Family Reunions

 We had the opportunity to have both of our family reunions this summer on back to back weekends in July.  We had the Williams family reunion first starting on July 22.  We headed up to Spring Shores at Lucky Peak Reservoir to camp and boat for a few days.  Craig had to work so it was just me and the kids, but we had a blast.  We only stayed Thursday and Friday, so it was short and sweet.  My oldest sister Sunni pretty much did all of the planning and prepping for it so it made it pretty stress free for me.  We tubed, skied, knee boarded, ate, built sand castles, jumped off the dock, chatted, laughed, played with cousins and swam to our hearts content.  It was really fun to share this experience with the kids because my family did a camping/boating trip every summer at Spring Shores and it is one of my favorite memories.  It really was such a blast, well except for the part when Brooklyn got stung by a bee and her thumb swelled up like crazy and when McKay took a chunk out of his big toe on the metal edge of the dock.

The following weekend, July 30 and 31, we got together with the Moss side of the family for their annual reunion.  It was so good to have everyone together again since we missed last year because of Covid.  Lisa's family came in town from Florida and Brian's family came in from Texas and Stan's parents came up from Utah.  There was a lot of swimming, eating, games, chatting, water dodge ball, corn hole, bowling, picture taking and trying not to die from the heat.  As always the kids had a blast being all together and it was so great to catch up with everyone.  It was a quick few days, but it was really fantastic.

Pioneer Trek

 

Craig and I had the opportunity to go on Trek with our stake as a Ma and Pa on July 8-10th.  We had 8 youth in our family and then our family was part of a company with 2 other families.  We trekked with our carts for 3 days and 2 nights near Sweets, Idaho.  It was so so hot, we were all sweaty and stinky, but it really was such an amazing experience.  Craig and I were both able to go on Trek as youth and knew what a powerful experience it could be and we really hope that we were able to help the kids in our family have similar experiences.  The kids in our family were all from different wards throughout the stake and were all very different, but it was amazing how well everyone got along.  There were a few kids in our family that we really felt like were supposed to be in our family, they needed a Ma and Pa who weren't going to be crazy strict and could have some fun and understand that it was just a win to have them on trek at all.  The first day our company, Brown Company, got to lead out.  We set a very quick pace and soon everyone was very spread out.  2 girls in our family weren't physically ready for it so I stayed back with them at a slower pace while Craig and the other kids kept a strong and steady pace.  It's safe to say that on day two we were at the back of the pack.  After about 8 miles of trekking we came to our camp site for the night.  We got our camp set up, minus a tent for me and Craig because the poles were busted which was fine we just slept under the stars.  After filling up with a yummy dinner and getting in trouble because we let our kids change out of their pioneer clothes, there was square dancing.  2 of our girls spent the evening getting blisters bandaged up and recovering from heat exhaustion. 

In the morning we were off again.  One of our girls stayed back with the food committee to let her blisters recover a little bit, but the rest of the family stayed together a little bit better since we were in the back and forced to go at a slower pace.  Day 2 was condensed a little bit because of the heat, which was a little disappointing, but I can only imagine the logistics and everything that went in to keeping that many people safe and healthy in that heat.  In the afternoon was the women's pull, which I was really looking forward to and so were two of the girls in my family who were total rock stars.  We were waiting for our turn to head up this crazy steep hill, but before we could go a girl in a family in front of us got hurt and so the rest of the groups got sent up an easier route.  We rocked it of course, but I was very disappointed that we didn't get the chance to go up the hard way.  When I was on trek as a teenager the women's pull was a major spiritual experience for me and I was sad my girls didn't get that.  After the women's pull we made it to our camp for the night.  We got our site set up and then ate some dinner.  After dinner they had some really fun pioneer games set up for all the families to play.  They finished it with a tug of war which ended in two broken ropes.

Saturday morning we were up and ready for our last day.  It was a short day of trekking, but everyone was just fine with that.  By this point half of our kids had ripped the sleeves off their pioneer shirts and if I could have joined them I would have.  Again we were just happy they were there and were working hard.  6 of our kids never complained once and either pushed or pulled the cart the entire time.  The other 2 girls we were just happy they were there and hope that they came out of it with positive feelings.  Mixed throughout there were spiritual experiences and we hope that the kids got home with stronger testimonies than when they arrived.  The worst part of the whole thing was the bus ride home.  It was so hot that we had to have the windows down, but we were on a dirt road for quite some time.  The shower was quite a welcome sight when we got home.  I washed my hair twice just to get all the dirt out.  We were tired and dirty, but it really was a great experience.  I hope the kids in our family look back on it with good memories, because I know that I sure will.