TREK ON!!!

Back in November I believe it was we got our first calling in the ward. . . Trek pa and ma. Well it felt like forever away but it eventually came upon us. We were excited and nervous at the same time. It didn't help at all that Ty woke up the morning of trek with a sore throat and then sinus infection, the poor lamb. Anywho here we are the morning of trek, exciting right?:) I may or may not have cried that morning just from sheer nerves, I blame the hormones.

 There were two other couples called from our ward to serve as Pa's and Ma's, The Larsens and the Binghams. Sadly I realized I never got a picture of the Binghams:( Both of these couples are just amazing and I have learned so much from them and had lots of fun. Here are our good friends the Larsens. It was so much fun getting to know them. Sadly they were only in New Mexico for a very short 9 months. They left the Tuesday following trek for Florida, he's with the air force and move lots.

 Here's our loverly family. From left to right back: Annaleise, Josh, Pa, Ma, Phil, Ben, Caleb. Front: Natalie, Sammy. Man these kids truly are amazing! It was fun getting to know them.

 Our first picture heading out on the trail

 Yep we did this lots:) We became friends with the dirt. The first day we did 7-9 miles, never really knew for sure. The next day was 13 miles. Then 3 miles and the last day 3 miles.

 This is what most of us did on the end of the first day, totally crashed.

 The girls trying to clean up

 Our first area was very beautiful up in the mountains. The stairs were AMAZING!!!!

 The video helicopter they brought to record us. Only worked on the first day because it wasn't too windy. Pretty neat.

 Our ward sitting together for the first night devotional and then dance. Ty was a trooper and danced a couple with me and then we hit the sack.

 The next day waiting for our turn after lunch break. We pulled up some pretty big hills and then went down some. as you can tell we were out of the mountains and back to the desert. We were the very last family to go and they wanted us spread out by 5-10 minutes per family. We ended up waiting more than an hour in the REAL HOT sun.

 The reason why they wanted us spread out so much was to shoot for our dinner meat. All our family got to shoot a bow and arrow at the deer. 5 out of our 9 member nailed the deer including Ty and I. We got meat that night:)

 Here we are waiting for our turn to shoot.

 Our camp spot for the night

 The pretty sunset. That night coyote's were calling for a while. I thought at first it was camp counselors, then realized where I was. Looked to make sure they weren't near us then went back to sleep. As a side night sleep did not come easy. There were no tents or covering, just out in the open. We would wake up numerous times a night and then it would start to get light around 4:30 and the sun was up by 5:45. No Sleep!

 The Men getting their call for the Mormon Battalion. They left us around 11:00 that morning and we didn't see them again until 11:00 the next morning. Man they were gone a long time. I was actually dreading the part of the whole trip. But our womens camp turned out to be really fun. It was a nice chill day. Much needed.

 They got a neat pin and later gave it to us girls to show their commitment to the priesthood and to us. 

 Us getting ready for the womens pull. 1/4 mile uphill. My thighs, buns, and lungs were burning!

 Our ward's girls chilling after eating lunch

 I was absolutely filthy!!! I think it was from the sunscreen spray. The dirt literally would not come off.

 Feet and laundry station. 

 Candle making and taffy pulling

 Getting ready for the storm to come through. Sister Bingham is at the far right.

 Us getting our men back, YAHOO!

 Sweet Water crossing dry stream and all:)

 That night we camped at the worst spot, no where to sleep. The poor girls in our family were right next to the largest cactus. But the kiddos had fun with the last night and big dance. The girls made me laugh. They saved their best outfit for the last night and wore only one the entire time. One girl even brought febreeze to smell good that night:)

Our last three miles into "zion".

 Our stake gathered together to welcome us into Zion. I was very surprised at how many turned out. It really helped us walk into camp.

 In our truck with air conditioner driving the 2.5 hour drive home. I told Ty to show me how he felt that trek was now done. Classic:) We both enjoyed it and both agree that we will let others do this before we do:)