These were my boys... the one on the right couldn't speak much English but he was ready and willing.
And here are the girls (notice Taylor wouldn't wear her long sleeve shirt? yup.. she ended up with a sunburn)
The boys pulled most of the time (look at those trees... when we first pulled in, one of the girls in my car said, "We are hiking through that JUNGLE?". I had to laugh. Obviously she is a Vegas native.)
But the girls got in the action as well. Especially when it was Friday and we were fresh.
We didn't get into camp until very late (cranky kids) but they quickly fed us and everything was right with the world again. Let me say, I was way impressed with the Stake organization. There were about 20 carts and 250 people. Feeding this many people was quite an accomplishment. But they got it done. Friday night we had a THICK beef stew (mostly broth and potatoes) with a roll, fruit cup or applesauce, and milk, orange juice, or water (those were the beverage choices the rest of the trip). 
And so were the horse droppings. Everyone kept calling them cow patties, but I told them they were horse. They weren't processed enough to be cow! 
I didn't sleep at all that night because the wind was howling in the trees. U know the beginning of "The Highway Man"? That was our night. " The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed on the stormy trees". In some ways it was good because I couldn't hear the girls talking all night, just the wind roaring through the trees. And with a benadryl in me, I may not had been sleeping, but I didn't really care :-). I love benadryl. 
A cold and windy breakfast of oatmeal and muffins...
and we were off to a baptism. It really wasn't that cold, but these Las Vegans thought so. It sprinkled on us a bit, but really not that bad. Do you see my petticoat sticking out? I worried and worked on getting my petticoat to hang evenly around just brushing the top of my foot. Perhaps I should have spent more time with my dress hem! (plus my apron made the dress ride up)
Each cart was given a set of trials they had to do during the day. One of our was that someone was sick and had to ride in the cart for 30 minutes. We decided while we were waiting for the baptism was the best time (no actual pulling involved :-). Yup, we cheated.
A girl and man from another ward got baptised in the river. Yes, it was an actual baptism service. For some people, that is a very sacred way to do it. I'm glad they had the opportunity.
The baptism took place at the first place we crossed the river (we crossed water 8 times in the course of the day). This was the most technically difficult crossing so they prepped us quite a bit. I think I might have over prepped my kids cuz they were pretty nervous (um... OK, I was really nervous), but it went off without a hitch. 
I stood up on the bank to get the pictures and when the leaders asked me what I was doing (implying that I should be in there with my family), I told them I'm the Mother, they do what I say.
The prepping had involved telling us we'd be in water up to our waist. It ended up being just to mid thigh.
There it goes.. the cart before us tipped backwards and dumped some of its load in the river but ours got safely through. Our wards 3 carts were the most loaded. We later found out other wards had put their sleeping stuff into their ward members trucks at the camping area instead of putting it on the handcart. I wasn't too happy when I found that out!
The boys wanted to show off their muddy feet.
Here is Pops (Brother Walice, the grandfather of one of my YW) and the boys wringing out their socks. I followed suit.
Then the boys were called away and the woman were left to first take the cart down,
And then up the next hill. Hot, sweaty, dusty work (the clouds had cleared and now it was very warm). It was to represent how so many Men lost their lives taking care of the family leaving the woman alone. Again, our carts were the most loaded. Many YW from other wards helped all the carts go up. Some of the wards only had one or 2 YW. Many of our YW were willing to help others, but I was disappointed in some of them. You learn a lot about a person from activities like this.
The trail boss produced a rope tied to a piece of hooked rebar. I spent the rest of the time after our carts went up running down the hill to the end of the rope, waiting for the cart to make it up to where I could hook it to the handle, and then trying to get up and out of the way before being run over! My arms and back are still sore today from all the pulling and pushing.
We also had to carry our cart across this plank. Because our cart was so heavily loaded, we essentially had to unload and carry everything across piece by piece.
I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the boys carrying the handcart across. 
It was after this that I had to pull out the fishys and Cheese-Its to appease the restless natives. Apparently my children get cranky with low blood sugar. I wonder where they get it? We ate lunch soon after (consisting of apples, bananas, trail mix, and other sundry snacks) and once again all was right with the world.
Another one of our trials was to "welcome a new baby into the family. Hold for 1 hour". Our baby (rice sack) was tenderly taken care of by the whole crew (at least in my presence). Another ward dropped their baby on the ground, kicked it, smacked it and left it there. I did an intervention and placed the child into State custody. We became foster parents to another child.
I soon got tired of having wet shoes on, so I took them off and hung them from the cart.
