So as you can probably assume, we came home from trek as survivors. I am not going to lie, those were some of the most strenuous days of my life. I had a great family of kids. I had 3 boys and 4 girls, one of our boys was not able to make it.
My boys were absolutely wonderful. Steven (either 17 or 18), who is mildly autistic, they put with me and Cody because they figured because I had cared for special needs children throughout my life, that I would do best with him. One of the sweetest, most thoughtful kids there is. He also had his sister Wanda in our family to help out if we needed it. Jared, whom I think we bonded the most with. He is a 17 year old skater boy with fashion sense. He seriously is the funniest kid alive and a self-proclaimed metro. I seriously love him as if he were family. And then we had Brian, who was the youngest boy of the bunch at 14. Brian is a very free spirit who beats to him own drum. Very talented musically. He wrote lyrics of a new hymn for us while we were there. Crazy amounts of diversity and talent with all of the kids we had.
The girls were fun, but not what you would call athletes. So when it came to the pushing and pulling, they were a little less than enthused. They did help me out, just not as much as I knew they were capable of. The oldest was Wanda, Steven's sister. She is a great girl, and she is very agreeable and sweet, most of the time. That girl has some bite to her though, no doubt about that. She can stand her own, but mostly just a loving girl. Reannan who is either 15 or 16 was the artist. She can draw anything. She is willing to do anything she is asked, whether she does it well, or not. Kimberly who is 14, is the comedic relief, and the realist. She reminded us a lot of Cody's cousin Chantel. She has a quick wit about her, man she had me and Cody in stitches a lot of the time. Sarcastic as all get-out and just an all-around fun girl. Danielle is Kimberly's cousin and she is 14 as well. She actually turned 14 the day before we left. She is young, and she is cute as heck, but she was our girly-girl. I don't do well with these types of personalities, but I tried with all I had not to lose it. She really is a great girl, but I had to go into "mom mode" with her a bit, with a few quick quips of my own. Needless to say, we had our hands full.
Our Trek consisted of 4 days. Wednesday we loaded our handcarts and started rolling as soon as we ate lunch. We went about 4 or 5 miles, since it was so late, and called it a day. The kids played in the streams and we all got acquainted. Thursday, which was supposed to be the toughest day out there, was a little different. We headed out as usual, it was a HOT one. The men were taken from us about 30 minutes in, and off to battle in the Mormon Battalion. So we women got to pull the carts up the steepest inclines we would see all week, with extremely rocky terrain. With my girls it was quite an experience. Needless to say I found strength I never knew I had as I pushed that handcart (and I am STILL sore). We met the men at the top of the steepest incline (more than a 45 degree angle) and Cody said it was really hard to watch and be able to do nothing. Off we went with the guys. My boys were so cute with me when I got up there. Jared declared that I was not to touch the cart until tomorrow because he had to watch what I went through. We brought our total for the day to about 8 miles.
Friday was little better. It decided to rain all day long. So the trails were very muddy and slippery. We had about a pound of mud each on the bottoms of our shoes. Wet, and soggy, we coninued on as the sun came out for lunch. We enjoyed the sun while it lasted. That day we trekked about 7 miles. That night was "Bishop's Night" and our Church Meeting. A couple of kids spoke, which was really nice, they were great. And it started to storm as we got ready to eat dinner. So there was Heaven knows how many people stuck under one large tarp. GREAT! :) Luckily it stopped after 30 minutes of thunder, lightning and heavy rain. We got to have our testimony meeting by the fire. 6 of 7 kids bore their testimonies, and we couldn't have been prouder of them. Jared was my biggest surprise. I knew he had no intention of getting spiritual over the course of this trip, and he was the first of our family to get up. Such an amazing kid.
We played some games of capture the flag. I am proud to say I participated and dominated a couple of those kids. I came out with some bruises and a swollen knee, but it was so worth it. One of the kids actually close-lined himself, I haven't heard Cody laugh that hard in a long time.
Friday was a day of mixed emotions. We were sad to leave our kids, but we were so glad to come home and shower! (and sleep in a soft bed).
We had a blast, but it was a hard trip. I don't know that we would ever do it again, but we enjoyed it.
Wagoners (our family name) For Life!
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