Handcart Family Reunion

My J* side of the family gets together often but the first weekend in August has been set aside as the date of the official J* reunion. Usually the J* reunion consist of a lot of food a lot of visiting some game playing and if we are lucky some swimming. This year thanks to the hard work of Traci, Tom, Sue and a lot of other people the decision was made to go another rout and do the handcart trek at Martin's Cove. At this time I have a confession to make, I always look forward to the J* reunion but I didn't so much want to do this. There were a couple reasons for this negative attitude. By the way I am very much not proud of this negative attitude. I didn't like it even when I was having it but some times I just get over whelmed. The week before the reunion was one of these weeks. I have been sitting on the door step of overwhelmed land for a while now. With Shiloh working so many hours everything that I want to get done does not seam to be getting done around here, with the addition of having to find and make pioneer costumes on a very limited budget, this ridiculously long form list of things you need to bring with you for the trek and the strange but oh so true stress that packing gives me amplified by the fact the I needed to pack all these thing that I didn't have. I stopped sitting on the door step and I opened the door and walked in. I have also said for years that I would not have made a good pioneer so the idea of going and pretending to be a pioneer on purpose sounded like not so much fun to me. But I made some phone calls to find out what I really needed fought my way through my bad attitude left the house a mess and headed to the middle of no wheres, Wyoming and to my great relief and surprise the whole experience was 100 time better then I ever imagined it to be. So if you ever get the chance to go, do as the pioneers did, take what you have do with out what you don't and start walking.



The Women's Pull - There is a spirit in this place and everyone had their favorite parts but this was mine. We almost didn't do this but I am glad we decided to go forward with it. It put some things into perspective for me. For the women's pull they talk about how the men were called off to be in the Mormon battalion and the women had to do it alone. Then they took the men to the top of the hill and left all the women and children with the handcarts at the bottom. We had as many children as adults and they took half of the adults up the hill. We were left to do it alone for one hill. Those pioneer women were left to do it alone day after day never knowing when and if there husband would be back. Talk about long work hours being put into perspective.


Just some of my favorite pictures of our trek.





Shiloh had a way of not being in the pictures here is one of the few pictures I got of him.


ShiAnne, in one of the coves.


Lizzy hitching a ride in a handcart.


Gideon with an very dirty face. This picture does no do it justice.


Wyoming sunset


The Family


Thanks!!! to Tom, Traci, Sue, and many others who put in the hours to make this family reunion a success, including all those who saved their money so they could buy the gas to drive the long distance. I had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to next year.