MaeLyn's Musings

 Earlier this summer (June 23-25) Peter got to accompany our stake on Trek, a brief reenactment of the pioneers crossing the plains to the Salt Lake valley. Yesterday the pictures that were taken on Trek were made available. (The youth weren't supposed to bring cameras or phones, so these pictures were taken by professional photographers.) These are the pictures I could find that included Peter: Ok, this one doesn't actually show Peter, but it does show the beautiful landscape in Wyoming where he was... He  is  actually in this one although he's a bit hard to find. This was taken during the "women's pull", when they have just the women pull the handcarts up a long slope as the men stand by and watch.  Independence Rock hanging out in camp with his Trek family river crossing ditto, but in this one you can actually see his face Square dancing. (He's in there somewhere.) Pulling the handcart along the trail A little closer... (You can't see his face, but ...

I got up at 4:30 this morning to take Steven and Hannah to the church. Right now, they are probably on a bus headed for Wyoming where Hannah will be assigned to a temporary family and will get to push and pull a handcart, walking in the footsteps of the Mormon pioneers for the next four days. Steven has gone along to help with the cooking and such. In a way, it's kind of a relief to have them gone. The last week has been a frenzy, trying to prepare for the Trek - not so much getting their personal equipment together, but working on other things. Steven has been on the committee to plan Trek. His subcommittee was in charge of the "experience", and a few months ago Steven bought bandannas (each family group will wear a different colored bandanna) and journals and pens for each participant. Another committee member has been working on making sacks of flour, each holding 4 oz. of flour (which was what the rations of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies were reduced to...

Steven and I were invited to be the Ma and Pa for our stake's Pioneer Trek this year. I'm sure everyone is dying to hear about how it went, so here is the description once and for all, and probably much more information than you really cared to find out about. My sister April was able to come and watch the kids for us while we were gone. Her husband just left for a year's tour of duty in Afghanistan, and I'm hoping that the kids kept her busy enough to not miss him quite as terribly. She brought her four cats with her (two adult and two tiny kittens) and they provided a lot of entertainment, I'm sure. I doubt the kids missed us very much. April told us that the kids told her that she was much nicer than I am. I actually make them do their chores and go to bed on time, and I'm not big on bribes. It sounded like they all had fun while we were gone, and strangely, the boys all seemed older to us when we returned. Steven and I got up at 4:30am on Wednesday morning, ...