Here is Pa and Ma before the trek: clean, nervous, anxious, clean, excited...did I mention clean? All we need is a pitchfork to make the picture truly complete. :)
Pa and I went from only one child to having 9 more! The Omaha Stake combined this trek with the Topeka Kansas Stake and we met our family early that morning. Such a great bunch of kids: We have Christy (holding Mary Jane), Emma, Rebekah, Jared, Robbyn, Me and Scott, Erin, Gerard, Josh, and Brady. We are about to start the trek, with no idea what's ahead of us....
Men's March/Women's Pull:
We gathered around at a rest stop with our handcart wheels caked with mud. In the distance you may be able to see a cannon that was fired. They talked about how they men were called off to join the Mormon batallion and many women were left behind to pull the handcarts on their own. The men walked their own trail and had a devotional (sorry, no pictures as Ma had the camera). They talked about being Guardian's of virtue and were given a small flashlight with that inscription on it. The women walked a different path, one with many hills. They first had a devotional about how the Latin root word of virtue means strength and how today we have to have a different kind of strength than the pioneer women had. We also read Proverbs 31:10, where it says, "Who can find a a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies." They were also given a ruby pin to wear. We had very tough girls in our group and they conquered those hills without complaining! Great job!
(the girls during the pull)We were grateful when the boys joined with us again. Shortly after, we arrived in camp and the rain finally ceased enough for us to enjoy cooking stew dinner and peach cobbler and sleeping semi-peacefully under tarps.
However, the Ma and Pa were still kickin'!
Thanks kids for a wonderful experience on this trek! We had a very memorable time and will never forget what we learned from you and the pioneers! We appreciate your positive attitudes and willingness to work. We hope we will be able to keep in touch!
DAY 2
We encounterd mud, mud, and more mud. Goopy, slushy, wet, mud. I would guess at least 3/4 of our journey on this day was on this muddy trail. This made it very difficult to pull the handcart. While it would have been much easier had the roads been dry, traveling through this mud, helped us gain a stronger testimony of the strength the pioneers had as they traveled in conditions much worse than this and for a much longer period of time.
Our poor banner had seen better days.
We traveled most of the trail along the Platte River.
Dresses and pants were soaked up to the knee and there was no hope in coming out with socks that stayed white and shoes that would be re-usable.
We encounterd mud, mud, and more mud. Goopy, slushy, wet, mud. I would guess at least 3/4 of our journey on this day was on this muddy trail. This made it very difficult to pull the handcart. While it would have been much easier had the roads been dry, traveling through this mud, helped us gain a stronger testimony of the strength the pioneers had as they traveled in conditions much worse than this and for a much longer period of time.
Our poor banner had seen better days.
We traveled most of the trail along the Platte River.
Dresses and pants were soaked up to the knee and there was no hope in coming out with socks that stayed white and shoes that would be re-usable.
RIVER CROSSING
Ma holding Mary Jane before the River Crossing
Starting the steep slope down the embankment...took a lot of teamwork.
It was to be a silent river crossing with the exception of a man playing the bagpipes of different hymns on the other side of the river. It sounded so beautiful and brought a wonderful spirit.
The Sweetwater river that the pioneers crossed wasn't much bigger than the river we crossed, only it was much deeper and much, much colder.
We had originally brought water shoes to change into, but didn't need them because our shoes, socks and clothes were already soaked, so we charged ahead. 
A bucket in the back of our cart fell off going up this steep, muddy climb and hit, one of our kids, Brady. We were glad he was tough and was ok!
Jared (in the blue poncho) had many blisters on his feet and trooped on for a long time. He really wanted to make it to the river crossing before being helped back to camp. He stuck it out and did! We're proud of you Jared!
More rain and mud
Our final camp site was to be in the park of a city called Genoa. This city is not very big and as we trekked through town, many people were out watching... and staring. We even walked past this sign and couldn't resist a picture. We felt pretty important:) We also walked by a house with a cute old man standing outside holding a small wooden handcart in his hands. We waved and asked if he had made that, to which he proudly nodded. It was a fun moment. The city of Genoa has a lot of Mormon Pioneer history and was part of the trail. Our stake gave the museum one of our handcarts as a thanks for hosting us. 
In evening, the rain finally stopped and the kids and us were able to get semi-clean. We had a really yummy chicken noodle dinner. The kids had a hoedown and line dancing and also made fudge. It was great to finally see the sun.
Crazy family!
The bus ride home was full of our sleeping kids...Rebekah and Robbyn..out cold!
Same with Erin and Christy...
And Jared...
Starting the steep slope down the embankment...took a lot of teamwork. It was to be a silent river crossing with the exception of a man playing the bagpipes of different hymns on the other side of the river. It sounded so beautiful and brought a wonderful spirit.
The Sweetwater river that the pioneers crossed wasn't much bigger than the river we crossed, only it was much deeper and much, much colder.We had originally brought water shoes to change into, but didn't need them because our shoes, socks and clothes were already soaked, so we charged ahead. A bucket in the back of our cart fell off going up this steep, muddy climb and hit, one of our kids, Brady. We were glad he was tough and was ok!
Jared (in the blue poncho) had many blisters on his feet and trooped on for a long time. He really wanted to make it to the river crossing before being helped back to camp. He stuck it out and did! We're proud of you Jared!
More rain and mud
Our final camp site was to be in the park of a city called Genoa. This city is not very big and as we trekked through town, many people were out watching... and staring. We even walked past this sign and couldn't resist a picture. We felt pretty important:) We also walked by a house with a cute old man standing outside holding a small wooden handcart in his hands. We waved and asked if he had made that, to which he proudly nodded. It was a fun moment. The city of Genoa has a lot of Mormon Pioneer history and was part of the trail. Our stake gave the museum one of our handcarts as a thanks for hosting us. In evening, the rain finally stopped and the kids and us were able to get semi-clean. We had a really yummy chicken noodle dinner. The kids had a hoedown and line dancing and also made fudge. It was great to finally see the sun. DAY 3
The weather was perfect and we got to enjoy a solo time, testimony meeting, and the closing presentations before packing lunches and heading home.
Our last group picture...minus Josh who had to leave Friday night (we missed you)!
Crazy family!The bus ride home was full of our sleeping kids...Rebekah and Robbyn..out cold!
Same with Erin and Christy... And Jared...
