Trek

(I will post pictures...when I discover where I put the CD :o( I have a DVD slideshow/movie of pictures, but I couldn't get it to post...so I will have to wait for the CD to surface...)

"In July 2009, seventy-six youth from the Lafayette Stake participated in a re-enactment of the Mormon handcart pioneer movement..."

Mark and I had the opportunity to be a "Ma" and "Pa" to 9 kids ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old. It was simply remarkable.

We dressed in "period" style clothing, the women in dresses to their ankles, long sleeve shirt and bonnets, the men in trousers or overalls, button up long sleeve shirts (and suspenders) and hats. We wore normal tennis shoes or hiking boots :o)

It was incredible to watch the youth. The first day, we walked the longest and were given the least amount of food. We had a tin of crackers and some cheese and a mason jar of trail mix for lunch (for all 11 of us to share). We walked and walked and walked, and when we got to camp, we had dinner-- "onion soup". It looked and tasted like brown water with little floating things in it (rice, we like to tell ourselves ;o) ). Incredibly, when we handed it to the kids, they just sat there silent for a while eating it. Not complaining. Not saying anything. Just balancing the tin they were to eat out of on their knees and staring at it. Gradually they started talking and joking about it a little, but there was not any complaining. I was surprised :o).

That night, there was a staged "raid" where men on horseback with guns and masks came into the camp, shooting and yelling and asking for our leader. The "trail boss" went to talk to them, and as a group we could hear them talking. The bottom line was "you Mormon? y'ain't welcome here!" So in the middle of the night, on the supposed threat of gunpoint, we had to move our camp --UP HILL--to another location. As parents, Mark and I knew this was going to happen, so we were able to help the kids. When we struck camp again, we were told that we needed to "debrief" the group :o) We had a discussion about how the kids were feeling, and what they thought. Then we had family prayers and went to bed again.

The next morning, we had more food --corn mush. :o) I thought it was pretty good actually, kinda like sweet polenta. The best part of breakfast was watching how overjoyed everyone became when someone came around with "great news!" --We got TWO WHOLE SAUSAGE LINKS A PERSON FOR BREAKFAST TODAY! yay! :-D The kids were SO happy. To be honest, I was so happy too! :-D SAUSAGE! JOY!! :-D

Perspective is a crazy, crazy thing :o)

That day after we had walked a few miles, we went to a property near the river and had a sort of fireside about the three boys who carried people from the Martin Handcart company across the frozen river to enter the Salt Lake Valley. To commemorate their sacrifice, the boys on our TREK lowered all of the hand carts down the steep bank into the wildcat creek, pulled all the cars across, and then carried the women across the creek. There were a lot of tears that happened.

While we were all across the creek talking and playing a bit in the water, the man who gave us the fireside stood at the bank dressed in military gear and announced that the Mormon Battalion was being mustered, and that all able bodied men needed to leave. NOW.

As we watched the adult men and boys leave, there were MORE tears as we realized that they were leaving us stranded across the creek.

The wife of the man who called the boys to arms gathered us on the sandy banks and we had a little talk. A talk about women; about strength; about Faith. About the work that we are called upon to do as sisters. About a work that sometimes we have to carry on seemingly alone. About being able to do that work.

As Ma and daughters, the girls and I made a circle and said a prayer. We asked for angles to help us. And then we set about getting the carts across the creek and back up the river bank

So! While the men and boys had lowered the carts down the creek bed and pushed them across, they were able to talk to one another. Now, the women and girls had the task to push the carts back across the creek, and UP the now slippery and very steep bank without talking.

As we pushed, the men and boys were not allowed to help, or saying anything as encouragement. They lined the bank and had to watch. And they sang hymns.

It was incredible to watch the sisterhood and strength of the women in that Trek. As a cart would come forward, the girls and Ma would get in front and behind, and then their sisters from other carts would come and help it across to rocky creek. And then they would grab the cart and somehow manage to get it up the slippery back. As soon as the cart was up, it was pulled out of the way, and then everyone went back to help the others.

I slipped under the cart as we pulled ours up--the banks were clay. The repeated passing made them extremely slippery, and they were very, very steep.

After all the carts were up, we had a group hug and a big cry, and a lot of people thought the women’s pull was over--but no. The trek so far had been relatively flat terrain. To get to the creek however, we had gone down a big asphalt hill. And you guessed it! Now the women had to pull the cart, dripping and everything, up the biggest hill we encountered in Trek. Without talking.

There were lots of things said silently when we climbed that hill. A lot of prayers offered and answered. I was so proud of the girls. All of them.

We all of us learned something about respect for women that day.

