Trek - Family Home Evening

While Dave and I were preparing for trek we felt prompted that our family scripture should be Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-9. One phrase in those verses that we chose to focus on is "Endure It Well". Dave came up with a crest to use for our family, and then I found the graphics and made it happen:

We put this crest on our flag and made key chains for our kids for their possibles bag. On Monday they kept asking us what it meant. Several figured out that it said "Endure it Well", but wanted to know more. We told them it would all be revealed at Family Home Evening.

I want you to know, this whole lesson was Dave. He had the inspiration and made it happen. But I'm going to share it cause I don't want to forget it!

Each section of the crest stands for something in addition to the whole that spells out "Endure It Well".

-End: Dave talked about street signs, and what their purpose is - to help us get where we are going safely. Then he related that to the signs that our Heavenly Father has given us that come from various sources (prophets, scriptures, parents, leaders, etc). He talked about how these are there to warn us of dangers and to keep us safe spiritually too.

-Oar: For this one Dave had the Mormon Ad with the boat on the water without any oars. He talked about Faith without works is dead - just like you won't get anywhere without any oars. The pioneers, especially those of the Martin Company, just kept going and didn't turn back. They dug in their oars with all their might to follow the prophet's counsel to gather in Zion.

-IT: This is an acronym for Intense Testimony. It took Intense Testimony for the pioneers to give up all they had and to cross the plains. Dave talked to the kids about what they are facing today and how their Intense Testimonies can help them thru their trials.

-Well: Dave showed a picture of the Woman at the Well. He talked about how Christ is the Living Water and that Eternal Life is our reward for "Enduring It Well".

I love listening to my sweetheart teach and bear testimony, and the spirit in our Family Home Evening was very powerful. Our kids were very attentive and participated well, and seemed to appreciate the message. It was a great way to set the tone for our trip to the Cove on Tuesday.

Trek - Monday's Activities

Monday morning came bright and early - ok, not so bright at 4:30, but very early! Dave and I slept thru the alarm, and got ready in record time.

Saying goodbye to Conni - even though she was asleep - was so hard! I started sobbing and had to run out of her room. Then Mom started crying too when I told her goodbye. But I got thru it and then the excitement started to permeate that we were really on our way!

We got to the church and started looking for our family members as they arrived. Everyone made it without us having to call and remind them! We had a devotional with some words from our stake president and then we grabbed some breakfast as we started loading on the buses.

On the bus, we had some getting to know you games. I thought I had a bunch of stuff planned, but we finished it all pretty quickly. Thank goodness the families with us on the bus let us join in their festivities for the long ride!

Before we knew it we saw Devil's Gate and we were pulling in to the staging area at Martin's Cove. Everyone was excited to be off the bus and ready to go. The weather was a little damp - it kept trying to rain, but nothing too threatening. Just enough to make the ground wet enough that you couldn't sit on it.

We had an introductory video in the barn where they told us a little bit about the Cove and the pioneers, and then we were on our way!

My Trek Kids:

Rachelle, Savannah, Sarah, Eli

Christian, Tanner, Jose, Spencer

We had a blast as we were walking. I was so happy that my kids all seemed to get along really well together. We had a couple of quiet kids and a couple more outgoing, so it was a fun balance. The boys were very excited to pull the handcart and took off just about running. The girls in back just worked on keeping up!

We stopped half way for a bathroom break and a breather. Then I decided that I would take a turn pulling the hand cart with my sons. It was so fun to be in the middle of them and listen to and tease them. I helped them pull for about 1.5 miles, and just when I thought I was done for, we arrived at camp.

When we arrived at camp, I noticed a blue flag by one of the fire pit areas. Our family color was blue, so I naturally headed over there to claim our spot. Come to find out, the blue flag was just to designate where the firewood was. But by the time we figured that out, most families had claimed a spot so we just ran with it. It was a perfect spot - located centrally between the water pump, the food tent, and the bathrooms.

We set up camp pretty quickly. The boys got their tent up before I knew it, and then we all worked together on the girls tent and the leaders tent.

After a little bit of down time to set up our stuff, it was time for dinner. Let me just tell you how fantastic our food committee was! I didn't have to cook one meal the whole time we were there! And it all tasted delicious!

We ate dinner as a family and it was nice to see that the conversation was starting to flow more naturally. Its amazing how people can become friends in such a short period of time.

After dinner we played pioneer games - stick pull, ring on a string, and tug of war. The tug of war rope very quickly became a giant jump rope and it was soon time for the boys to start showing off who could do better tricks. One of the boys in the stake was able to do push ups over the rope!

