When I got done with the Linder Ward Trek in 2013 I vowed I would never do one again. As soon as I found out the Verona Ward was going to do a Trek this summer I knew I was doomed to do one again.. I don't know how or why I just knew I was going to be involved. Sure enough Kefford told me he and I were on the short list to be a Ma and Pa and not too much longer after that Kefford came home to let me know that he accepted the call for us to go on Trek to be a Ma and Pa. I really wasn't't too happy about this call but I tried to be positive about it and make the best of things. The things I could be positive about were that Kefford was going to be going with me, Kenedy and Ryker were going and it would give me a chance to get to know some of the youth and adults in our Ward.
We had one week after we got back from our California trip to get ready for Trek and I am so glad Kefford was involved and helped me out.
Sunday night we found out the kids in our family and Monday morning we were all on the bus on our way to begin this three day Trek. Once we reached our destination I made sure to get some pictures of Kefford, Kenedy, Ryker and I before we began. Each family were assigned a different color, Peterson's were orange, Kenedy was in the Ashton family and they were purple and Ryker was in the Hamm family and they were yellow.
I brought my phone on Trek so that I could take pictures and so I could see what time it was at night. Kefford told me if I kept it on airplane mode I could save my battery and still be able to take pictures. I was really impressed when at the end of day one I only used about 10% of my battery. However when I woke up the next morning my battery was at 5%. I don't know what happened during the night to drain my battery so much but it was gone. All of the apps were closed and everything so I do not know the mystery. SO during day two I was not able to take many pictures. I wasn't too worried about it because Charmenia Thompson, another Ma, had her nice camera and was taking pictures for everyone. I didn't even get a picture of my Trek Family on my phone because she was doing it.
Halfway through our Trek on Day one we were "Attacked" by Indians. They took some things from our cart like items of clothing and food. They tried to take Skylars hat but I knew he needed it and so I managed to trade a spare toothbrush to get his hat back. All of the "stolen" items were returned that night.
Sister Hamm sent me some pictures she had taken of her family on Trek. Ryker came down with a bad cold right before Trek and it made it hard for him to feel good on those dusty trails. He did the best he could and luckily his family was understanding of him not feeling as well. We had President Piscione, our Home Teacher, come over the night before to help Kefford give Ryker a blessing to be able to get through Trek. I know it helped him feel better then he would have and am grateful for the Priesthood and the Men who hold it who are always willing to serve and give blessings.
When we had to go down steeper hills the boys usually had us girls go on ahead so we wouldn't get hurt. I took a couple of pictures of Kefford and "our" boys on one of these hills. Us girls went down first and then they cheered their "brothers" on and gave them encouragement as they went down with the handcart.
Zac, Kefford, Skylar, McKay and Nic
The first night I was taking off my shoes and socks when I noticed a rash on my leg. Almost immediately I flashed back to my first Trek where I also got a rash on my leg. I had forgotten about it until I saw it again on this Trek because I have only had a reaction like this on Trek. It was just a heat rash and eventually faded away a couple of days after Trek. It never bothered me a bit just looked really bad.
The second night we camped at a clearing that had a small hill to walk up to get to a cliff with the most beautiful view. It was pretty awesome to stand up their and see the mountains and the water down below. It was where we had our fireside that night and then a devotional in the morning.
Rykers Trek Family
Sam Ashton, Keeton Kesler, Ryker, Emma Kashyap, Pa Hamm, Ma Hamm, Mya Thompson,
Peyton Lamm and Gavin Brush
On the third morning we packed up camp and then Trekked to the busses so we could eat lunch and head home. We stopped about a 1/8 of a mile from the busses because they didn't have lunch ready for us so we rested and visited as families. I asked the kids what they favorite things about Trek had been and it was nice to hear what they had to say even though I do not remember any of it. Hannah asked me what my favorite part was and I said getting to know all of the youth and adults who went on Trek better and having such an amazing Trek Family. I told the kids how awesome they were and how proud we were of how hard they worked and how much more fun they made everything. Each family had to have a family cheer that we would yell out randomly and ours was from a cheer Kenedy learned at cheer camp. I would yell out "Are. You. Proud To Be A Peterson.?!" And the rest of our family would yell, "Yes. We. Are!!". We were pretty fantastic!
After we had family time we gathered the kids together to take pictures.
We did the Laurels..
Taryn Mahan, Makayla Montgomery, Kenedy, Sophie Buxton and Emily Hunter
Then all of the girls and adult girls...
Then we did Ma's and Pa's with a lone Brother Kashyap who replaced Alison on the medical team..
