On vacation with 300 youth from our Stake

What a privilege it was to be a Ma and Pa for Trek. It was physically hard at times, spiritually rewarding, fun, and tiring. We were given 8 "kids" ranging from 14 to 17 yrs old. We knew one of them from our ward, but all the others were just a name on a page. It didn't take long for us to all bond and become a family unit. The Stake put in countless hours preparing for this. I can see why it is only done every 4 years. When I saw all the staff up there making sure we were all taken care of, I was very appreciative. They all took time off from work and time away from families to serve these youth. There were just under 300 youth up there. I overheard many conversations of the Stake YM and YW presidencies where the topic was of an individual youth and how they were doing in their particular family. They knew these youth by name. They knew of their strengths and weaknesses and spent hours putting the families together so they would all have a great experience.

As we were cleaning up breakfast the sun came through the trees. It was beautiful. The kids thought it looked like the first vision. I would have to agree.Drink, drink, drink. We heard that over and over again. President Munk (the Stake President) dropped in for our Family Home Evening. They are making bracelets and necklaces. Each bead represented something and had a scripture to go with it.We won most of the tug-of-war's. Shane and I were matched up against Ma and Pa Belot. We won, but I had a headache later. When Ma and Pa Belot realized they were loosing they let go a little which put Shane and I on our rear ends. Later they said they needed a rematch. Um, I think we should stop while we are ahead.Kyrsten shooting a pistol. Shane and Pa Lewis. This picture is actually of Shane's shoe. It isn't the full shoe. As he was walking the last day the soles of his boots started falling off. One of the youth helped out by stepping on the edge of it. Yep Shane lost his "Sole" on Trek. Good thing it was the last day. He walked about a mile without the soles. He said he could feel every rock.

The Steen family. We were on our way home for showers and sugar. Seriously. I went to the store later Saturday night and everything that looked good to me had sugar in it.

What a great bunch of kids these were.

A few fun memories

- Stealing a few flags from other companies.

-Bubble gum toothpaste (packed the wrong trial size toothpaste).

-Shane losing his "Sole".

-Watching the kids wash each others hair. Apparently there is talent in washing hair.

-Pa Steen breaking up a wedding of one of our kids. He had to have a talk with the girls Pa. (Pa Belot) Both Pa's told them they needed to wait a few years. They took it pretty hard.

-Are those cows or is Sam snoring?

-The Belot's skit. Seriously I couldn't stop laughing. I hope someone got video of it.