what I did on my vacation

I can't believe March is over!  I guess I'd better post January before it gets too far in the past.

In January my parents were planning a trip to visit my youngest brother in North Dakota.  The plan was for them to take along four additional chairs that he purchased from a local store now that he has a kitchen/dining area big enough for the complete set.  Additionally, the plan was to conserve gas by driving the car, not the truck.  When my brother invited me to come too, I asked if there would be room, and the parents said, no, sorry.  So I told my brother that there wasn't room for both me and the chairs and so I wouldn't be coming.  Apparently he really wanted me to come, because not long afterwards, my parents said they had decided they could put two of the chairs on top and leave me a place to sit.  I assume that my brother talked them into it.

So in the middle of January I took two weeks off work to drive to North Dakota with my parents.

What is there to do in North Dakota in January, you ask?  Who cares?  I typically go on vacation to see people, not do things.  I spent quality time with my bro and sis-in-law, read books to the niece and nephews, helped design a project, went to the fabric store, sewed, read books to myself, sewed, played with the wooden train set (under duress), sewed, tweaked the project design, sewed, went to the fabric store again, sewed, went to the grocery store, sewed, babysat, sewed, went to the library, sewed, read more books to the niece and nephews, sewed, tweaked the project design again, and sewed.

Sewed - that word sure looks strange, doesn't it?

My brother and I really feed off of each other when it comes to creativity, and I was super excited about the finished project - this indoor playhouse in the form of a teepee:

Happy Halloween!

I just happened to have access to three pumpkins, all about the same size, so I tried my hand at, well, hands.

Simplifying - but with style.

I've decided that I own too many dishes.  Years ago I bought a couple of coordinating four-serving sets of ceramic dishes that I really liked at the time.  I've also collected some bright colored, plastic plates and bowls and cups from Walmart.  I tend to want one of every color and as new colors came available in the same style, I added to my collection. 

Not a problem, really, except that I live alone, and don't really cook much, and so don't eat off of my dishes very often.  Which leads to a bigger problem.  I'm lazy.  Why should I wash the dishes when I can just grab a clean one from the cupboard  Nobody else lives here, so I end up waiting to do the dishes until I haven't got any left.  At work, I keep one bowl, one plate, and one glass, as well as one fork, spoon, and knife.  Since I only have one, I wash it every time I use it because I know I can't just grab another one.  I have several times had the thought that I should do the same thing at home.  Drawback?  What if I have company?  What will they eat off of?  This week I came up with what I think is a plan to satisfy my whimsical side while making my lazy side more prone to do the dishes.  I will have one set (bowl, plate, cup) of dishes to use at home.  Here's the fun part.  I'll use a different set each month!  So now I'm on the lookout for fun dishes that I can get individually to match each month.  And I'm going to give away the 'just get out another dish' dishes.  So I can use just one set, that I will wash every time, and if I do have guests, they can use a set from another month.

I'm still keeping all my pots and pans and mixing bowls and such.  I can cook, even if I don't take the time to do it very often.

AUGUST - Girls Camp

Typical girl's camp, what can I say?  Awesome devotionals, fun times, great food, service project, etc.  Couldn't have done it without everyone who contributed in any way.  I just want to say one thing...

We were at Rendezvous Beach, at Bear Lake, during Raspberry Days.  We of course didn't realize that we would be there during one of their busiest weekends of the summer until it was much too late to change our plans.  The girls handled it marvelously!  It turned out to be a great object lesson for being in the world but not of the world.  During some of our most powerfully spiritual activities we were surrounded by worldly people doing worldly things, and several times other campers tried to entice our girls to join their games instead of remaining focused on Girls Camp activities.

JULY - J2R

(That's Journey 2 Remember - our Trek theme)

This is going to be a long one - deal with it or skip it, your choice.  The pictures are scattered throughout in the appropriate places, but aren't captioned.

TUESDAY - 6 JULY
Tuesday evening everyone dropped most of their gear off at the stake center to be loaded by the experts.  After I got home from doing that, I was putting the finishing touches on my costume...  sewing the bonnet brim down, hemming the petticoat,  adding a drawstring to the skirt's elastic waistband.  My seam-ripper rolled off the edge of the sewing machine and I instinctively tried to catch it between my legs.  Unfortunately for me, it was sideways and my 'catch' ended up stabbing the pointed end deep into my left thigh, about 4 inches above my knee.  Luckily, my first aid kit was on the list of stuff to bring with me the next morning instead of leaving it with the rest of my gear, so I had my bandaids and ointment handy.

Short commercial here:  If you've never used the Nexcare Tattoo bandaids, you're missing out.  I started using them several years ago and never buy any other brand.  They stick well, they mostly don't come off until you take them off, and who doesn't like wearing bandaids with Cars characters or pirate tattoos, or Disney Princesses or many other varied and fun pictures?  I put one on my leg that night and took it off when I got home from Trek four days and several river crossings later.