Then it was off to square dancing. We shared the area with the other group that was there at Martin's Cove, and the missionaries got everyone organized. The missionaries reviewed the dances, and then they called them while everyone tried to keep up.

After dancing, it was time for Family Home Evening. Dave had prepared a fantastic lesson (which will be its own post). We got a fire going in our fire pit and the kids were very respectful and participated well.

I had planned to do Bingo for our FHE activity, but in the dark with the wind blowing it started to become challenging. And I was somehow missing some of the cards to call. So we gave that up and just enjoyed eating Skittles and visiting some more. Then we had family prayer around the dying fire and said good night to each other. I loved to hear the kids telling each other "Goodnight Brother" and "Goodnight Sister". We were really starting to act like a real family!

Trek - Meeting the Family

This is the first of several posts about our recent adventure on Pioneer Trek to Martin's Cove. A lot of this is for me to journal so I can remember the amazing time we had there. But, read on if you wish and see the neat stuff that happened!

Meeting our Family

We met our kids Sunday night. It was chaos, but everyone showed up and brought their equipment. We had questionnaires for everyone to fill out as a getting-to-know-you activity that we would use later. Everyone was a little nervous - Ma and Pa included - but excited. Two of my new daughters Sarah and Savannah got right to work helping me label everyone's stuff while the boys completed other assignments. It was fun to start getting to know each other.

I was nervous about how the kids would respond to Dave and I, but I had faith that this was going to be a fun adventure, and these kids were supposed to be with us for a reason.

Cold Pizza and Chocolate Milk

Conni's favorite meal right now is Cold Pizza and Chocolate Milk. She is adamant that her pizza be cold. The other night was a little rough, and I told Conni that I would make some pizza for dinner. She perked right up at the thought. She was frustrated that it had to go in the oven (um, I had to cook everything!). Then once it came out, she wouldn't eat it until it was cold. Rather than have her sit at the table all night, I put it in the freezer for a bit, and then she happily ate it up and asked for more.

Her other favorite is chocolate milk. That will soothe most hurts and frustrations when nothing else will.

This morning we needed to help Grandma run an errand and so I had to scoop Conni out of bed and take off. Knowing she would need a pick me up, I had some cold pizza and chocolate milk ready and waiting in the car as we took off. Waking up is always hard for her, and when I told her I had cold pizza and chocolate milk she started to perk up. Then while we were driving, she ate and she was very chatty. She's never chatty in the mornings (she is my daughter, after all). But now I know cold pizza and chocolate milk will fix that.

Now, I know, its not the most healthy of breakfasts. Mind you, I don't let her eat that every day. But its nice to be able to give her a treat every once in a while. And when she isn't eating, its nice to know what I can give her so she will actually consume some calories.

Shopping at Home Depot

My mom took us shopping last night for Dave's birthday. (Rather than just buy us a gift, she takes us shopping so we can have the time together too.) We were at Home Depot, and Dave ran back to check something. Conni was kind of done shopping, and we were by the display of the camping chairs.

Conni walked to the checkout and chose a magazine, and then climbed up in the chair to have a read. It was too cute not to share:

Potty Training

We have been working on Potty Training for a while now. We did a stint the first weekend in April. Not too much success, so we went back to diapers. Then we tried again over Memorial Weekend - we said goodbye to diapers and switched exclusively to pull-ups. The six-ish weeks between we had left Conni's potty out in the bathroom and whenever she expressed an interest we would spend some time there. She understood what needed to be done, but she didn't feel like doing it. We had a great reward system in place too. For each successful trip, she gets one animal from a family of the "Lil Woodzeez" families. (Cute little critters wearing clothes - owls, skunks, beavers, bunnies, turtles, hedgehogs, etc. Each has a mom, a dad, and two kids.)

Over Memorial weekend I got some potty books from the library - like every one they had - and we spent Saturday morning reading and running to the potty. Around lunch time, I started to sense some resistance from Conni so we toned it down for a bit. I started doing the dishes - like I mentioned we do in the post below. Then suddenly Conni got down from her stool and ran out of the kitchen. From how she was jabbering, I thought she had run to her room to get a toy.

Then a minute later I hear a very distressed cry from Conni. I ran to find her and low and behold, she was sitting in the bathroom (in the dark mind you - she can reach the switches so she was running to make it.) Conni was sitting on the potty and had gone to the bathroom! But, the distress was because she had a little dribble that didn't make it in the potty. This really upset her! Even her reward of a critter didn't completely soothe her.

