Pioneer Trek '09

Well, we survived the Trek and now Dean's already headed off on his technology conference and I'm frantically packing for our trip to UTAH tomorrow!! I'm sure we'll have a million stories and pictures coming up over the next few weeks but first here's a quick recap of the pioneer trek (this is kind of long and more for my benefit than anything else)...

Our little family getting the cart all ready to go

Packed up and ready to head out

Jenna, Devin, and Sean

Pre-Trek pic - still clean and smelling good

Me and McCall

Dean and I trekin' away

We left at 4:30 am on Thursday and drove down to Virginia to the Marriot Ranch where they held the whole thing. One of the Young Women in our ward road with us and we ended up getting there early. Guess we should have snagged a little more sleep! Oh well! We unloaded the car and waited for everyone else to arrive. Once all the youth were there we did a skit with all the "Ma's and Pa's" to introduce ourselves and then they broke us up into families. We ended up with a family of five boys and six girls. Only one of them was from our ward so we didn't really know any of them before hand. We put together our handcart and packed it up and headed out on the trail. Our kids did really good at communicating and working together to pull the cart. The kids only got an orange to eat and of course a TON of water. They also had The first day we pulled until after dark. It ended up down pouring and soaking us all to the bone. So when we finally pulled into camp we had to deal with all the wet clothes and setting up camp in the dark. But the rain ended up really being a blessing because it helped everyone to lose all inhibitions and really bond as a family. We had a roll and some beef broth for dinner and got settled and went to bed.

Friday morning we had oatmeal for breakfast. We had scripture study as a family and talked a little about the experiences we had the day before. We packed up camp and headed out on the trail again. We pulled for several hours before reaching camp. We were able to settle in and have lunch before they participated in several activities. They had a hair wash in the stream, they played pioneer stick ball (baseball with a stick and cloth and twine ball), threw tomahawks and tried two man saws, and shot black powder riffles. We had delicious homemade dutch oven bread with homemade butter and beef stew for dinner. Everyone was so excited for some real food. Friday night we had a hoe down and they all learned the Virginia Reel. Then we were able to have Family Home Evening as a family that our Big Brother and Big Sister had prepared. And they we stayed up after dark playing games as a family. They all had a lot of fun and it was great to get to know each other even better.

Saturday morning we had cracked wheat for breakfast which Dean LOVED and all the kids thought he was crazy cause they all choked it down. They had a blindfold activity and then we sent them off on solo time. They all got letters from their parents and had some time to ponder, pray and read their scriptures and really try to think about what they had been through the past couple days. Then we got together with everyone for a testimony meeting which turned out so well. We packed up camp and had a little more time as a family before heading off on the final pull. We had a couple special needs youth who couldn't participate on most of the trek but they were able to come on the final pull. It was really neat for some youth to help and for everyone to see them push one of the young men in a wheel chair up and down the hills. We came up over a hill and they could see their parents off in the distance waiting for them. We sang as we pulled in and it really was an incredible experience. We broke down the carts and loaded up our cars and headed home.

We really had a great time. Despite little sleep, tons of sweat, blisters, and little food, we all learned a ton and grew a lot. Dean and I are so grateful for the opportunity we had to go and for Dean's parent's willingness to take Tanner while we were gone. Hopefully the youth remember this for years to come and that it's something that will help them keep perspective and strengthen their testimonies.

We'll sing as we walk, and walk, and walk, and walk...

Starting tomorrow we're going to be doing a whole bunch of this....
Dean and I were asked to be a "Ma and Pa" for our Stake's Pioneer Trek. We've been preparing for this for months and it's finally here. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and it's a great experience for everyone going. Wish us luck! I'm sure there will be pictures and stories to follow.

He did it again...

Well, for those of you who actually follow my blog on a regular basis may be able to guess what my title is referring too. About a month ago Dean was in the ER for getting some chemical stripper in his eye. This Tuesday I got a call from him (he was over in his parents barn and they were out of town) that went a little something like this:

DEAN: "Um I think I need you to take me to the Emergency Room!"

ANDREA(Me): "You're joking me, what did you do this time??"

DEAN: (with a little more ergency and a bit of anger in his voice) "I NEED TO GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM RIGHT NOW!"

ANDREA: "OK! I'll be right there!"

So I proceeded to FREAK OUT and run around the house like a CRAZY person imagining the worst. I had no idea what he did and thought for sure my husband was now down to one arm or something. I ran Tanner over to Grandma and PapPap's and freaked them out too I'm sure. I ran to pick Dean up and he was holding his hand. I quickly learned that he had sliced his thumb on his Dad's wood planer and he wasn't sure if he had nicked the bone or not. We rushed to the hospital and after a LOT of pain and a LONG wait he got seven stitches and he's lucky that he should be just fine in a few weeks. Now I joked last time that I was married to Tim Taylor, but this time I don't think it's a joke anymore, I really am! I think that pretty soon they'll be putting a special entrance in at the hospital just for him. I asked him to promise me that it would be at least another year until the next accident but he said he can't make any promises. Ha! I also tried to explain to him that Do-It-Yourself projects are supposed to SAVE us money but that if you pay a $50 co-pay at the hospital each time the project quickly costs us a LOT more. Here's hoping it will be at least another month until we're in the ER again!

p.s. We took some pictures but they were a bit too graphic to post. But I can attest that it was a pretty nasty cut.

Well, I'm sure you all missed me last week! Ha! Girls Camp was really fun and I'm glad I got to go. It was a LONG, TIRING, CRAZY week, but it was great too! (I took a disposable camera so I don't have pics...yet) Dean and Tanner not only survived, but THRIVED while I was gone. They even had a surprise visit from my cousin Devin and his fiance Brittany! AND Dean even cleaned the house and fed them a delicious dinner and breakfast. Isn't he the BEST!? Anyway, it is SO good to be back. Now we just have a hectic week to get ready for Trek and then Dean's conference for school and our trip to UTAH! Man it's been a busy summer!!

Here's some quick catch-up. Jared and Genevieve and their family came up for the 4th of July and we had SO much fun with them. Tanner LOVED having his cousins around and after they left he wandered all over Grandma and Grandpa's house looking for them. He was pretty sad to see them go. We spent a bunch of time at Dean's parents house. They have a newly painted/recently re-done swing set-and SLIDE, a pool, and a beautiful yard, so there was no real need to go anywhere else! We played games and hung out. We got to go to a great fireworks show Friday (3rd) night, a ward BBQ Saturday (4th), and then had our own BBQ and did sparklers on Saturday as well. We're so glad Jared and Genevieve could come and make our 4th so special!

see ya later

Well I'm off to Girls Camp today. I'd be lying if I said I was just totally excited. I expect it will be fun but I'm definitely nervous about leaving my boys for a whole week! I'm sure they'll survive, but I don't know if I'll survive without them. I always loved Girls Camp growing up, but I'm sure it will be different as a leader. Wish me luck and here's hoping that Dean and I both get ANY sleep this week. I'll be back Saturday....

It's official...we have a BIG BOY!

Well, Tanner's bed got here today. After a little bit of this...
it was all set up and ready to go. Tanner clearly thinks his bed is super fun, but getting him to lay still long enough to go to sleep will be the trick. This is the first few minutes after I put him to bed in his new big boy bed...Ha! It could be a LONG night. Wish us luck...He's actually asleep now so here's hoping he stays that way!