Andersons, Kashyap, Ashtons, Petersons, Thompsons, Hamms, Lamms and Fullmers
All the boys including the Adult boys. Our Ward is very heavily stacked in favor of the boys which is rare but not a bad thing for the girls :).
After taking pictures we ate a lunch of fried chicken and then boarded the busses to leave. What they tried to keep a secret but everyone found out about was that once we boarded to busses we were not done. We drove to the Meridian Temple and got dropped off in the back of the parking lot. From there we walked about 50 yards to the Bodily property where we proceeded to do an hours work of service cleaning up their yard. They have an amazing yard with different levels and trails with little bridges and streams. Each family took an area and cleaned up the landscaping. The purpose of this was to do service but to also remind the kids that when the Saints finally reached the Salt Lake Valley they didn't get to rest for too long, they immediately had to get to work contributing to society. Everyone was exhausted by this point but we all pitched in to help and get the job done. What was neat was the entire time we were there doing work, we were in the shadow of the Temple. I kept marveling at the beautiful view that this family has of our Meridian Temple. Once that was done we had a fireside of speakers and musical numbers. They had someone dressed as Brigham Young talk to us and then Bishop Ricks spoke a little bit followed by the new Meridian Temple President and his wife. By the time the fireside started we were all so tired and just wanted to go home but everyone was polite and at least acted like they were listening.
When we finally made it home I got ready to get in the shower but stopped to snap a picture of my filthy legs. Trek was dirty and sweaty and gross but I decided to try and clean myself up with wet wipes at the end of each day the best I could and not worry too much about how gross I was. That shower I took upon arriving home was amazing!
The next Tuesday for mutual the youth went back to the Bodily property to finish the cleanup. As a Ma I felt I needed to be there also and Kefford had meetings so Rylee had to come with me. I told her she could bring a book and read but she pitched in and helped get the job done. I was able to get a picture of Rylee and Avynlea with the Temple in the background while in the yard which was fun.
After Trek Kefford and I wanted to go and tell all of the kids in our family and their parents how much we loved having them with us on Trek. I didn't want to go empty handed so I made some cookies and printed out this printable to go along with them. I also wrote a short note to each of them on the back of the card.
Trek Memories I do not Want to Forget:
*"Peterson Pull" About 2 weeks before Trek Kefford along with some of the other Ma's and Pa's plus Trek Leaders went on a four-wheeler ride on the Trail we were going to be Trekking on. They wanted to scout it out and make themselves a bit more familiar with it. While on this ride the Thompson tipped their four-wheeler along one of the turns and everyone jokingly started to refer to that section as "Thompson Cove". On Trek they had our family take the second spot in the handcart lineup so that Kefford could help with remembering directions. Not even 5 minutes into the start of our hike just to get to our handcarts on day one we came upon a fork and the lead family started off one way but Kefford felt sure that it was the other way we needed to go. There was a small discussion and they decided to go down the way Kefford said was right, and it was. A couple of hours later the lead family was going down a pretty straight path and passed a path that went up. Kefford thought that they were again going in the wrong direction and that we needed to be going up. After another small discussion they decided to again follow Kefford's lead. This trail we took was a pretty steep hill and boy was it tough. Ma's and Pa's were supposed to let the kids manage the handcart with some occasional help and on the hill I stepped in to help out and give the girls a break in the back. By the time we got to the top I was dying and I was not the only one. This hill was rough on everyone and it took out a Pa, A couple of Ma's and a few kids. Once everyone reached the top we were taking a rest when Billy Mahan came along on his four-wheeler. Billy, along with his wife Tori, was the behind the scenes guy helping out whenever and wherever needed. He came up to tell us we went the wrong way...! Oops. He followed that trail to see if it would take us back around to where we needed to be but nope we had to go back down the trail to get to the straighter path we were on in the first place. We were all exhausted but nobody grumbled or got mad about the mistake we all just turned around, after the rest, and went back down. From then on this climb was jokingly referred to as "Peterson Pull" and Kefford was teased good naturally about it for the rest of Trek.
*Not to long into day one Skylar decided to give all the kids in our families nicknames which helped the bonding in our family. Everyone got a name and most of them were Smith family names. Skylar was Hyrum, Zac was Juan Carlos, McKay was Joseph, Nick was Alvin, Hannah was Cattherine, Kara was Sophronia and Olivia was Elisabeth but they later changed her name to Lucy because Elisabeth was not a Smith family name. Don Carlos was the Smith brothers name but for whatever reason Skylar decided to change the Don to Juan for Zac.
*The first night as we were getting ready to go to bed Hannah came and thanked me for being so positive that day. She said she wasn't too thrilled about coming on Trek and my positive attitude really helped her and made it a great first day. It made me feel really good and I liked that I was making a difference and being helpful.