Anyway, as TREK developed, we walked less, played more, and were fed more :o) We all learned an appreciation for what we have. I didn't hear barely any complaints as we went along. For comparison, let’s just say there was WAY less complaining on trek, then on, oh, the 2 mile hike for girls camp. I don't know why, and I was pleasantly surprised :o)

One day we had lots of pioneer games, and got to shoot powder rifles, make taffy, wash our hair (JOY!), have a dance with people playing the fiddle, baked bread over the fire.

Oh, yes, the bread. THAT was an adventure in itself! The ma and girls made the bread, measuring out the ingredients without any measuring utensils. Yes, you heard right! No utensils! CRAZY! But, not to fear, I had been practicing at home for this exact purpose. Pouring a teaspoon of salt into my hand and staring at the volume it occupied in the sup of my hand, for example. But anyway, the ma and girls mixed up the bread, and then while the youth went off to play, I went over to my friend Ma Janene and we kneaded the bread together! It was SO FUN! :-D Anyway, after we broke camp and moved on, we let the bred rise all day in the cart. It got pretty bumpy, and at one point ours toppled off. And landed in the dirt. But! I didn't care, and neither did the kids. :o) I picked it up off the ground, picked out the little bits of stick, brushed off the dirt, and put it back on the cart. We cooked it that night, and every last piece of it was eaten. With a grateful smile :-D And, oh, was it yummy!

One of the last things we did as a TREK group was had a big, big feast when we made it to ZION :o) After we had eaten, we moved the chairs into a big circle, and we did something life changing called "affirmation". During affirmation, the group was divided into three smaller groups. When your group was called, you would go into the center of the circle and the remaining people would put their heads down. Someone would call out some trait, like: "this person was kind to me", "this person has a testimony of the savior"," this person stand up for what they believe in," "this person is my friend,"...etc. After a trait was called out you would go around and touch three people to whom you thought the quality applied on the shoulder. You would do about 15 traits, and then the groups switched. Man-oh-man, were there a lot of tears! The spirit was so strong, and it was such a powerful witness for many to know that people are watching them, and that they have these wonderful qualities that they didn't even know about. After affirmation, and more group hugs, we had testimony meeting. The Ma’s and Pa’s were asked not to say anything, but to let the youth have all the time. It was so lovely. There was one Ma who did give her testimony, and it was very powerful. I was very humbled by the whole experience. I tried my best to be a good Ma…but I wasn’t so good at it :o( Our poor kids! :o) I think they all loved Mark, so that gives me hope :o)

As I watched this video again to post it, I was struck by how strongly I feel connected to the people I went on this TREK with, youth and leaders. It was such an incredible experience, and I am so humbled and grateful to have been a part of it. As a leader I gain incredible respect for the youth, for PARENTS! (man-oh-man! did I ever!) and for the pioneers. I am so grateful for their sacrifices.

Mark to the Rescue

So!

This story about wabbits is bitter sweet.

Ahem:


Once upon a time in the spring, Mark and I were doing laundry

(note: doing laundry happened more than once in the spring)

To do laundry, we go down into the basement of our appartment building. Its nice in the basement kinda. It smells like lint and laundry detergent. And there is a giant picture of a frog painted on the wall (although, it has a tail... does that make it an adolescent tad pole?)

Anyway, on this particular occasion, we were downstairs doing laundry with the frog on the wall, when we hear scurrying:

"Mark...do you hear something?!"

listening ..... scritch, scritch, scritch....

"Is the dryer making that noise?"

more listening..... scritch, scritch, scritch....

"I think its coming from the window..."

Since the laundry room is in the basement, there are fire escape window wells on the wall behind the drier. The windows are all boarded up and we noticed that some of the boards had been gnawed on at the corners....

"Mark!"

scritch, scritch, scritch....

"There it was again!"

scritch, scritch, scritch....

"Wait...did you see something?"

"Its a SQUIRREL! its TRAPPED! Quick! SAAAAAAVE HIIIIM!"

Brave Sir Mark when and looked at the hole where the critter had been gnawing, and it turns out it was not a squirrel, it was...

it was...

it was... A BABY WABBIT!

Brave Sir Mark went and got his gloves in case the baby wabbit had germs, and then he tried to take out the board to let the little guy out...




but he couldn't get the board to come out of the window. (note: the cattails on the wall are from the adolescent tadpoles habitat, FYI)

Instead, we went round to the top outside and took off the grate.



Brave Sir Mark went down into the scary fire escape window hole to save the baby wabbit and you know what he found?!





He found FOUR BABY WABBITS!



Poor little things!

