Pioneers

Chloe had the opportunity to go on Trek this year. Every 4 years our stake (as well as most stakes, but not all!) send their youth out to reenact the pioneers emigration to Utah. My ancestors had to leave behind every worldly possession, walked for months, got stuck in the snow (trapped at Martin's Cove) and had some toes amputated. Somehow they were able to give Chloe a similar experience over 4 days. Torture has taken on a new meaning (ie. no hot showers or internet access for 24 hours).

We planned and prepared for months. Got her decked out in her pioneer clothing, and collected all the supplies she would be allowed to take in her 5-gallon bucket. Then we dropped her off at the church early Wednesday (the 8th) morning.

She found our ward and dropped her belongings off. They fed them breakfast before leaving (oops, we thought it was going to be much later so she ate at home). Two breakfasts probably didn't bother her.

They drove them up to the Deseret Livestock Land near Evanston, where her friends' dad took this photo.

On Saturday we got to drive up and pick her up. There had been a bad rainstorm the night before, so some of them (including Chloe) and to go to a warehouse where they had dryers to dry out sleeping bags, and they slept on the hard concrete floor (indoors!). It was a nice afternoon driving up to there, but shortly after arriving the clouds moved in, it got a little chilly, and then we started to get poured on! That made me have a little more sympathy for Chloe.

I wasn't able to get a photo of her when they came down the line, but we found her with her Trek family. Tom Van Den Berghe was her Pa. I had noticed him on Relative Finder (a really cool tool if you've never used it!), because he is the ONLY person I have ever found related to me on my mom's side.

I don't think Chloe was ready to come home. She had a ball with some different people, and we've heard some stories about how fun she was.

Chloe wasn't the only one who got to play Pioneer this year. The three of us got together with our friends from Centerville and decided it would be a great idea to volunteer at This is the Place Heritage Park for the summer. So, for 8 weeks we would put our costumes on and go volunteer for 4 hour shifts. We mostly worked at the Charles C. Rich house, but a couple times we did the Andrus halfway house.

Here they are with their friends. They had a cousin who also joined us, but she took off for this picture. I have a nicer one, but Sophie wanted me to take one with her giving them an "evil eye." Whatever, girl.

This is where we liked to eat our lunch -- or just sit and visit on the days it was pleasant to be outside.

And I have to mention our last day there (this past Wednesday). Not only do we get to hang out with fun friends while we volunteer, but then at one point Makenna happens to mention, "Oh, did you know the Deppe's are here?" WHAT??!! Mrs. Deppe is one of my favorite people, whom I just love to death. So, I set out on a mission to find her. Sophie came with me, but we had no luck. As we were walking back I heard a loud speaker come on to make an announcement -- and a light bulb came on! I told Sophie I had a great idea, but she just shook her head at me. OK, so I didn't go have Mrs. Deppe paged, but we went back to "our" house. Kellie started scanning the park with me, and she spotted them first. Rosemarie had on a bright red dress, so that helped a lot. I took off running to find her, but noticed that it looked like they had gone into the schoolhouse. I was worried because if I tried to go in there to visit the teacher would yell at me! But, while I was trying to come up with a plan, I was walking up to the door when Rosemarie and Rachel came walking out. They had changed their minds!

This is the Place is one of Rosemarie's special places, so I guess it makes sense that I'd find her there. But it wasn't a coincidence that she just happened to come while I was on shift. And then probably not 30 minutes later another friend (the Nyberg's) show up -- they were volunteering at the same house on the same day as us, only we had the morning shift and they had the afternoon (which overlap by an hour). I definitely felt like I had been in "the right place" that day.

I don't know as though she's a pioneer (because she certainly isn't the first), but it's kind of a new step for our family -- Chloe is going to high school! We hadn't planned to send her to school, and she didn't want to go, but she reached a point where she needed to spend time with someone she wasn't so comfortable yelling at. After she realized we were serious about this, and we went to an open house, I think she started warming up (the open house really helped me feel better about the decision as well). Then once we got to go make her schedule she really got excited. She started on Monday and has had a pretty good week.