Pioneer Reenactment aka Trek 2014

This post is dedication to the journey and experience of Trek. This pioneer reenactment took place in Wyoming, USA! We traveled and walked many hours and it was an experience I will never forget!

Some may ask why we would take off work, send our kids to stay with family and spend "that kind of money" to walk around in Wyoming?! 

Let me give a short explanation. Many people joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the mid-late 1800's. A good majority lived in England. A call from the then Prophet Brigham Young encouraged Saints to make their way to Zion (or the Salt Lake Valley).

Many were persecuted for their beliefs and felt the need to leave their homes and jobs and emigrate to Zion. They traveled by wagons, however that was very expensive. The Saints were offered a cheaper way to travel....... The Handcart!

 

They were only allowed to bring 17 pounds (per person) of belongings which later due to harsh circumstances was dwindled down to about 10lbs. 

The Willie and Martin Handcart companies are the most well know of the handcart companies to travel by foot to the Salt Lake Valley. They left very late in the season and were caught in terrible weather. Many died and were buried along the way. 

These early Saints were asked to leave everything they had so they could be in Zion where there was a Prophet and a Temple. This may sound odd to some but to them it meant everything. 

We are asked to do hard things everyday. Things that we may not know the reason why now but we know that in the long run we will gain great blessings. We reenact the pioneers journey to have a better understanding of sacrifice. We leave modern conveniences behind and dress in period clothing. We do this to be grateful of what we have and the blessings we enjoy everyday.

With that said here is our adventure!!

We boarded the buses at 12:00a on Monday the 28th. We traveled and tried to sleep the 12+ hours to Wyoming! This is Abbey and Erin (both babysit for us!) They sat behind us and we never had a dull moment. 

I was smart and took a melatonin and wore ear plugs!! I got about 7/8 hours of sleep! 

Some kids got creative on how and where to sleep!! One in the isle and one under the seat!! Not sure how much sleep they got!!

Our First day we get to the Willie Center and had a quick lunch, found a cart, used the restroom, filled up water bottles and trekked 2 miles. It was originally closer to 5/6 miles but we were behind schedule and only did two. 

This was the 6th crossing of the Sweetwater River. By this time the pioneers had crossed the freezing water 6 times (hence the name) and most couldn't go any further. 

We crossed the river twice as a group.

 

This as the cart behind us when we crossed. As you can see the water was about knee deep but felt so refreshing in the warm sun!

In our pioneer clothes!

This is the Senior Missionary couple who was our guide. After and before crossing the river they told us a few pioneer stories.

We were privileged to have these young women in our "family!"

Abbey, Alyssa, Ellenae and Kali. And Travis the photo bomber!!

Well this is the end of the pictures for day #1. I hope you enjoyed and check again for part/day #2!

Bull Trout Lake: Reunion 2014

For our McDowell Family reunion this year we headed up to Bull Trout Lake for 4 days of camping! Shannon and Devin planned the event and it was enjoyed by all!!

I think the girls spent the most time down by the water! Our campsites were right on the lake! It was pretty cold water but the kids and a few Uncles (Nate and Devin) tried it out!

Travis never leaves home without a good book!

A general love of books runs in the family! Thanks to Aunt Tana all the little girls had people to read to them!

There was lots of story telling of reunions past!

And lots of loving on Baby Bentley! He was a pretty good camper for being a month old!

Most of the little kids loved playing in and around the dog kennel! 

I thought this was a great idea! You get a cup, put your name on it and hang it up! They way they weren't rolling around all over camp!

So every morning Devin and who ever else wanted to go, went and got firewood for the day. We had a fire in the morning and at night. They brought back this huge stump. It was too big for the fire pit so they decided to turn it into a flaming log! Devin had fun with the "Scout water," I don't think I will ever understand boys and their fascination with fire!

Zach finally won over Kelci! She was a hard nut to crack! 

This is her crab face! She also makes little pincers with her fingers! She was adorable!

She even let Uncle Travis hold her!

No camp out would be complete without marshmallows! 

There was another lake that the kids liked to go to. It was better for floating. Madison and Zach made friends with the kid fishing on the dock. 

Blake and Ashlyn enjoying the lake!

In the evenings Mom and Dad McDowell had each of us read a family history story about Grandpa McDowell's family. So during the day we would learn about each ancestor and then at night around the campfire we would share some interesting facts. We learned a lot about the McDowell family. Pioneers from Scotland and Ireland, war stories, and conversions to the Gospel.

We had a great time. Thank you Shannon and Devin for planning!!

In 2016 we will be in Denver!

Homedale, Idaho

Last week Travis was at work out in Homedale and heard on the radio about a kids fair. We didn't have any real plans for Memorial Day weekend (our usual plans didn't happen this year). So we loaded up and headed out to Homedale (20 minutes away) on Saturday morning.

