Filer Stake Trek

One of the activities that I refused to "give-up" when we moved to Twin Falls was our participation in the Filer Stake Handcart Trek.  We had been asked to be a Ma and Pa on the trek in June, and even though we officially left the Stake in May we promised that we would come back for the trek.  While Ryon thought I was crazy, because we had so much going on with the move, I refused to back out.  I knew that we might not have the opportunity to do this again for a very long time, so I was determined to go. 

Every Wednesday, for two months leading up to the trek, we met at the stake center to meet with our families.  We got to know each other, made a family flag, made seats for the tops of our five gallon buckets, learned dances, etc.  There were nine children in our family - five boys and four girls, plus our "baby" (doll) that we carried with us throughout the journey.  We had such a wonderful time working with our kids, and while a couple of them made us nervous about how they would act on the trek, we were amazed at how well they all did.

The trek was three days, Thursday through Saturday.  The first day we walked 6 miles with our handcart, day two was 9 miles and day three was 4 miles.  We were out in the south hills outside of Twin Falls and it was dry, dusty and the sagebrush was plentiful to say the least!  It was a chore to push and pull a handcart through the terrain, but our kids were amazing.  They never complained and were always willing to help push or pull.  We had some amazing experiences including the women's pull, the burial of two babies in our company (I had a hard time with that), testimony meeting, and the dancing and devotionals every night. 

When we arrived back at the stake center Saturday afternoon, I don't think I had ever been so dirty in my entire life!  All of the kids were exhausted, but they were so happy that they had chosen to go on the trek.  If I were asked to do it again, I would say "yes" in a heartbeat.  (The people in charge of the trek told us not to bring our nice cameras, so I took a disposable.  Looking back, I kind of wish I would have had a nicer camera to document the trek, but these will have to do!)  Here are a few pictures from our adventure: