mom2four

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Scout Encampment- Tylers story

I went scout encampment in June. It was 5 days long. The first we set up camp, had dinner and had a meeting. During the meeting a helicopter carrying a speaker came in. It was so powerful that it knocked over tents. I also met my companion my first day (It was held kind of like a missionary experience. There was a junior companion and a senior companion). My companions name was Jacob Coy. He was 15 years old.

Day 2- I got up and had breakfast. Had a morning devotional. Then went canoeing. Then I came back and had lunch. I had an afternoon devotional after that. I drove a excavator. It was fun. It was bouncy too. Then I ate dinner. Then I had another devotional. Then we went back to camp and I played cards with the people in my ward. Then we went to bed at 10 because that is our curfew.

Day 3- Breakfast then morning devotional. Then I went geocaching. I found a water poncho, a thing full of candy, and some money. After geocaching I had lunch and afternoon devotional. Then I just hung out with my companion. Then dinner and a meeting.

Day 4- Same morning routine. I then went to wood carving. I carved a fishy fishy fish. Then the lunch time routine. I went to play Frisbee golf. Then I went to dinner and nighttime devotional. After dinner there was this meeting that we also did there were stands I was on the stands. I jumped off so I could land on the ground. My companion caught me instead.

Day 5- Morning routine. I made a knife. I had lunch. Then packed up and headed home. We didn't stay for the 6th day because it was just cleaning up.

Tyler with his backpack for camp. It was heavy

The campsite

There were over 800 boys there.

The helicopter coming in for a landing

Tyler and Nate outside their tent. Nate was excited to go with Ty to scout camp.

Tyler driving the excavator.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The Trek- Natalies version

Day 1- I when I first find out who is in my family I have no clue who my ma and pa are. But when I find them most of my family is already there. This girl in my ward, and this girl I knew from school was in my family so I was kinda happy about who was there. After I got everyone together we took our first family photo. And then our Ma and Pa said it was time to learn each others names. We would say a name and something to go with it to help remember the names. I was the only person that they couldn't think of something to go with my name. Then we get into our companies. I was in the Johnson Company. Then our company was the first one to leave BUT, our cart broke right before we got on the trail so we had to go back and get a new one. We were behind 2 other companies before we made it back to the trail. It was really muddy. I slipped and fell and got myself filthy. Some of the parts were kinda scary because our cart almost tipped several times. There were these random 3 foot drops and it was hard to get the cart down. Then we made it out to our first river crossing. Where I was planning to walk across BUT, as I get my flip flops on to walk across some random kid comes and picks me up and carries me across and I was really mad. And then we hiked on this really rocky, rocky terrain for a long time until we stopped and ate lunch. When we set our cart down it was soooo bottom heavy that it flung itself up. Then we continued on the rocky terrain until we came to our second river crossing. We were told it was our last one, BUT people lied because there were 3 more after that. We hiked more until we got to this one campsite. Me and my brothers and sisters worked so hard to get a beautiful fire pit ready when these mobbers came yelling "Get out of here Mormons. We don't want you here." My family thought it was kinda funny so we just stood there and smiled. They forced us to go so we picked up our cart and left. We were told that it was another half a mile to the next campsite where we would stop for the night, BUT people lied there was 3 miles. Thus was born "The Johnson Mile" because he told us only a half mile was left when there was really 3 miles. Finally we got to our campsite and there were a bunch of baby rose bushes everywhere. We set up our tents and built a pit. The boys had issues finding firewood so my sister and I went out looking where we found a huge abandoned pile of firewood. We came back as hero's. But everyone else was having a hard time finding firewood. We decided to do the heroic thing and bring back firewood for everyone. Boy was that a lot of wood too. Man I'm awesome! When we finally provided wood for EVERYONE our dinner was cooked and we enjoyed it very much. Then right after I put out the fire and crashed for the night.

Day 2- My sister had to pee in the early morning hours so I went with her to the potty. When along our way we ran into a moose that charged us. We ran around trees and tents and ran into our tent. We couldn't sleep the rest of the night so we got up an hour later and built a fire and sat around it in terror. I woke up the first time and my sister was laying on my mat while I was laying on a giant patch of rose bushes. At least she slept well. We cooked breakfast and packed up for another LONG day. After a little bit of hiking they took the Young Men away from us. They had to go to war. With guns and knives and Eskimos. Hey don't judge we live in Alaska. And 4 small I mean small like a buck five soaking wet, girls had to pull a very large hand cart. It weighed more then all of us put together. And we pulled it across a stream, and the largest rocks we had to cross ever. Before we started to go we were told to pretend that the Young Men were dead. And I thought to myself they better be dead cuz this is so heavy I am going to kill them for making me do all this work by myself. They better not come back ever! Anyway I digress... My sisters and I pulled a cart on a trail with Young Men on either side of the trail just staring at me. It was really awkward. I know I'm hot but I have never had this many men staring at me at one time before. So I looked down at my feet. I didn't want to lead any of them on. We kept on pulling we turned around and all of the Young Men were running up to me but I couldn't be selfish so I let them help their families too. My brothers (not blood brothers mind you) came and rescued me and let me and the other girls have a break. And we hiked and hiked and hiked. When we finally got to our campsite we found an amazing place across a small stream. We find a large log and make a tiny bridge across the stream. Which was perfect because I would of hated to walk across it. We pulled the cart over to our beautiful campsite (made even more beautiful cuz I was there) and set up for the night. That day there were also a bunch of fun activities you could do. I made a doll. Then we had a sling shot building contest with another family to see whose rock could go the farthest. We lost because our rock when we shot it went straight up and straight down. BOO! But it was pretty cool to watch. Then we went and jump roped where I taught my family to play cat and mouse and many, many other people wanted to join in. It was Epic! Then we did square dancing. I was so embarrassed because everyone insisted on dancing with me. Because I am pretty and humble. But because I am fun sized I got stuck with a whole bunch of shorties. I left early because I am clumsy so I went to bed.

Day 3- I woke up and once again lost a mat to my sister but at least my bum didn't get all scratched up by the thorns. I just had bruises from the rocks I was sleeping on. Once again we packed up and took off on the trail. Along the way my sister got sick and was blind. It's ok though because it only lasted an hour. Until my little brother got sick and I was his guide. Angels frequently are guides you know. Then we stopped for lunch. He really surprised me because he was still blind and I made lunch for him. I forgot to open his fruit leather but some how he did that all on his own. That is the only time I will agree to "Go make me a Sammich!" Then everyone got all better and hiked onto our third campsite. We once again set up for the night. I made our family flag because I am so creative and all. When I got the surprise of a hair washing station I realized I didn't need to go to it because even out on the trek my hair looks fabulous! But I took my brothers man card when he went and washed his hair with all of the other girls. We had pie and ice cream that night and it tasted amazing and I went to bed.

Day 4- Surprise I woke up on my mat today. My sis didn't steal if from me. We did the usual and then took off on the trail. Along the way my brother Mitch died. I was sad so I decided to build him a grave with the rest of my family. But we had to keep on keeping on for about 2 more hours until we crossed another river crossing and we got my brother back. We continued on our way and we came to a river where they made me get carried across the river. It was quite hard picking a suitor out of the many that were fighting over me. I stuck with the first handsome, strong young man, who proved his loyalty by carrying me across the first day. By this time we had made it to another really muddy place. And along our way comes a giant hill that was very steep. The carts had to go one at a time. I was towards the back so when I finally got to go it was scary. We had 2 people pulling the rope, 2 people in the yoke like oxen. and 4 people pushing the back. One of my sisters was running next to me. She tripped over her skirt and fell. I may of laughed a little but I didn't mean to. Finally someone as clumsy as me. We only had 1 more mile to go. That was the hardest mile of my life. There were parents lined up cheering for you (but not mine because they suck) and you know you are almost done but your not quite there. When we got to the end it was like amazing and there was yummy food waiting for us and all of my young women leaders who managed to show up on time but still no parents. (FYI my parents did not get the right info or they would of made it on time. My mom was very upset that she didn't make it and still feels guilty about it. Stupid Jerks for not passing on the information) My Young Women President wasn't there because she had her baby. We all screamed when we found out. Finally my parents show up and I am so happy to see them. We eat BBQ and then go home. Where I take a shower and got to bed and sleep until 10 the next morning.

Jump roping with my fam.

What our skirts looked like at the end of trek

Young Women in our ward after the trek

First family photo

My Ma

The crazy muddy trail

My family in front of the Kinkic glacier

The train

Our second river crossing

My family with the beautiful flag I made

resting

My Pa and my sister

Getting stuck in the insanely muddy trail

Pulling through one of the muddiest parts of the whole thing

Cheyenne

Cami

Ashley

Jed one of the twins

Mitch the other twin

Ed from the Bush

Is this truly dead tired?

In front of our cart on a very rainy day

Along the trail

Burying Mitch

His headstone

Mitch right before he came back to life

Another river crossing

Most of my Bros.

The Pionner Trek= Nicholes story

I started the trek on a Monday. We all met at a house and met who was in our families. My Pa and Ma were The DeKay's. I had 4 brothers Brady, Brendon, Tate, and Coy. I also had 3 sisters Tara, Maren, Kenna. We packed up our wagon and took a family photo. Then they taught us some first aide and hung around for the other companies to get their stuff together. We learned our company song and started on our merry way.

