Divide & Conquer

My little family was in 3 different places this weekend and we ended up with one picture. I had the amazing opportunity to go on a mini Trek up in Wyoming. from early Thursday to Saturday. The boys were happy at their friends house Thursday and Chris took the day off Friday. Well, mostly off, he actually took the boys to check on a few jobs in SL with him and they had a fun time. Trace got to spend Friday night and Saturday with my sister and her hubby in SL. They went to the park, watched movies, and he came home with a new saying, which is typical for a visit to Shan's house. Now he says 'Hey hot mommy.' It's so cute cause he can't say momma, just mommy.

Kayden and Chris headed up to the Father's & Son's campout Friday night through Saturday and Heber Valley Camp. I think the highlight for Kayden was playing volleyball with the Bishop. He was very excited to tell me all about it.

I left at 6 am Thursday. There were 8 of us in a huge, huge van. We got to Martin's Cove that afternoon and did the 5 mile trek there. There really aren't words to describe such a place. I've been there 3 times now and every time I'm amazed at the sacred, reverent feeling that comes over me as I sit and try to imagine what those early Saints went through. They have wonderful senior missionaries there to share pioneer stories with you and there is never a dry eye. My favorite story from this trip was about a young lady named Sara and her fiance George. They wanted to wait until they got to SLC to be married so they began the Trek together with that goal. When the snow storms hit and they began losing people, George was among one of the first to pass away. All Sara had was a red shawl to keep her warm, but she wanted to wrap George in it. The ground was too frozen to dig a grave, so most pioneers would just cover their loved ones with snow, but the wolves would attack their bodies within minutes. Sara couldn't stand the thought of hearing the wolves devour her George so she wrapped him in her shawl and had the men hoist him up in a tree. Weeks later when the rescue parties arrived all they found was the red shawl in the tree. They took it down and carried it to Sara in SLC. The shawl is now in the Church History Musuem in SLC.
The next day we did a few miles at 6th crossing. It was only in the 50's and was raining very hard. The roads were washed out to a few places we wanted to see so we didn't make it out to a few monuments. We drove to Rock Creek Hollow and met wonderful missionaries who again shared amazing stories. This is the place where the pioneers camped after ascending Rocky Ridge, 13 died there at Rock Creek Hollow. There is a beautiful monument there:

Roger Moore (Stake YM Pres), Ruston Sullivan (YM High Councilor), Scott Smith (Stake YM 1st couns), Tim Graham (Stake YM 2nd couns), President Buys (Stake President), Laura Barlow (my 1st couns), and Nancy Jex (my 2nd couns).

By this time it had started raining again but we didn't mind. The spirit was really special and we hiked out among the willows to find a little privacy and President Buys gave us each a priesthood blessing. It was an amazing experience.

I feel so priviledged to have these experiences in my calling. It is such a strength to study these stories of dedication and sacrifice. It reminds me how easy we really do have it, and how much our Heavenly Father loves us.