After this little accident, she refused to have anything to do with the potty. Dave and I could tell it bothered her so we didn't want to push. Before bath time over the next couple of weeks, she was ok to sit on the potty. And here and there she was ok to sit on the potty. At Grandma's house during the day, Grandma reinforced what we were working on. Conni's cousin Tini has been the best cheerleader through it all - she just recently mastered the process herself so she knows how big a deal it is! But Conni goes in with Tini every time Tini needs to go, and frequently Conni chooses to have a turn on the potty.

Then at work, as I mentioned two posts below, she tried to use the potty at work. This last Sunday, every time she needed to be changed, she chose to sit on the potty at church. When we were at Dave's parents, she wanted a turn. Its weird - so many kids are wary of public toilets or will only use the one at their own home. Conni seemed to be the exact opposite.

Well, today at work I got a call from Conni - she went potty! She and Grandma were getting ready to run some errands, so Mom took her into the bathroom to change her pull-ups. But, her pull-ups were dry, and Conni told Grandma, "I sit on the potty grandma!" So she did, and she had success! I was so proud of her when she called to tell me! I could tell she was proud of herself too!

I hope that thru the rest of the weekend we can continue to have positive experiences, and if there are accidents, we can help Conni learn to deal with the setbacks. Now we can work on our big reward (the house for the critters) and have long term goals to stay dry! We might just get this thing figured out yet!

Doing Dishes

I'm trying to find the happy balance between cleaning my house and spending time with Conni. I am also trying to teach Conni how to do chores around the house. She has a few, that we try to do regularly: she clears the table of the dishes after meals, she gets her dirty clothes over the railing when its time to do laundry, and of course getting her toys put away.

Lately, when I do dishes, Conni wants to "help". Its a fun way that we can spend time together, but still be productive. I get one side of the sink full of the soapy water. Then, Conni gets to stand on her stool at the other side of the sink with some plastic measuring cups. I run the water on a slow drizzle - enough to be able to rinse the dishes - and Conni gets to play in the water. She will fill her cups and help me rinse some of the dishes. But she basically just plays in the water. Sometimes she'll steal my soap suds. But she really enjoys it. I'm getting fast at getting the dishes done, and my house is cleaner while we spend time together!

Take Your Child to Work Day

Yesterday ended up being a "Take Your Child to Work Day" for me. My mom had a funeral to attend, and I made arrangements with my boss to be able to work part of the day from home. I was supposed to only need to be in the office for 30-60 minutes. Mom kept Conni for a couple of hours in the morning, and that was supposed to be enough time to get done what I had to in the office.

This is my life - who am I kidding - things never go that smoothly. :)

I brought stuff for Conni to do at the office, knowing that we might be longer than 30 minutes. We borrowed her favorite "Little Einsteins" videos from Grandma and brought the DVD player to work. When we got here Conni discovered the white board in one office and was ecstatic to be able to draw.

I got her settled (or so I thought) and then the phone rang. It was one of my vendors with a billing issue I needed to get resolved asap. Conni started wandering - its a little office and there wasn't far for her to go (thank goodness). While I was on the phone, she came up to me and told me, basically, "Mom! I found the bathroom!" I kind of did the whole, "That's great sweetie, I'll be right with you" brush off trying to pay attention to my vendor.

Conni disappeared to explore again, and a minute or so later came out and told me about the bathroom. Then she disappeared again. It was a bit longer before she came back the next time, and when she told me about the bathroom yet again, I was able to pay a little better attention. Mind you, I am still on the phone. I really look at her this time, and I realized she was only wearing her shirt. That's it. Everything else was gone and she was bum naked! I tried very hard not to start laughing, and at the same time to finish the call with my vendor and still be polite. I was so grateful at this moment no one else was in the office!

I got off the phone and took her immediately back to the bathroom to investigate. Her shoes, pants, and pull-ups were there on the floor, and Conni wanted to sit on the toilet. (I guess I should mention that we have been working on potty training at home. Conni knows what to do - I've seen her run in all of her own accord and sit on her potty at home. But the last time she missed a little and it upset her, so she doesn't want to do much with the potty.) But anyway. She wanted to sit on the potty. I could tell her wet pull-up was "fresh" and that she was trying. Luckily this time she went in her pull ups cause I didn't have a change of clothes for her, and I really didn't want to have to clean that up at work!

But, I couldn't get upset at her. This is exactly what we have been working on. I was proud that she chose to get me and she was patient while I figured out what was going on. And while her little naked bum is kinda cute, I'm glad I was the only one at work to see it!