trek final

christian's trek family on the first day.

and on the last.

during the youth testimonies during sacrament meeting today, josh said they had the best and most fun trek family, and christian agreed. he said during the women's pull, the most trying, testimony building, and best part of the trek for the majority of people, that the girls in their group were so strong and quiet. during the women's pull the boys aren't able to help at all, the are only able to fan the girls, bring them water, and help stabilize the wheels. the boys always cry and always want to help, and the girls struggle and push through. chris said the girls in his family were so strong and capable, that it wasn't that bad for the boys. i believe the girls were strong, not so sure i believe that he didn't cry. they always cry. or so i hear.

christian got to bear his testimony in sacrament meeting today too. it was... interesting. he provided the comic relief, i guess. oh my. let's just say that (over the pulpit, mind you) he talked about farts and poop and then brought it all together with the way that the difficulties of the first day brought them all closer together. after the tough women's pull and all the walking, they were no longer individuals, but a real family. so for mama it was an embarrassing beginning and a nice ending, silver lining, right? of course, he could have given a sweet testimony like jt, wherein he cried and thanked his mom for making him go, even though he was mean to her about it, but i just have to know that he feels that way in his heart. he told me that he just had to make sure he didn't cry during his testimony. maybe someday. :)

trek goodies.

evening devotional.

and some more yume, virginia loveliness.

disassembling the handcart. love his trek pa's conical hat. pioneers were not just from 'merica.

as the youth enjoyed refreshments and hurricaning one another, christian - with bishop martines' permission - hurricaned him. since that is not the kind of thing that happens everyday, we had to document. :)

all in love, y'all, all in love. :)

it was a really good experience. our bodies and our spirits are so connected... being challenged physically can really bring us so much closer to heaven, to those unseen angels, and to the spirit of truth. i don't have the right words, but it's pretty amazing. i'm grateful that both of my biggin's have had the opportunity to participate in a pioneer trek. i'm thankful for all the leaders and people that worked so hard to make this happen. and i'm grateful that we made him go. all's well that ends well. :)

ps: for more unofficial info on trek, this is a nice blog post. 

our trek is not exactly the same, but pretty close.