Idaho Trip #2. . . Getting there. . .

What a crazy busy summer!!  A week after the Trek we loaded up the truck and headed to Dayton, ID for the annual Beutler Family Reunion that we all look forward to each year.  We were lucky to have Austin come home for the Trek the week before, although we didn't see too much of him with all his friends and dates he had and then him leaving for the Trek, and when he went back to the farm the next Sunday he took Cody with him.  They work long hard days up there and I knew it would be good for Cody to experience what a 15 hour work day feels like. Mady was also gone the week after Trek.  She joined the Hurricane FFA and they had their Summer Ag Tour, where they take four days and travel around the state visiting different agricultural sights and learning about the different aspects of the industry.  They traveled north this year leaving on Wed., July 11.  They traveled to a turkey farm and a mink farm on their way to the KOA campground in Provo.  Mady said the mink farm wasn't too bad, (I remember the mink farmers coming into my dads store in Preston and they stunk SO bad!!) but that the turkey farm made her and the others sick.  The killing floor was pretty graphic and their empty stomachs really turned while they were there.  That night they "camped out" at the KOA and swam in the pool. On Thursday they visited Barnes Bullets in Santequin where they make high dollar ammunition.  They all came home with copper casings that were discarded from the bullet floor. 

That same day Doug and I loaded the two kids left at home, (which was VERY weird, to only have two kids at home) and our own camping gear and headed north for the annual Beutler reunion in Dayton.  We arranged to pick up Mady at Mount Timpanogas Caves that afternoon, and because we didn't want to sit and wait around, we decided to join the FFA group and hike up to the caves.  We bought our tickets online and they told us that it was about a mile and a half hike up to the caves so we planned to arrived early, however because of all the factors slowing us down this trip, we arrived a few minutes late and missed going up with the group.  The Forest Rangers said it was no problem and put us in a later group.  The hike is only a mile and a half, but they give you an hour and a half to get to the caves because it is a 12% grade and has to be taken slowly.  We ended up doing it in 50 minutes and catching up with the FFA kids. (Yay for us!!)

Starting up the trail, so far it is easy.

 

Just keep walking, walking, walking, just keep walking
up the hill. . .. .

The halfway point!!!  Yay!!! (Cami is not sure she wants to keep going).

The three quarter sign!!! YAY!!  Except the steepest part is yet to come!! 
Dalyon skipped and jogged and would go a ways up, then come back and meet us,
while the rest of us kept an even step and breathing cadence just to reach the top. 

We made it!!  We were very hot, and extremely sweaty, but made it!!
The caves stay about 43 degree's year round and it felt so good compared to the
heat outside.  They were well worth the hike! 

Inside the cave it was very tight in place, and very cool.  Cami had on
both her my jackets.  Following the tour which took about an hour, we walked
back down the same trail, which only took 20 minutes (compared to the 50 it took
to hike up!).  We all agreed it was definitely worth the effort to see the caves and hear
the stories about their discoveries and what they were used for until the forest service
took them over.

After the hike and the tour, and the walk down we got the dog out of the
back of the truck and took her on a walk down by the river.  It was just too
tempting to me and I took off my shoes and soaked my feet in the frigid water.
Gracie (the dog) loved running up and down the river and Mady and Cami came
to join me to soak their feet.

 It was fun to hang out with the FFA kids from Dixie High, Desert Hills High and Hurricane High.  Mady said her goodbyes and joined us for the rest of the journey to Dayton that night and the ever anticipated reunion. 

Idaho trip #1

In June my Mom and Dad and Cody and I took a trip to Preston to attend my niece Jessica's wedding.  This is her second marriage and we are all glad to see that she has found a really great guy to share her life with.  She has a little boy who is three (who looks more like her new husband than his biological father), and is expecting a little girl.  They had the ceremony at Willow Flats, a campground above the Cub River canyon east of Preston.  Cody and I stayed with the Beutlers where we got to visit with Austin.  He is living with Grandma and Grandpa Beutler for the rest of the year to work on our cousin Wesley's farm. 

