beautiful job.
This was on the second day, all the girls and their 'Ma' (myself) decided they wanted to pull and push the handcart. It just so happens we chose do it right before we hit some major watery and muddy areas that went clear up to our knees. We got stuck in a few of them. It was pretty intense but we felt such 'Girl 'Power'. I was so proud of them and I know they felt so proud of themselves and realized right then their true strength.
This was on the last day, we ran into a quarter mile of flooded trail that had turned into a mud bog. It was SO great seeing most of the kids and their 'Pa' pulling through the mud.
This was when all the men were asked by the military to form a battalion and march west to help with the Mexican American war. It was a pretty emotional experience because I got a glimpse of what it would be like to all of a sudden see my husband and sons taken to fight in war. But just after the men left, the women were told that Brigham Young promised that the Mormon Battalion would not have to fight. They served in many other ways during the war such as digging wells , white washing buildings in San Diego, etc...
Just after the men left on the Mormon Battalion , the women were asked to gather their hand carts and keep traveling. It turns out we were given the hardest part of the whole trek. It was a deep sandy hill that we had to push through for about an hour. Then soon enough we saw the men come running toward us to help us. Derek said he got pretty emotional as he saw us pushing and working so hard.
This was probably one of the most amazing experiences from the whole trek. When Derek and two other men re-enacted the three rescuers from the Martin hand cart relief party. Derek and these two other men gave the history and experience of these pioneers and rescuers. Just after they spoke we walked another 400 yards or so to the river crossing and the three men carried their wives across the river. Then went back and helped the others. It was SO wonderful seeing these young teenage boys lending a helping hand by carrying their 'sisters' across and going back and forth to help pull carts across as well as helping other people. It was pretty emotional. This was one of our 'sons' Nathan carrying our 'daughter' Kiffin across the river. That was SO Nathan to be the first one to help out with out any hesitation.
We went to my cousin's baby blessing on Sunday and heard this cd playing at my Aunt Charlene's house and I instantly fell in love with it. It's a cd of primary songs for bedtime. I just got it today at Deseret Book and had it playing in the car and Emma and I were both feeling pretty relaxed and I felt so uplifted. It's so beautiful and soothing. Anyways, if anyone is looking a lullaby cd, this is perfect.
come out and shine. She loves this new toy that Grandma Phair gave her, she's loves standing up (with support of course), she got a new cousin Lucy this last month and was SO excited to meet her for the first time, she loves story time, and she wants to crawl SO bad but hasn't quite got it yet but will soon enough I'm sure. We love you Emma Jane!
of the latest projects I have completed. I've done a few more shadow boxes recently as well as a book that I made for D
erek for his birthday. I wasn't able to get it done BY his actual birthday but I gave it to him at a family bday party since family and friends of his were able to contribute to the book. I had them write a thought and or memory of Derek and send it to me and I went ahead and added some embellishments with the letters on each of the pages of his book. Even though the book took me months to put together, I enjoyed doing it so much. Derek really loved reading through it. He's simply the greatest.
It's been a long time since I've posted pictures. I just wanted to show our Memorial/Birthday bbq with the family that we had two weekends ago. I think the pictures speak for themselves. I love my family, we're such goofs. You will notice in one of the pics my sister Kim freaking out at what my brother Mike put inside of her jacket and my sister Deb peeing her pants laughing SO hard. Check out what the surprise was in her jacket...a piece of dread lock that was found at the park and that my brother Mike secretly put in her hood. We were laughing till our cheeks almost fell off. Then Kim's dog Booh snatched the dread lock and ran away with it and Kim had to chase him down to grab it from his mouth. SO sick! We also had a running race with lots of us. I was all over it. But at the finish line my knee popped. Yeah, it's been sore ever since. Just waiting for our health insurance to kick in so I can get it checked out. I had ACL knee surgery 8 years ago from a Snow skiing accident and it hasn't been the same since. And I think I may have hurt it again. The greatest part is Derek and I leave for our Stake Pioneer Trek next Monday. We're a Ma and Pa and walking lots and lots...about 25 miles for the whole 3 days. Please pray for me :) We are very excited to go though, it will be such an amazing experience. Anyways, we celebrated Derek, Kim, Russ (bro in law), and Dad's (70th bday) Birthdays. Derek enjoyed the book I've put together for him for the past few months. It's a book about him that family and friends contributed in writing a thought and or memory of him. I will post pics of the book in another post. Fun fun!
