Ashley's Blog: Trek 2012! (I told you I would post about it!)

Yay! So I finally got some of the pictures that were taken on Trek! They are pretty good! We were all SUPER dirty. I had the most amazing experience on Trek. I wish I could go like every year! Not what the actual pioneers did though. Just the 3-5 day walk with a temporary family. I was just planning to put on the first day of what I wrote in my journal. It's pretty long though. But, If you'd like to read it your welcome to.

Trek was an amazing experience and if I could ever go again, I would! My family was amazing and I really feel like they were my family. Trek was fun and spiritual. Although I think they could’ve done a little more on the spiritual side.
The first day, June 7, 2012, was the day we took off. Since I was in Company A, I left at 5:30. We were supposed to be there 45 minutes before our departure time so I was at the church at 4:45 a.m. As we were freezing our butts off (It wasn’t actually to cold we just were slightly cold but we were super excited which made us feel more cold ;) our family slowly arrived. Kimberly and I were there first. Then Sydnee, Jendaya and Zane showed up. Eventually our whole family (at least the ones coming anyway) was there. Turns out that Braden, our Pa, couldn’t come though because he had to work so we got a new one instead, his name is Travis. He smelled super good when he got there. He smelt like cologne and me and Sydnee kept secretly smelling him (hehe). Oh ya and somewhere along the line when we were standing outside we discovered that Sami had forgotten our baby! Sydnee, Kimberly, and I had made him. His name was Luke Wally Wall. Well actually his last name WAS wall but since Braden couldn’t come his name was Luke Wally Allred ;).
At around 5:25 we all started loading up in cars. I was put in a car with Syd, Jendaya, and Jake. A nice older man was driving us. He told us a few stories on the way to Dugway. We were all falling asleep in the car to the sound of him telling stories. We were quite tired.
We arrived at the Chapel in Dugway around 6:30 a.m. We were still freezing our butts off! They did give us oatmeal though, which was warm... Can you believe Kimberly has never had oatmeal?!?! When Kimberly said she had never eaten oatmeal before Jendaya said Kimberly lived in a box.
After our oatmeal and after we got all of our things packed up on the handcart, we started trekking. We walked and walked and walked and walked. It was a VERY long walk. We talked most of the way and took turns pushing and pulling the handcart. Kimberly and I played would you rather. Sami and Travis answered a few occasionally.
When we got to our first stop the co- captains caught up with us. We had forgotten they were supposed to stay with us. I kind of wish we had left them behind though because they made us stay behind the entire group and we were behind for pretty much the rest of the trek.
During lunch break we all ate our lunches. I had a big sandwich from Wal Mart, a granola bar, a fig newton bar, (which Kimberly has also never had, She does live in a box!) some grapes, beef jerky, and a few other things that I can’t think of at the moment. We had a short fire side at the lunch stop and they talked to us about the pioneers and what they were rationed. We each got a little bag of flower in remembrance of the pioneers. It was filled with how much they were rationed each day. The bag of flour had a little quote on it that said,
“Let us never forget that we have a marvelous heritage received from great and courageous people who endured unimaginable suffering and demonstrated unbelievable courage for the cause they loved. You and I know what we should do. God help us to do when it needs to be done.” –Gordon B. Hinckley-
After we finished our lunches we started trekking again. The leaders told us we had about five more miles left but, let me tell ya it was WAY more than five miles… At least it felt like it anyway. It consisted of walking up and down many hills. Our co-captains kept making us stop though so we were behind the whole group. Eventually Travis got a little anxious and he started pulling harder on the cart. Kimberly, Sydnee, Jordan, and I were all with him. We made it ahead of everyone in our group. Eventually Travis and Kimberly took off and we were left behind.
Jordan, Sydnee and I talked while we walked. We each complained a little about our feet but we still realize it was much harder for the pioneers. Then we were talking about how it would have been cool to have been given a kind of disability before we came. Things like, you have to wear your sweater the whole time or you have to walk without your shoes for a day. It would have been kind of cool if we did that but hard at the same time.
After not seeing Travis and Kimberly for a while we figured we were almost there. We kept telling ourselves, “It’s just over this hill!” But guess what? It wasn’t over that hill, or the next one. When the adults would pass us with their 4 wheelers we would cross our fingers and hope they would tell us we were almost there. They just smiled and drove past. This meant MORE walking.
Soon enough we were at the campsite. We were all totally pooped! About half an hour later the rest of our family appeared and we started setting up our tents. We got all of our things set up and put together. Then we all lied down. Exhausted! Sami checked her feet for blisters. She had four! None for me!  Kimberly wanted to practice stick pull. We did and she beat me every time. Then she wanted to arm wrestle. We did, and I beat her every time. ;) I lost to Sami though. Hehe
Later we all went up the hill for dinner. Dinner consisted of a stew a roll and a brownie. I ate the brownie first. The stew was o.k. not really my favorite I didn’t finish it. I did end up throwing it away and washing my tin. Although I wouldn’t really consider it washing since the water was pretty gross! But Oh well!
After dinner we had a short fireside. I don’t really remember what we talked about though. When we got back to the tent Jendayah was asleep. She had missed the whole thing!
Now was the tricky part. Getting ready for bed! We had to brush our teeth, but guess what! Pioneers didn’t have sinks. So… neither did we! But we are smarter than you might think! We used our water bottles! Which actually isn’t that bad. Sami used Jordan’s water bottle and Kimberly used mine. I swear she spit tooth paste on it! Well, actually I think it was mine but I blamed it on her just for fun. She went along with it and we had a fun little sisterly argument. Although for some reason, to Kimberly, siblings’ means you get to hit them whenever you feel like it. So not true! Haha.
After figuring out our struggle of brushing our teeth we had to figure out the struggle of the porta potty. You would think they smelled disgusting because of the hundreds of people using them but honestly, they weren’t that bad. Until it got dark. Then we had to use flash lights and go with a buddy and all these other things. Porta potties are just so complicated! Why don’t we just go in Nature? Just Kidding. NOT going in nature. I’ve decided I love porta potties!
So later, when it was dark, we had our little family time. We read some of our favorite scriptures. I shared my favorite which was Morini 7:45, then we called it good! We weren’t allowed to have camp fires so we hit the sack! Or we were supposed to.

We had so much fun “bonding” together in the girls’ tent! Sami was still getting ready for bed and Sydnee was making dolphin noises. Haha I loved that girl! Jendayah was out cold. The rest of us were all crackin’ jokes. Oooh My! It was the best. We eventually fell asleep. I am pretty sure I was the first to crash. Haha. That was the end of Day 1…