We walked through this horrible mud. It was so deep and it was so weird to walk on because there was these weird puddles that made you have to walk in weird angles. There was some tough hills to go over. Eventually we came to the first river. We changed into our water shoes, crossed the river, then changed back into our hiking boots. We took off and were a mile ahead of everyone. So we stopped for a little while and resituated things. We attached ropes to the wagon so we could have more then 2 people pulling. There was this dog that kept on following us. It was funny because we would kick the sand and the dog would run to try to catch the sand but couldn't so it would look all over to see where the sand landed. We attached a rope to the dog. We would kick the sand, the dog would go chasing after it and help pull our wagon. We walked a lot. We walked a total of 12.3 miles. Which is like 5 Johnson miles (President Johnson would make 1 mile into 3 miles and would keep saying just one more mile, one more mile. Eventually we just changed the distance into Johnson Miles). When we got to our first campsite we gathered tons of wood and we had a huge pile. Then people with guns came out and said "Get out of here Mormons!" So we picked up our wagon and walked another 1 Johnson Mile. When we finally got to the other campsite we had to dig out a ton of rose bushes. Then we cooked food and set up our tent. After we ate we built extra railing around our wagon, had a devotional, and then went to bed.

Day 2- We woke up and cooked breakfast burritos. Then we cleaned our dishes. Then the boys took down their tent but the girls didn't because we were doing the dishes. At one point I was just standing there and I hear "Roll, roll, roll" I look over and see fire and then nothing fire and then nothing. This girl had caught on fire. Her family helped her get it out. Then Maren and I went into the tent and started to pick up our things. The wind caught our tent and when we left the tent the wind picked up our tent and the tent flew across the lot! We caught it and then took it down and packed it up. At that time we were still in our pjs so we had to tilt the wagon to the side. Put a tarp over it and change in that. Then it started raining so I got my rain gear on, packed up the wagon, and then had a devotional as a company ( a company consists of 5 families of 10 people each family). Then we headed out. After about a mile and a half we were stopped and the boys left for "war". The girls we forced to pull the wagon for a mile and a half. We had to cross one river the size of a puddle. At one point we passed the boys. They were lined up on either side of the trail staring at us as we passed through them. I didn't know that they could be so serious for so long. After we passed the boys we all stopped and they came running back and they pulled the wagon the rest of the way to the camp which wasn't very far at all. When we got there we set up the tent and started a fire. We chopped down 4 dead trees to burn. We didn't even bother to build a pit. Then after wards we had a bunch of games to play like horse shoes and jump rope. Then there was another devotional and we ate steak. That night we square danced. Afterwards I went to the Quimby family and hung out with them for a while and took some of the boys snipe hunting. We caught a frog. When we heard a moose we decided to go back to the family. Eventually I went back to my tent and went to bed.

Day3- The morning was the same. We ate, took down the tent, packed up the wagon, and had another devotional. We walked a couple miles and we got to a river and the boys had to carry the girls across. It didn't matter I got carried across most of the rivers anyways. We walked some more. Brady went blind (not really, it was just part of the trek) for about an hour. Then we went to our third site. We set up our tent and cooked fajitas for dinner. I shot a black powder gun. Then I washed my hair. I hung out with Kylee and Myranda a lot. We would laugh over the dumbest things because we were just so tired. Maddie came over with a lid of ice cream and we hung out with her and Dene a lot. At one point we started smashing ice cream into each others faces. At one point I smashed into Hunter Harr's face. Then he tried to take the ice cream from me. Kylee took it from me and ran. Hunter chased after her. Some guy out of the blue just tackled Hunter and Kylee was home free. We told Hunter that it was part of the awesome club so he took the ice cream and smashed it into one of his brothers face. Hunter took off running and the guy chased him, caught up to him, picked him up and threatened to throw him into the river. But the girls tried to save Hunter. There were just too many girls. The guy had to let Hunter go. That night half of my family went to jump into the river at 1 o'clock in the morning. I thought it was dumb so I just sat by the fire. They asked me to bring their towels out to them when they whistled for them. I was talking to Dene and she said that she was worried that the kids were going to go and jump into the river. I was trying to convince her that that wouldn't happen at the same moment I heard the whistle. I made an excuse and gave them the towels when Dene wasn't looking. They came over to the fire to get warm. We went to bed.

Day 4- started as all of the other days. We had mush for breakfast. Then we had testimony meeting while I ate my mush. Then we packed up and left. We had a person who was the pacer who was going to fast. We kept getting yelled at to stop then would get yelled at for stopping. We had this really hard hill to go up so we decided to pull instead of push the wagon up. We had 2 people on the back holding all the weight up. Pushing with all their might. When we got to the top we waited forever for everyone else to get up the hill. While we were waiting Derek showed us his dinosaur impression. It was hilarious. Then we jump roped with the rope we had attached to our wagon. Fail! We got back on the horrible muddy trail from the first day but it wasn't as bad as the first day. We made it back to the beginning. There were supposed to be parents waiting for us there but no one in our ward had their parents there so we all felt like losers until the all just started showing up at the same time. There was a BBQ for the families.

I learned that if your wheels deformed it's not easy to push. I am told by my mom that I should have a new appreciation for the pioneers. I guess I do.