The grating on the window cover is wide enough that they fall down the little holes. Infact, once mark got them out, they were so scared, one of them jumped back into the hole...and fell 3 feet down again. It was a sickening noise when it hit the bottom.

Mark got back in and saved it, I thought it had been killed, but Mark said he thought he would be ok.

Some of the babies were already dead in the window hole, either because they died on impact, or they starved, or some combination, but most of them were alive. Mark got them out and I put them in a box and we moved them around to the front of the building so they wouldn't jump back in the hole. We called animal control, and they said that if they were gone in the morning, that they would be alright, but if they were still there, that we should call them.

They were gone in the morning, so I hope that they will be alright.

We also called Purdue and told them about the baby rabbits falling through the grates on the windows. I hope they put mesh over the top of it. What a scary rabbit hole to fall into!

Lil' Wabbit

Mark and I loooooooooove all the fauna that lives around Purdue Village. You may have noticed.

There are squirrels. And Hawks. And wabbits! :-D

This spring, we have got the chance to see more of the lil' baby wabbits since we were taking care of our garden, and we would be out a lot after work taking care of it. When we would come it, it was juuuuust starting to get dark, the PERFECT time to see wabbits!

One night, when I was coming in, I about STEPPED on one. No lie! And the little thing, he just stayed there!

I was amazed.

I ran up stairs and told mark all about it!

Then I went back to the garden to pick up some more tools, and on the way back out! I almost stepped on him again!

And he STILL didn't move!

I ran back and told mark.

It started to rain, but we wen't down stair to see wabbit, and he was still there! (i think he may have been sick :o( sad day)

It was raining pretty bad, and Mark picked up wabbit and took him over closer to the buildings so he didn't get hurt. I help him too. He was just a lil' handful of fluff! :-D

Then I freaked out about germs and ran upstairs and washed my hands. Then I ran back down to see Mark and wabbit.

We put wabbit down, and sat and talked with him for a while, and fed him grass.


I sure loved that little wabbit, he was our friend. I hope he got to grow up.

I went home and looked online, and found out that we probably shouldn't have touched that baby wabbit since it would smell like us after we handled it, and there is chance that the mommy wabbit wouldn't love the baby any more.

I sure hope he was ok, and that he got to live a good life. He was a good wabbit.

Hiking

Well...I don't know if it can actually be called hiking, or if it was more walking...but whatever you call it, me and Mark went out into Purdue's grounds and had a lovely afternoon :o)

I sure married one handsome boy! :-D



There were berries......and trees...

...and flowers...

and...CANDY CORN!! :-D


only its ok if you think these "candy corn" just look like dead leaves. I won't hold it against you.

:o)

Good Luck Elder Higareda!

So! Alex Higareda got his mission call! He is going to Missouri! :-D

We made him a cake for his going away dinner as a surprise, his mommy asked for me to make it look like a big missionary tag (you can see Marks little one in the corner that I used for a model).

It was tres leches, and really yummy they said!

Good luck Alex!

Girls Camp!

I love girls camp! :o) There is something just so wonderful about getting to spend a week with the MJ. You learn so much about them, and you really get to see how they relax and open up. Suddenly, clothes and jewelry and makeup is so less important, waaaay overshadowed by bug spray and sun screen and calamine lotion :o)

I always feel like it is such a triumph to get girls to come camp. I know if they go, they will love it, and it will help them love themselves.

Here is a picture of the girls from our branch before we set of to camp. All of the MJ from our branch were able to go except one, who had already graduated (she decided not to go).


Two of the girls are not pictured here, since they are already at camp :o) This is the OTHER pre-camp sleep over we have, the night just before girls camp!

It's funny when you post things like this a year late.

It makes me realize all the changes that can happen in a year. Some good, some really painful.

Not all of the girls in this picture were able to come back the next year to camp. It makes me think about this talk from President Monson, "Sugar Beets and the worth of a soul."

I wonder how much will change in a year from now...hopefully for the better :o)

Pre-Camp edition two: Finding Firewood and the Sleep over

So! There are lots of things that you need to do before camp to certify: coooooooking, fiiiiiiire safety, first aiiiiiiiiid, surviiiiival.... just the sort of thing to do at a sleep over with a bunch of girls.

So! the MJ came over to our apartment, and we all squeezed in and had a pre-camp certification sleep over. We did the fire safety stuff in the fire pit at the park (lots of fun!)

See, in order to do fire safety, you need to actually BUILD a fire. This involves fire wood. I had never realized what an immense blessing it was to have a wood pile at my parents house. Sure, it was not really all that fun to have to go out all the way to the back yard to get the wood... but when you consider the alternatives, that was a really nice set up.

