Trek

Chad and I got asked to join Analisa and Eric Decker, our good friends, as mas and pas at trek this year. It was held on Jul 11-13 at Sellar's Creek. Oh my goodness! I love our youth group so much!

The stake theme was the Amazing Race. We were set up in camp and went out each day with the handcarts to start each day with a challenge. Whoever won the challenge got to leave with their handcart on the "easier" of 2 trails until we got to the next fork in the road and the next challenge. Our little youth group was split into 2 handcarts. Each family had 6 kids. Because we weren't pulling our supplies for camping, the kids had buckets of supplies they would need for the day that had the coolest lid with a cushion so it could double as a stool. The kids took turns pulling, the adults were asked to be hands off. So we cheered, encouraged, helped when needed, took care of the sick and minor injuries, and just enjoyed ourselves!

Our group was pretty light hearted despite the heat. We had a few that got tired easily, and some who did more than their fair share. But everyone got along so well despite little personality differences and it was just fun to watch them interact. And my goodness some of them are so funny!

Back at camp while some camps were rumored to head to their tents to sleep after the trekking, our group would gather around the fire with their stools and play games. At one point Analisa looked up at them and exclaimed "could they be sitting any closer?!" Sure enough, they had their stools pulled so close together they were practically knocking knees. They would laugh, take pictures, sing, laugh some more, and eat... yes, they ate a lot!

The only fighting or disagreements that I'm aware of, were all pretend and in fun. Here Jaedyn is pretending to fight Mya. It lasted all of the 2 seconds it took to take the picture before they busted out laughing at each other.

I wish I could capture the fun better. I have videos of the stake dance and the hilarious moves that some of our boys were cutting. But alas still shots just don't do it justice. I heard tale that some kids and even a couple of the leaders from other wards went home because trek "just wasn't fun nor was it what they expected". I don't know if those rumors are true, but I'm so grateful it wasn't our experience!