WEDNESDAY - 7 JULY
Wednesday at 6:00 we met at the stake center and met our assigned families.  I was an aunt in a family with ma and pa and ten kids - five girls and five boys.  We had a few minutes to meet as a family and get to know each other a bit, and we were each given the name and story of a pioneer counterpoint.  (Mine was Elizabeth Crook Panting.)  Then we loaded onto three school buses and headed out.  One of the buses lost a radiator hose just after we passed through Kemmerer Wyoming.  Our bus followed that one back to Kemmerer while the other one continued on.  We were all grateful that it happened so close to a town.  As it was we were about two hours behind when we finally made it to camp.















Each family had their own fire pit with four tents - one for the daughters, one for the sons, one for the ma and pa, and one for aunts and/or uncles.  Each family also designed a flag to post on their handcarts.















While we were making our flag, we unfortunately lost one of our boys (the strong one above) who had been assigned to our family by mistake and was claimed by his 'real' family.  After all the families were settled, we played some simple pioneer games - stick pull, stick toss, hoop toss, tug-of-war, etc.  Then, while a truck came into the site and sprayed for mosquitoes, we moved to the other end of the small valley and the three companies (one from each bus) came together and had a square dance.  Then dinner, followed by a devotional.  One of the camp missionaries told us the story of Ephraim Hanks - his adventures and his obedience to the church leaders.

THURSDAY - 8 JULY
Thursday morning we got back on the buses and traveled to Independence Rock - a landmark on the trail that if the pioneers reached by July 4th, Independence Day, they knew they'd be safely in the Salt Lake valley before the winter storms began.  (The Willie group didn't even start their journey until August.)  We had fun clambering around and reading the carved inscriptions that had been left by the pioneers and other visitors telling what date they had arrived at the rock.  Some of the earlier inscriptions, that had to have been hand chiseled out of the surface of the rock, were done in an exquisite copperplate font that almost looked like it had been done by a machine.  They were incredible!  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the best ones.


From there we got back on the buses and traveled to Martin's Cove.  When we arrived, we watched a video that recreated the experience related by 13 year-old Heber McBride: "Tongue Nor Pen Can Never Tell the Sorrow".  Then we had a short walk to a small area called Dan's Cove, where our stake president gave the youth a blessing.   After the blessing, those whose pioneer counterpoints had died on the trail were sent on to Martin's Cove while the rest of us had to watch them leave.  I've heard examples of this activity before where the trek families have really bonded beforehand and are very traumatized when some of them 'die'.  Our group dynamics weren't really set up that way, though.  After a bit, the rest of us were sent on toward the cove, single file, with about 100 feet between each person so we had to (got to) make the trek in solitude.  It was a good time for reflection.


After the walk through Martin's Cove, we went for another walk - with nearly empty handcarts - to the Sweetwater river.  When we arrived at the river all sat on the bank, in silence at first, then quietly humming hymns. Four strong young men had been pre-selected from the youth of the stake, and as we sat there they each invited someone to be carried across the river.  They continued to carry people across until everyone who wanted to be carried was on the other side.  Then the rest of us walked across as well.  The whole day was really neat but this was the part that really touched me.  Seeing those young men carrying the first four children (the smallest, youngest ones first) across really tugged my heartstrings.  After they were brought to my attention in that way, I noticed those same young men jumping in to help push handcarts or to make sure someone had enough water or was wearing a hat, or whatever needed doing, just generally making sure that nobody who needed help went without.

FRIDAY - 9 JULY
Friday was the day of the actual 'trek' part of Trek - the 10 mile hike with full handcarts.  Up early, tents and such packed, water and buckets loaded on the handcarts. (Each person used a 5 gallon bucket to carry their personal belongings.)  Ten long miles.  We did the traditional women's pull that I've heard tell about - the men and boys all walked ahead to the top of a large hill, leaving the women and girls to bring the handcarts.  I half expected the boys to be allowed to give help as 'angels' near the top, but they didn't.  They had to watch, lined up silently on either side of the trail, while their sisters and mothers, real ones in some cases, struggled to haul the handcarts to the top.  They all had their hats off, in hands held over their hearts, and more than one had tears in their eyes.  This was the part of the trek that touched the hearts of the young men more than any other.  When we got back to the Willie area campground, we got back onto the buses and drove to Rock Creek for our final night, then up Saturday morning and home.


There was lots more to say, of course, but most of it is in my private journal blog - it's too personal to share.

my idea worked

Just a little bit of bragging here. We had a primary activity this morning, and I came up with a great idea for a treasure hunt. Simple enough that the younger kids could participate, and still fun for the older group too. I picked 10 traditional Christmas carols and found a graphic to represent each one... like this:... and posted them on 10 different rooms in the church. We gave the same picture to the kids, and they had to find the room and then sing the right song to the teacher waiting in the room in order to get the next picture. After they sang the final song, they got their treasure - bags of leftover Halloween candy as far as I could tell, with some Reese's Peanut-Butter trees added in. (I wasn't in charge of the treat - just the process of getting them to find it.) I got sneaky for the final room - we're in a fairly old building that has one classroom in the basement along with the boiler room and some closets. The stairs down to that classroom are tucked in at the end of short hallway that leads past a rest-room and to the stage door. I let the kids pass it several times looking for the final picture before I pointed them in the right direction. As far as I could tell, everybody had a lot of fun.