The first station we stopped at was a relay race. The kids had to bounce to a rack of life jackets found one that fit and had to bounce back!

Next the kids hopped up on a boat and learned how to bow fish. 

This was one of Zachary's favorite things! There wasn't a line behind him so he got to stay longer!

Next was duck hunting. It was kind of like playing the Wii, so Zach did pretty well.

Not sure why she is shooting left handed??

Brynley chose to go and jump. That was until some huge kids came and ruined the fun :(

Next on the round was identifying ducks! They had decoys and a chart and the kids had to find the ducks. They each got a free book and stickers.

While Madison and Zach were looking for ducks Brynley and Travis went "fishing." They had poles and a weighted bait, you had to cast and catch a plastic fish.

She caught one! She was very excited about this!

Next was a free hot dog lunch (for the kids) and yes Brynn enjoys her Cheetos!!

Then off to shooting a bow! Sportsman's Warehouse brought bows and huge decoys. Zach had a blast!

While we were waiting for him I turned around a Brynn was gone! I couldn't see her, but Travis spotted her. 

"Mom I just want to look at the water!"

We had a great time as a family and the kids had a blast. It was a great start to a great weekend. 

Eater 2014

Most every year for Easter we go over to the assisted living home where they have an egg hunt. This year was pretty fun. Brynley was excited to see the Easter Bunny and get candy!!

She didn't hesitate and walked right up to Mr. Bunny and gave him a high five! ( love her hair!)

Let the hunt begin! The 0-3 age group got to go first!

We had a pretty fun time and the kids filled their baskets! I guess in all the excitement I forgot to get pictures of the other 2! Oh well. 

The next morning was Easter and before we headed off to Church we snapped a few pictures!

Madison Paige, 9

This girl is growing up so fast!

Zachary Ray, 7

This kid is hilarious!

Brynley Grace, 3

She is such a sweet little girl with her own personality!

I am thankful for the reason why we get to celebrate Easter. I know that Christ was resurrected on the 3rd day and lived again. I know that because He was resurrected I can be too. Hope everyone had a great Easter (last month!)

Field Trip Day 2

It was a pretty early morning. Most kids were up by 6:30/7am. After breakfast we had about an hour to kill before the bus came. So a few of the parents took the kids to a local park.

We loaded up and headed back to CSI and the Herrit Center.

We watched another movie in the planetarium. It was about a 

Dolichorhynchops

After the movie we went upstairs to look at the sun! We looked through 2 telescopes. It was pretty cool. We also got to look at Venus through a huge telescope!

The kids waiting in line to see the sun!

Through the first telescope we basically saw this. There were a few more sunspots on it but it did look like this!

The second telescope we saw something like this. 

The sun with solar flares. We could actually see the flares happening!

Next we went inside to the big telescope. 

This one was quite large. We had to stand on a step stool to reach the eye piece. 

Madison is waiting her turn. A lot of the kids were kind of rude and always wanted to be first to see everything. So we ended up waiting until the end of the line. 

In this telescope we saw something similar to this picture of Venus. 

After the Planetarium we were running a bit behind and the kids ate lunch on the bus. 

We Headed to the fish hatchery in Haggerman.

We split up into class groups and went with a park ranger and learned how the hatchery works.

 Here we are learning about how they get the eggs and grown them in tanks and then move them outside to grow bigger before they are released. 

These tanks were filled with fish. 

Next we walked over to the sturgeon viewing area! The kids had fun laying on their stomachs trying to touch one! These are relatively small! But they were still at lease 4 feet long! 

After the hatchery we went to a dig site near where the Hagerman Horse was found. 

Back on the bus................

We walked about 1/4 of a mile up to the top of the view point. Actually in the mid left of this picture is the actual Hagerman Dig site. It's an active dig site so the park set up a mock dig site for the kids. 

The kids were assigned a dig area.They had several tools and paper work they had to do. 

Hard at work! It was getting pretty warm by that time and the kids were tired!

Each area had 3 bones or fossils to find. 

We walked back to the bus and had something cold to drink!

Next we went to Malad Gorge State Park and did a bus tour with a park ranger. 

I forgot my camera but google had some similar photos!

There was a walk out bridge that we could get a pretty good view of the whole gorge!

By this point the kids were hungry and very tired. And we headed to Thousand Springs Hot Springs for dinner and swimming!

Here is the hot springs! It was huge! But sooo hot! It was already about 75/80 outside and warmer than that inside! The kids were excited to swim but there were a lot who asked when it was time to get out!

Madison had fun! She always loves to swim and never complained of how warm it was. There was a deck outside where most of us parents sat and talked. We were right on the river and in the shade. It was nice to relax!

After swimming we had a catered dinner. The we loaded up and headed home. We got back around 10:15 or so. 

We had a lot of fun and made some great memories!!