Jessica, her husband Michael Knotts, and her little boy Layne as the
ring bearer.  Michael is the nephew of my Aunt Janae who is married to my
Uncle Billy (my moms brother).  We aren't related except through marriage,
but Jessica was awfully worried.

This is my Mom and Dad and Austin and Cody having dinner after the wedding.
The boys had a great time together and enjoyed getting to know my Dad
a little better.  It was an enjoyable time for all. 

Austin and Cody having bonding time.  Both with laptops and chatting
with girls online.  

While we were in Cub River we went for a drive up to the place where my Grandma Afton grew up.  It has been changed from a homestead to rangeland and a lot of the buildings were gone, but Grandma's house was still there although in rubble.  It was very interesting to visit the place that she grew up and to remember all the stories she used to tell us. 

The house as it sits now.  The overgowth, cows and time have
destroyed it.

This is what it looked like years ago.  This is my Aunt Lanore, Aunt Joy
 and Aunt Maxine (tallest to smallest) in front of Grandma's childhood home. 

We had a very good visit and I'm very happy for Jessica and her new family.  I really enjoyed seeing relatives and visiting places I haven't been for years.  It was a nice trip down memory lane. 

Pioneer Trek 2012

This year our stake took the youth to Wyoming to do the Martins Cove Trek for three days.  The group met on Tuesday night, July 3, at 8 pm at the Stake Center where they had a fireside to learn about some of the stories about the Pioneers as well as to be grouped into "families" for the trek.  Each family consisted of a Ma and Pa, random couples from our stake who work with the youth, and about eight to ten youth who were brothers and sisters.  There were about 25 "families" from our stake who traveled through the night on charter buses to Rock Springs Wyoming where they awoke to breakfast and handcarts.  They kids were supposed to sleep on the buses during the night, but true to teenage expectations, there was little sleep happening. 

This is the drop off at the Stake Center.  They are so clean and organized.  This
is Mady, Austin and Topher (Kris Wilson). 

Ready to go:  Jared Cahoon, Austin, Eric Colson, Topher, Darringer Scow,
and in the middle is Olivia Thayne, who ended up being a treasured sister to Mady.

The first day was fairly easy the kids reported and they traveled with their handcarts to Independence Rock.  It was named Independence because the pioneers needed to be that far in their travels by the Fourth of July if they were going to make it to Salt Lake City before the snow began, and it was significant that our youth traveled there on Independence Day to experience the holiday there. 

Off they go!  Austin is pushing. 

Independence Rock.  The American flag flies on top, and it is a difficult
hike up, the hill is very steep.

Camp that night.  This part of Wyoming is flat and no trees.  It kind of looks
like a gold rush camp. 

Mady and her family having a great time on day two of the Trek. 

They took time to have fun, too.  Mady is jumping rope and getting some pretty
good air under her.  They also took a break by the Sweetwater river to cool off.

Jessica Green and Mady playing in the water trying to keep
their skirts dry.

Austin carrying one of his sisters across the Sweetwater river.  The crossing
was a silent crossing so no one  spoke while they went across.  Three girls from out stake
played their violins while the group crossed and Mady thought it was
a very spiritual experience.  (One of the girls was our cousin Sadi Beutler, another was
Mady's friend Rachel Nielson).  

Mady being carried across the Sweetwater. 

Austins Ma and Pa were Trevor and Rhonda Anderton,
and this was his family.

Mady's Ma and Pa were the Nielsons and this is her family. 

They visited Martins Cove where they had a fireside about the pioneers that died there and in the stories the adults told they substituted some of the names of the kids in their groups.  It was a very spiritual experience for everyone as the adults told them of thier friends dying.  They also received letters from the Pony Express (written from their parents) that they got to read during the quiet times.  The group traveled home on Saturday and arrived about 9 o'clock.  I was surprised to find the kids energized and excited and not exhausted and grumpy.  Each of them only got one blister on their feet and no sunburns or cold sores to remember the experience by.  I think the experience was life changing for some, and definitely memorable to all.