Let me tell you about the alternatives.

I was thinking with it being summer and so many people camping I would be able to buy firewood at the grocery store. So, I went to Walmart. nope. Payless? nope! Marsh? Meijers? Home Depot?!?...nope, nope nope! ! Turns out that firewood is a seasonal item. A CHRISTMAS seasonal item. :o)

I was so confident in my notion that I could buy wood at the store that I didn't think to call ahead to see if there was any fire wood to purchase at the store. So, on the afternoon of the activity (thank you procrastination) I had a car full of groceries which needed to be cooked on the open fire...and no firewood :o(

So... having exhausted all of the stores in the West Lafayette and Lafayette area, I started asking strangers if they knew any place to buy fire wood :o) I love asking strangers :o) They are always so helpful. The only problem is, I have a really bad sense of direction, and I am too embarrassed to ask for clarification on where to go. Schuyler? Sagamore? Cumberland? Creasy? ... Wha?...

Generally, I just smile and thank the people and then set off in the generally direction they pointed. At one point, I was really excited that I had hit the jackpot:

"sure, there is the store just down the road on the right, they have palates of fire wood, just go on in side and ask for it"

Palates of firewood!? :-D :-D

I kept driving, and driving, and driving, looking "just down the road on the right" ...nothing. Corn to my left. Corn to my right.

I finally see a store on my right so I pull over. It was kind of hard to find the front door, and when I walk in I have the strange feeling that I am not in the right place to find firewood. My first hint? The designer bath tubs.

Anyway, it turns out that they had palates that people could use for firewood, but not to cook over. I think the nice lady could sense that I needed help, because she pulled out the phone book and started calling around, trying to see if anyone was selling fire wood. No luck!

She then said that she thought she saw a "FIREWOOD FOR SALE" sign when she drove to work every day. I was desperate, so I jumped back into my car

2 hours later, I was completely lost... still no fire wood...and now no gas in my car :o)

I seriously considered cutting down a tree.

I pulled into a gas station, and LO!

The blessed sign!!! IS IT TRUE?!?

FIREWOOD FOR SALE! :-D

it was providence.

angles sang.

I was so happy!

I bought extra just in case, and as I pulled out of the gas station and started home, I pulled behind a truck. Guess what it was carrying?!

Firewood.

The universe smiled :o) and the goose mocked me over the phone. he he!

I made it home safe and sound, we had a lovely evening building fires, cooking hot dogs and s'mores, and safely extinguishing them. Thanks girls! It was lots of fun!

Girls Camp!! (Pre-Camp edition one: the first aid kits)

So! Heather (our MJ president) was moving. This means that we wanted to do things with wonderful Heather before she moved away after she graduated from Purdue. So! Because of this, we changed around when we did activities in MJ with the other Lafayette units. Ultimately, this means that we missed pre-camp with the other units. Meaning that I had to do pre-camp, by myself, with all the girls.

So what did I do?


I MADE FIRST AID KITS!! :-D

I don't know why I thought making these would alleviate my stress about doing pre-camp, but that was my reasoning. :o) AND, it was my FIRST time using my SEWING machine by mySELF! And, I had to call my mom on skpye so she could help me load the bobbin...! Bobbins are trixy little things.

The inspiration came from these things my mom makes out of place mats and ziploc bags. They are super cool.

I went to the store and bought all kinds of things to go into the first aid kits (band aids, medical tape and gauze, sheets to rip into cravat bandages, disinfecting wipes, ets). I came home, separated everything into piles, and went to work:



I think the hardest part was that those slippery little ziplock bags would NOT hold STILL! I eventually had to tape them down, THEN sew them into place, then remove the tape. Oye. Oye vay.

This is what they looked like when they were finished! I stuffed all there little things into the little bags where they went, they were SO COOL! :-D





I even put these little ties on the front and back so that you could tie them shut! I was so proud!

I showed them to my mom, and she thought they were a great idea!:

Me: LOOK MOMMMY!!!! :-D I created this MASTERPIECE!!

Mom: WhoA! Great job sweetie!

Me: Aren't they COOL?! Look! Look there is a little place for this, and this, and THESE! (etc.)

Me: SO. What do you think.

Mom: I think they are great! but....are you going to leave them like that?

Me: Ummm, yeah! Why....why, wait, what do you mean?"

Mom: Well, they're...."functional", but...

Me: Oh...Oh, you mean they look kinnda ugly since my stitches are exposed and pretty bad looking?

Mom: Yes :o)

He he!

So, I had some ribbon and some extra white fabric and some fabric paint... and with some brainstorming with mommy I came up with THIS!!



and THIS!!



and THESE!!



