Recouping!!!

Wow! We have had a busy summer...I am glad it is almost over. I am exhausted. We have been recovering from the Trek last week. I finally got the pictures back (as you can see). Today we have to dress up in our Pioneer clothes (I really never wanted to put them on again!) for Pioneer Day that was on Friday, July 24th. I am grateful, though, that the Pioneers packed up all their stuff and left their comforts so that we could have what we have today, especially as far as the Church goes.

This is a picture of the "womens' pull". We had to come from the bottom of the hill (this picture doesn't show how big the hill really was!). It was sandy, too, and really hard to do. I was breathing heavy! You can see me in the middle of the picture with my bonnet twisted around. It was a great experience because we heard many stories where the men were dying from giving their all and it was up to the women to get them to the valley. There were many strong and faithful women. My favorite story was of a woman whose husband had died and there was no food (in the Martin Comany) and she prayed to the Lord to ask for help because she couldn't go on like this. She remembered that she had two biscuits in her jacket from when they were on the ship. She got them out and put them in a pot with some water to soften them up. Then she went to check on something and when she came back, the pot was full with these biscuits and she was able to feed her children and others in the company. After being there...there is no doubt that this happened. It's a place where people came to know their God.

This is our "family". There were 10 kids and then me and Scott. We had the Stake YW secretary with us, also. She is from our ward and her oldest daughter was in our group and so she walked with us also. It was really fun to get to know her better. You can see Scott in his get-up!

This is Martin's Cove. This is the side that they camped and around the corner is where they would take their dead every morning. The missionaries said that in the journals, the people would take their dead over there because the ground was frozen and they couldn't dig graves and then they would hear the wolves come and take the bodies of their dead. It must have been so hard! I just kept trying to picture this all white with snow. I couldn't imagine having to be out here in the snow trying to survive. I hate the snow! I can't imagine having to do this.

This is "Oscar". There is a story about him in the Friend magazine this month. He's a lot bigger in real life. The pictures in the friend don't make him look as big as he really is!( http://www.lds.org/Static%20Files/PDF/Magazines/Friend/English/2009/FR_2009_07_13___04267_000_017.pdf)
It was cool to see him in real life. Read the story about him and you will see why we thought it was a priviledge. It was funny because when other groups were taking their group pictures, he would walk over and casually pose in the picture. It was like he had done it a million times before. It was fun. The kids all knew about him and they were really excited to see him. He's a celebrity!

This next week we are going to Heber, UT to my Aunt and Uncle's cabin (thanks!). We are excited to truly have a vacation to relax. It should be fun. We are actually the only family still in St. George. Everyone is already up there. But, we have boys that will be having to go back up to Scout Camp this week and so we didn't think it would be wise that they would have to do it all on their own. Calvin is going to the camp and Derrek has his last week on Staff there. He is about ready for it to be over. Especially when he has to miss out on the Steurer Reunion (we play a lot). I don't think he has gotten to go out on the boat this summer, and if he has...it has only been once or twice. Welcome to being an adult!

Alec decided he could take the week off and come with us to the reunion. He was only supposed to work three weeks out of the summer and he ended up doing at least twice that much. I think he liked the freedom of being away from home. On the weekends he would have a hard time adjusting to being home. He would just say "I just want to go back up there". It's tough being nice to your brothers and being expected to clean up after yourself! Anyway, I am glad he is going with us. I have actually missed him and Derrek this summer. It has been a very quite summer...too quiet!

Well...hope everyone has a great week!