*On the Linder Ward Trek I walked most of the time with my friend Amber Connors. I was an Aunt and she was medical and having her with me was the brightest part of that Trek. I loved being able to have that time to make memories with her and become better friends. As we started this Verona Trek Kefford was in the front helping the boys pull and leading and I was in the back behind the girls who were pushing, with three girls there was not any room for me to help push unless I was giving one of them a break which did not happen very often. So I was walking behind and I started to feel very lonely not really knowing anyone, feeling shy and missing my walking buddy Amber. As soon as I was having these thoughts Alison Hucks came up from behind to give something to her daughter and then she started walking with me. Alison was part of medical and her daughter Kara was in our family. From then on when she wasn't needed else where she stuck with our family and gave me the walking buddy that I needed. I was really grateful for this tender mercy. Alison and Kara left the second night for a family thing they had to be at the next day and on the third day Chelsey Olson who was my teaching companion and also on medical walked with me for a lot of the way. I was so grateful to have been able to spend time with these ladies, to get to know them better and that they made things so much more fun.
*On the last night we gathered at the top of a cliff for a devotional. I was sitting with Kefford on my bucket and we were in the front row. On my right sat Jordyn Manthey a newly 14 year old. Jordyn is a bit of a tomboy and she didn't bring her bucket up to sit on she just sat in the dirt and spent most of the time playing in it. She was pretty filthy and it made me smile to see her not care and just enjoy nature. As we were sitting listening to a return missionary speak to us I suddenly heard Jordyn pass some gas. I looked over at her and she was acting like nothing happened and she had not a care in the world, as I was turning back to the speaker she did it again and then again. The second and third times sounded like they were being forced and it made me start laughing. I was going on a lot of exertion and not a lot of sleep and I started to feel my laugh getting a bit hysterical. I could not stop laughing but was trying my hardest to keep it under control and quiet. After I was able to pull myself together, which took longer then it should have, I started to get concerned that people would think it was me who passed gas. As soon as the speakers were done I turned to the boys behind me and said you know that wasn't me right? They assured me they knew who the responsible party was and then I went to others and made sure they all knew it was not me. Chelsey said Alison thought it was me because she saw my face turn red but realized it was because I was trying not to laugh. Brother Sorenson who was our cook knew it wasn't me but teased me about it anyway and called me Sister toots anytime he got the chance.
*Kenedy was in a family with 4 boys and her plus one other girl. The girl she was with was not helpful at all and left Kenedy to do all of the work in setting up and taking down their tent. On the second night Kenedy was frustrated and telling me she did not want to set the tent up again by herself. I told her to use her pretty face to her advantage and ask some of the boys to help her. I guaranteed that if she asked she would have help. She didn't want to bother any of the guys but I knew she needed help so I casually mentioned out loud that Kenedy needed help putting up her tent and asked if there were any boys who were willing to give her a hand. Immediately 6 boys jumped up and ran over to give a helping hand and when I looked later I saw 7 boys with Kenedy helping her put the tent up.
*I loved all of our Trek kids and had so much fun getting to know them. I thought Zac especially was so cute and I loved his quieter personality. At one point I told him my decision to have an arranged marriage between him and Avynlea. I told him how great she was, that she was super cute, had adorable dimples and brown eyes and all about her fun personality. I teased him about it for a little bit and he would just smile and shake his head. After a while I let it go but later Kenedy told me that she and some boys including Zac were off hanging out and chatting about some of the boys who were being extra helpful to their Trek Ma's Zac made the comment that he wasn't even helpful to his Mom at home and then quickly said "I guess I shouldn't say that in front of my future sister-in-law". It made her laugh and then when she told me it made me laugh. I let it go but I will keep my eye on that one, he is a keeper!
*Kefford brought a rubber snake on Trek and at one point Kefford overheard one of the boys, Kyran randomly talking to Marie Fullmer about snakes. Kefford quietly got his snake out and placed it on the ground next to Kyran without either of them noticing. Marie was the first to see it and she pointed it out to Kyran really surprised. Kyran glanced over and immediately upon seeing it rolled over and jumped up to run away. Kefford said it was the funniest thing and could not stop laughing about it.
*Every single kid on this Trek that I interacted with or observed impressed the heck out of me. These kids were polite and kind, they were fun and hardworking, we didn't have anyone complain or grumble. They made the most out of this experience and helped make it great for everyone. Pretty sure the only grumbling I heard was the grumbling going on in my head. I was impressed with how hard everyone worked to pull and push those handcarts. These kids were amazing and it was my privilege to experience this with all of them.