Mommy has the best ideas!! :-D

I must say. these were stinking adorable. The white on the front is even a POCKET, so you can keep things in them. I love them. I have the "functional" one still here at the house. The be-dazzled ones went to the girls. Yay! Thanks mommy! they LOVED them! :-D

Panna Cotta cake...in VANILLA!

:-D

So, I might have mentioned that the chocolate panna cotta cake was SUPER rich. To the point, I would say, that it was almost not.....enjoyable. Wait, that is not the right word. Hmmm, it was yummy alright, but it was like CHOCOLATE. like REALLY CHOCOLATE. Still good, but really really CHOCOLATE.

The gooth and I decided that we thought vanilla panna cotta would be AMAZING with a yellow or white sponge cake in the middle, and with fresh fruit.

So. I couldn't wait too long to try it out.

and man were we RIGHT! :-D I made one for the Sociedad de Soccoro activity that we had and it was SO good. I didnt get a picture though :o( Sorry! We devoured it too quickly. And. I must say. I think it was the best cake I have ever had in my life. Period. And I have experienced a lot of cake in my life, you may have noticed. It was light, it was creamy, the panna cotta was not too sweet, and it was so, so good with the fruit. So good.

If you have ever tried my mom's panna cotta you would know: its life changingly delicious. Just imagine it in cake form. SO GOOD!

So good in fact I came home and made mark another one since there were no leftovers. And, since I was lazy when I made the second one (it was, like, less than 24 hours since I made the first one after all and I was out of sour cream) I use pudding mix instead of the panna cotta. *GASP!* I know, I know, but! the good news is it worked out great! I like mixing a box of vanilla pudding and a pox of white chocolate pudding, and using some cream, or less milk, to help it thicken up nice and firm if I am going to use it instead of pastry cream. But listen here: you need to try making it with the real panna cotta, just once. I don't know what it is about that stuff that makes it so good....but it is increadible. You know what, dont even worry about making it into a cake, just make some and stick it into a bowl, and put some fruit on the top. Mmmmmmmm. Paaaaaana coooooottaaaaaaaa......

Anyway, if you do want to make it in cake form, I will tell you this trick: I like making cakes with pudding or cream fillings in spring form pans, but when I bake the cake in my 9in rounds, the cake never seems to fill all the way to the edge of the spring form pan, and then my filling pools in the edged! Totally a bummer! This is also a problem with ice cream cakes, and then the icecream leaks out everywhere. Total bummer as well. So! One day I had a great idea: why don't I just bake the cak in my spring form pan first! Then it will be the perfect size! :-D So, I do now. I will just put the whole cake mix into the pan, and then cut it in half when it comes out. Perfect size! Now you may be thinking "good heavens! that is really got to be THICK!" and you are right. It is. To help it cook better, I take a sheet of tin foil and fold it and fold it and fold it until it is like a thick, squat little rectangle that I stick into the middle of the batter. It helps the cake cook evenly, and it "bakes itself out" [meaning that you wont have a little piece of metal in your cake making a hole, as the cake cooks, the tine foil will rise out, until when its done you will only have the tin foil lying on the top that you can lift out]. ANYWAY, I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I do it this way when I will be having a layered cake in my spring form that I want the bread to go all the way to the edges. Call me crazy.

After the cake bakes, I let it cool and then cut it in half. I leave on piece in the bottom, put frozen fruit on top, poured on the mostly thickened panna cotta, and then stuck it in the freezer to set for a bit. Then I put the other piece of cake, the rest of the panna cotta, and then fruit on the top. Its TOTALLY yummy!

Marks had just blueberries since he likes it like that :o)



Anyway! Wanted to share!

More on Mothers Day

In the Spanish Branch, they gave us flowers! My friend Claudia wasn't able to make it, and so I got a flower for her that I wanted to take over to her. When we got the flowers, they both looked lovely, and pretty much identical.


So, I put her flower carefully in the back seat in the shade with a paper towell wrapped around the stem. My flower, I proudly carried in my hand holding it out for Mark to smell it every, oh, 5 seconds or so (his favorite part I think ;o) ). We made a stop to visit someone, and I set my flower on the dash in the front seat while we ran inside.

When we came back out, the flowers DEFINITELY did not look the same any more.

Guess which flower THIS is:.....




Lets jsut say flowers don't look quite this good baked. At least Claudia's flower was the one that survived!

It looked this pretty when we gave it to her the next day too :o)

I didn't get a picture of mine, but believe me, it was pretty conclusive proof that flowers are NOT preserved with heat. No, no, no. :o)

Live and learn!