Hard things

My heart shattered when I learned on facebook that Richard Baker (Mollie's friend, Zhane's dad) had finally lost his battle with colon cancer. Gosh I sure wanted this guy to make it. He was a good one. We had the opportunity to attend several soccer games with him and hear him cheer and ring his cowbell when his team scored. He was so proud of his team and let everyone know it. 

We watched him arrive in a helicopter to deliver the game ball for the 911 bowl, a fundraiser game played by the police and fire dept. He looked great then. But things took a turn for the worse. 

We were honored when a friend reached out and invited us to his birthday party at the park just days after he passed. Everyone wore their Richard's Raiders shirts first created for his soccer team. We let blue balloons float into the sky. 

It was happy and heartbreaking to look around and see the people who loved Richard. I love Rachelle his wife with my whole soul and she has been such an incredible strong person through all of this. I wish her the very best in life and hope to be there for her in the coming hard days. 

During the Night Lights Cup, Mollie's teammate Lily fell to the ground. It was determined her ACL was completely torn, You can actually hear it pop in the movie of the game. So gross. She was devastated her season was over before it even began. We rallied the team and took her some posters and gifts to help aid her healing. 

And lastly, Jazz In It studio where I have worked for the last 3 years finally decided to close its doors. It was needed, but still sad. The happy news is that we are being absorbed into a popular cheer gym and bring some rec classes to their program. It'll be good, but I can't help but feel sad about it. 

These little ladies have been so fun to teach and watch grow over the years! Thanks mom for the pics!

 

Tragedy

We got sad news from Chad's sister, Ann, in mid July that her boyfriend had gone missing. He had told Ann he was going swimming which he did often, but then he disappeared. They found many items of his along a river, but he was no where to be found. He was a master herbalist and had a school and was passionate about passing on his wisdom.

Ann told us he was a perfect match to her. That they were true soul mates. Someone you only come across once in a lifetime. She was shattered. She told us later that she knew he was gone.  And a few days later, his body was found in the river. We were so sad for her as we watched her grieving from afar. 

We never got to meet him. But I was pleased to see that so many kind people were taking care of Ann. We sent her a little tree to plant in his honor. 

What a sad, terrible thing. We were so crushed for her. I'm thankful for the people who helped her heal. 

 

Oh Trek!

Trek. I have a love/hate relationship with you. It. is. hard. And happy and awesome, and rewarding, and spiritual, and dirty and difficult and you grow, so much. I remember driving home from SLC one day and seeing this image in the sky. The thought came to me of blessings being poured out from heaven. I strengthened my faith in this moment and went all in. 

When we were called to be a Ma and Pa again, I had some flash backs of the last one we went on and some of the trials we faced on it, But we accepted and hoped for the best!

We met our kids and they were all pretty easy going and chill. We did a few fun things with them including hiking and it went well!

I hammered out these washer bracelets since our theme was Steadfast in Christ. They turned out well. 

The EALRY morning came where we boarded the buses and headed 3 hours east to our destination on Deseret Land and Livestock. They have LOTS of land near Woodruff Utah and into Wyoming. 

Once there, the sun was up and it was a beautiful day. We were instructed on how to load our carts and we got right to work doing that. I didn't believe ALL of our stuff would fit, but we piled it a mile high and it worked!

And we're off! JJ is the tall kid in the middle. He came with his friend Brennen and he did great. He thought he was headed off on a cowboy adventure however and didn't know what he was in for!

Our company was pretty large!

Here we are trekking along. We had lots of strong boys and we had a hard time keeping up with them! Unlike our last trek where we were always in the back, we were mostly in the front this time! 

It was awesome having Carter there and hearing from his Ma and Pa how great he was doing. It was a great comfort when he'd come by and say hi or hang out for a bit. 

Lunch was pb&j in the grass. It worked.... hah. 

Once we hiked several miles we arrived at camp! We set up quickly. We could see a storm coming in. But once camp was set up, the sky was black and no storm had arrived so games began! The kids were awesome and had lots of happy energy. 

