Pioneer children sang as they walked, and walked, annnnddddd walllkkked!

My girls have left on a little adventure! This week they get to go on a pioneer trek. For those who aren't familiar with this, it is like a reenactment of what the pioneers went through so one can gain appreciation for their cause. So the youth in our church will be pulling handcarts and learning about the spiritual and physical journey the pioneers went through.

I went on one as a youth and we had to kill a live turkey! I have so many memories of that trek. I remember being dead on the side of the road laying in the wonderful dew of the grass and someone from the trek got me up and continued me on my way. Otherwise I would have truly been left behind. I remember being delirious and thinking I saw cement and I was so happy I went to stomp on it as I yelled, "CIVILIZATION" only to stomp in a huge puddle. I remember when only the girls could pull the carts to show us what it was like when our husbands died. The boys in our "families" just helplessly walked beside us. They weren't allowed to touch the carts at all. Some of those boys grabbed the girls hands and helped the girls pull the carts that way. I remember when we finally made it one night to our sleeping point we were all just dead on our sleeping bags. One of the older boys brought us all broth and got us taken care of. It makes me wonder about all the tender mercies that happened during the real trek, all the sweet and spiritual things those people witnessed and were part of that probably made their suffering worth it. I never knew the logistics but I think our trek got lost and the people in charge messed up and we TRULY had a trek. Looking back it was a blessing to go through such a physical experience and get a little glimmer of what the pioneers went through.

Here is Justine in her pioneer skirts. She wanted one per day. Thanks to a WONDERFUL grandma who eased our burden and sewed them for us. The highlight for Justine is the apron. She REALLY wanted an apron. We have created a Dr. Quinn lover on our hands. We have been collecting the episodes and when anyone hears the theme song we all call come running to watch. Justine kept telling me over and over about the apron she wanted with big pockets like Dr. Quinn. She told me so many facts about Dr. Quinn I finally said, "Honey, Dr. Quinn is not a true story...." Anyway, when Justine was trying on her clothes she was so happy in an embarrassed way and she LOVED the apron. She said she was just like Dr. Quinn. and I agreed. Then her little brother came up and saw her cute clothes and said..."Are you Dr. Quinn?" and her smile was huge as she said, "See?" and she was so happy that she looked like Dr. Quinn.

This trek is going to be concentrating more on the spiritual side of their journey. The girls have been give a list of things to do since Feb. Things such as memorize scriptures, visit a monument, go to the temple, and read a large amount of pioneer stories. With much forcing.... I mean lots of encouragement.....my girls got through all the things on the list. And it was a lot! They will forever have memories of the three of us singing in my room. They were suppose to sing some pioneer hymns. They were so mortified to be just us singing that I was basically doing a solo which was almost life threatening. Good times.

The "Ma's" . Women from my ward. Love them so much!

Ready to go!

Justine (in yellow) was up until 12:30 in the morning crying with anxiety about going. Kassidy (in pink) refused to wear the pioneer clothes but was excited for the trip.

And one cute kid off to a scout camp out. Kate refers to him as "boy"!