sound like a great idea.  I was sure if youth conference was a cruise to anywhere, I would have said yes right away.

Our Trek Family: Tarryn, Charlene, Harley, Jimena, Ben, Us, Tynan, Yung-juan & Jong

However, we knew it was something we should do, and might not get to experience again.  Aaron called his parents and niece Stacy, and they said they would drive up to watch the kids for us.  On the way up to Martins Cove, our estimated 7 hour bus ride turned into a 10 hour trip because our bus broke down near Rock Springs, WY and we had to get a new one.  We are lucky we weren't hurt because the brakes went out and we had to coast to the side of the road.  We were blessed for sure.  When we were in the orientation at the camp it was the only time we would be in shelter during the 3 days.  As we were in there, a huge storm came and there was plenty of rain, hail, thunder, and lightening.  As the storm was going on, I was grateful for the bus breaking down because if it hadn't we would have been trekking to our campground through the awful storm.  As soon as the orientation ended, the skies were clear.  A tender mercy.

 I have some of my thoughts written in my Trek journal, but I had such a great time.  There were more times over the three days that I felt the spirit than I ever have in my life.  We were lucky to have Tarryn and Charlene from our ward, but loved getting to know the other kids in our stake also.  We have great youth who are strong and independent full of faith.  They were examples to me and we had more fun together than I thought we would.

 On the first night there was a horrible windstorm and it broke all of the poles to the 8 man tent that the girls were sleeping in so Aaron slept in that collapsed tent the first night and all of the girls slept in the 4 man with me for an impromtu slumber party.  Honestly, the wind was scary and I had moments when I wondered what in the heck we were doing sleeping in the middle of WY so far away from my babies.  I missed them.  Mason had a migraine the first night we were there and had to be taken to the ER for an IV and some strong medicine.  I didn't find out until the way home and was glad because I would have been so worried the whole time.

 The picture above is the bridge that we crossed right before we crossed the river.  Another great part of the trek.  One thing I enjoyed was the food.  No joke, they fed us like it was our last meal every meal.  So many great meals and the best part was just standing in line and eating hot food instead of serving everyone else the whole time.  Oh the joys of motherhood.  A couple other highlights were the game Encore, the bus ride home, and the kids in our family laughing at my jokes the whole time.  I am sure by the end of it, they were tired of the corny humor.  My cheeks hurt from laughing so much.

 The kids had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa Banks and Stacy while we were gone.  The day after we got home was fathers day, so it was nice for Aaron to have his dad here.  The kids went swimming with Dara one of the days we were gone, but lied to Reina and told them they were going to "school" because they knew she would freak out.