Riley, Erika and Brian and I were able to go on our Stake Pioneer Trek today. We had to be at the stake center at 6 am and then we rode busses out to the southwest side of Utah Lake to Mosida Lodge Handcart Trek. We walked the f irst day for 9 miles. It was nice weather, sunny and cool wind. We did get some sun on our faces and hands. The nights were cold and the bathrooms were not the best, but it was better than the bushes. The food was awesome. We had firesides, afternoon sides and morning sides with our families and the whole stake. The second day we walked another 9 miles. They had square dancing in the evening and gave out letters to all our youth. Riley accidently threw his letters from us in the fire and then burned his thumb to try and get them out. He was upset, but received a personal letter from us in our tent. The 3rd day, we had a testimony meeting in the morning and then walked 2 miles back to the lodge where we started. All the parents were there to pick up their kids and were cheering all of us on. We did the river crossing and all of us got wet up to our waist. It was muddy and I lost my flip flops first thing, so I did the rest in my bare feet. Brian and I were a Ma and Pa and we had 9 youth from other wards. There were 14 total families. We all had two handcarts, so we all were able to take a turn pushing and pulling. The neighbors took us home and we got home at 2 pm. We all showered and crash for 3 hours. We had a great time with all the stake, but especially our own kids in our family. Thanks to Whitney, Larissa, Julie, Byran, Austin, Trevor, Michael, Aarron, and Halen They were all amazing kids and we will have friendships with them forever. Erika and Riley were in different families Riley with the Cook's and Erika with the Cox's. Erika and Riley were always checking on us to make sure we were doing okay. I did great and Brian only received a great big blister on the bottom on his foot. If we had the chance to do it again, we would in a heart beat. IT WAS AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE FOR ALL OF US!!!
