Ma and Pa Trek

Friday and Saturday Bob and I went on a Ma and Pa mini trek.  Bob and I are going to be a Ma and Pa couple for the real trek i June and this weekend was like a training/practice trek.  So we were treated like the children will be on the real trek.  We were put into families and had to trek around, we even slept outside without a tent.  I am going to be honest now and say that for a large portion of it I was pretty miserable.  It rained pretty much all Friday and we did trek for hours that night.  We even pulled the handcarts in the dark, rainy, woods.  I could barely see a thing (no flashlights).  I am not exaggerating when I say that we trekked through mud that was up to my mid calf.  I literally could not see my foot sometimes because it and my ankle were under the watery mud.  It was freezing.  My legs were wet up to my thighs.  My dress, petticoat, and pantaloons were all soaked.  And the hardest part for me was that we had to sleep in and wear those close again the next day.  We were not supposed to bring any other clothes.  I was excited to wear the pioneer clothes but unfortunately everyone was wearing big coats and ponchos the whole time so we didn't even get to see each other's outfits.  Ok, enough with my complaining. 

The real trek is going to be in a different location and it is supposed to be dry.  I think it is going to be fun.  Besides pulling handcarts we did do a lot of training.  We also got to eat out of the dutch ovens.  That was good.  The spirit was also strong through the experience.  We even had a testimony meeting at the end.  What I learned from the mini trek is that the real trek is not going to be as much fun and games as I originally thought.  It is going to be a lot of hard work, and it is going to be as much like the actually pioneers as we can get.  I have to do a lot to get spiritually ready for this.

I couldn't resist taking a picture like this.  Too bad we couldn't find a pitch fork.

I didn't get any pictures of the actual trek because pioneers didn't have cameras with them, so neither did we.

My mom watched Penelope and Tucker while bob and I were gone and she said it went ok.  Although she was also unsuccessful with getting Penleope to drink formula.  We have been trying a sippy cup and she acts like she likes the formula but she just doesn't know how to drink it.  She has never used a bottle either.  I want to start weaning her though so I need her to start drinking the formula.  Any suggestions?