But eventually that storm came. And I kid you not, I have NEVER been in a storm quite like this one. The thunder and lightning clapped all around us. It was pouring rain and blowing so hard. The cows were scared and were running around our camp screaming!  I was scared to death in my tent trying to not get wet. A tent collapsed. We tried to save it. I had to return to the tent because I was getting pelted with rain and I wasn't helping much anyway. It was awful I wanted to go home. And I was sure no one else would want to stay either. 

Day 1 and my legs are brown from dirt!

The next morning, these kid popped out of bed, loaded camp, made breakfast without any complaning! One kids bedding was soaking wet, but he didn't really complain, just wanted to lay out his bedding to dry. Wow. I was so impressed. They gave me strength to improve my attitude. 

Me and my wonder daughters, Lilly, Ruth and Madi. 

We hiked 11 miles the first day, 3 miles the second and  11 the third and like 5 the fourth... It was something like 30 miles total. Exhausting! And exhilarating that we accomplished it! Some kids were super tired and slept where ever they could! 

Carter enjoyed the stick pull games and water games on the hot afternoons.

I was proud of all of our kids always being willing to help pull or push. 

We were all thrilled when we opened our game envelope and got a baby! Max was most excited to see what it was made of. He was such a great kid and helped us SO much!

Poor Chad had some pretty gnarly blisters by day 2. He did buy new boots but the fine sand we were hiking in really contributed to extra friction. Poor guy was in so much pain. He stayed with the family as long as he could and finally, on the third day and everyone telling him to ride, he rode in the side by side. 

I know he was really disapointed but I was just so grateful that we had a family strong enough that without him there pulling, we were still ok. He had great medical people taking great care of him. 

Hymas strong! Our family flag that one of our boys free handed!

Just when you think you can't take another step, they want you to dance! I didn't think I could, but watching them have so much fun, I finally had to get involved. Chad sat and kept his feet up. Carter loved the dancing and it was fun to watch him.

Here's our family! Carson, Eddie, Max, Ruth, Lilly, JJ. By this time JJ had to go home. He was feeling chest pain and didn't think he could keep going. He worked so hard for us and I was sad to see him leave. His friend JJ ended up staying though and toughing it out with us. 

Strapping the baby on!

Steadfast and Hymas Strong!

Poor Chad's feet looked SO bad!!! He was miserable for several days and I got the pleasure of trimming off all of the dead skin. Still the body is amazing and it was awesome to see his body produce new skin every day. 

Here are some favorites the photographers captured. 

Carter's pink family with the Pecoras. 

And our family at the finish line! Whew! We made it! 

Overall, I think its a great experience for kids. I don't think it needs to be SO long though. A few miles a day with lots of fun activities is great. It was awesome to see kids interacting, playing games, dancing and talking Getting to know people out side of their phones was great. We came home SO exhausted, wind burnt and blistered. I'm glad its in my rear view mirror and so glad we got to experience it too. 
 

WE LOVE NIGHT LIGHTS

This is my favorite season! Night Lights Cup!! We always do really well here and our girls are pumped!

Game 1: ALOT-0

Game 2: 4-1 (mollie had 3)

Game 3: 2-1 Mol had 2

Game 4:we won 2-0!!!

We are 3 peat champs!!! Way to go girls!

And as always, we got to see Zhane play and hang out with him for a bit. They were both champions again!!

 

Antelope

My mom was in charge of Antelope this year so we tried to make an effort to go. We couldn't stay for the weekend when most everyone is there but we went up early in the week and really enjoyed the quiet!

Mollie showed off her fire building skills. 

And we played games and corn hole to our hearts content. 

The girls were ecstatic when they got to shop the country store. Temu to the rescue. 

Carter is getting more confident at driving and I let him take me for a ride. 

The flowers were out and it is beautiful when they are! As a kid we went at the end of the year when everything was brown, dirty and dry. 

Chad and I went for a fun ride and found a C carved in the tree!

We also saw this little arch formation in the rocks. Cool. 

The theme was board games so we played lots of games. And it was fun!

and of course the twins got their scrabble in. I even played one round and didn't hate it. 

J-dog was in heaven digging holes and chasing sticks. 

An Antelope fire is always a good time. 

Giant Sorry game was a hit!

And these guys talked me into letting them hoist me up to tie off the canopy. Oh boy. No one was hurt in this exercise. 

Happy Campers!