I told my girls they had to wear their shoes, but I could go bare foot cuz I was a leader and nobody could tell me what to do. Sister McDonald asked me if I was reveling in my status. Don't worry, I'll learn humility later on in the weekend :-). (This was after yet ANOTHER river crossing.. a couple of the crossings were easy river fords... 3 others had a bank to ease the cart down one side and pull up the other)
Here you can see our two babies being carried in the arms of caring family members (behind the cart). On Sunday, they told me how sore their arms were from carrying that dead weight :-)
Look how excited the crew is coming back from a TWO HOUR long testimony meeting because they knew it was almost over! (Plus, it was so much easier to pull that cart on a paved road!) By this time the sleepless night was catching up to me. Plus, I had originally though I'd be home around 3pm and I didn't end up getting home 'till 8pm. I must say I wasn't feeling the spirit during that testimony meeting. Then, with it being Ward conference on Sunday, a member of the Stake Presidency came to teach YM/YW. Instead of spreaking, he asked the youth to bear their testimonies about the trek and man was I disappointed. I wanted to hear a member of the Stake Presidency, not these children. I had to get out my scriptures and read so I would stop being so negative.
It was then that I remembered my Mother telling me "your students will remember what they said, not what you said". This whole activity was for THEM, not me. Apparently I still haven't learned that its not all about Melanie.... at least in the YW/YM organization :-)
I asked for a picture of my back so you could see the yellow strip down the back, but my cameraman failed in her task. Many people actually thought the yellow stripe was on purpose!
As soon as I got home I showered. I don't know if u can see it, but there is a line of dirt where my shoe was.
All in all, I will probably be able to say I'm glad I went.... after next weekend. I hope by then to have put my house back in order, recovered from lost sleep, and that the soreness has left. I know our youth thoroughly enjoyed it and as we know, it was for them. Therefore, I think it was a rousing success!
To Zion To Zion! Hurrah Hurrah for Israel! (Quoting our Stake President who yelled this out every time he passed us and the kids would repeat it)
I figure having an extra bonnet will be a good thing one way or another, but I don't like the back.. I cut it too big.
Since I had planned on only doing a skirt, I ran out of the blue material so the back panel is Yellow. And then the yellow ended up not being long enough (I had to double it cuz it was pretty see through) so there's a panel of blue at the neck. Looks pretty silly but I'll just match the girls and their crazy bright skirts. The dress is a fitted bodice with princess seams and flairs starting at the waist. Pioneers actually gathered panels around at the waist to get volume in their skirts. Makes sense cuz you don't waste as much material as cutting flares, but I don't like that bulk at my waist so I used this pattern. Also the bodice usually has buttons up the front so my dress isn't that authentic with it's square neck (to go over my square head). I didn't take a picture of the final dress... U'll see it when I bring back pictures from our Trek.
So I found some pretty dark blue material in the dollar a yard bin with cutwork lace along the bottom to make an apron. It looks really good and I'm pretty proud of it. I even put on a pocket (I learned how on-line). 
The back was still too big, but I put two pleats in it and it looks nice. I liked the stripes in this material so I used it even thought its that stiff stuff rather than authentic cotton.
So I decided to do 4 flounces. Tonight I will sew the final bottom flounce and then I'll be done. As you can see, the seams are not even at all, but I figure nobody will see under my dress. I'll hem the bottom as even as I have patience. When I tried it on last night under the dress, I was surprised at how well it filled it out. Now after looking online I'd kinda like to try a corded petticoat!
No comment on this one but scored pretty low. You know what I dislike even more than criticism? Not explaining the score!
Yes, my booties (sandals) got Third Best in Class. I did these sandals even though they are really annoying to crochet cuz you start and stop all over the place (leaves lots of ends of thread to weave in) . I told Melissa I needed to do something very different to place in Best in Class. I was right.
Don't try and undo the button on the one on the right. Walmart just doesn't have that great selection in buttons (surprise surprise) so I ended up having to sew it closed. I'll have to find some smaller buttons and do it right later (or redo the button hole.... nope, too much work. I'll just find smaller buttons).
Of course she gets third Best in Class without even trying.... sigh.
told her which ones she liked (all but the pineapple one), and sent the Smart blithely on her way. Smart read the directions.... Baby Yarn, Size D hook.
She ignored the "or size needed to obtain gage" because many years had taught her she crocheted less that gauge which would be fine on this project because it was for a baby. The VTee told Smart she wanted it white, as a blessing dress. Smart created this:
A dress that ended up being big enough to fit a toddler... or even an older child (and the dress was ugly.... at least in Smart's humble opinion). How did this come to be? Smart ALWAYS crocheted less than gauge. 
And the back looked like this: (Smart has yet to finish the first dress because of the ugly nature of it, the heaviness of the dress, and the all around uselessness of a white crocheted dress for a five year old)
Still.. the dress would probably now fit a 6months to 9month old baby (although if it was one of Bethanie's babies, probably a 3 month old *big grin*)
And the back: (It is missing a button because Smart didn't realize the left over heart button she had at home had a different sheen and did not match the ones she had bought from Walmart. WHY do buttons come in an ODD number?)
So.. two weeks later, Smart had created 3 (READ THREE) GCP's which hopefully her VTee will take. Smart has no idea what she would do with 2 left over ugly baby dresses.
PS... Smart is actually making another dress using the D hook in case the smaller dress is too small. Additionally, she made up the finishing neckline on the smaller dresses so she could have something to put the buttons on. Dumb pattern didn't finish it and had u put the buttons on willy nilly (Can we say UGLY?). Also, can u tell which sleeves she liked best? All three dresses are 3 different patterns from the book.
