Thursday, July 16, 2009

Pioneer Trek - Walk As A Witness

So a few months ago Cory & I were called as the Youth Conference leaders, which was to be a pioneer trek. This past weekend the trek took place. It was such an awesome experience. I am so amazed by the strength of the Hurricane 8th ward youth. I want to thank all of the leaders & Ma's & Pa's that helped make the trek possible. We couldn't have done it without you. Also, I want to thank Cory for all the time he put into coordinating everything & doing all the speaking (public speaking is not one of my strong attributes). I'm so glad Cory was there with me to share a great experience.

This is another picture from the women's pull. They were so strong!!!



We did lots of fun activities like making butter, pioneer stories, a blind walk, stick pulls, etc... This is me getting creamed by Liz Dansie. She is one tough cookie!







The women's pull was by far one of the most spiritual experiences I have had. It was so hard to watch those girls push & pull the handcarts up the steep rocky hill. The boys were not able to touch the handcarts & we were all put on a "silence". The boys figured out that they could help by picking up the rocks & throwing them to the sides so it was easier to move the handcarts. I related this experience to my own kids. As parents we can't go fight our children's battles, but there will be angels to help them along the way. And the sense of accomplishment that you have when you have overcome a trial is amazing! You girls ROCK!












Thursday, July 2, 2009

Why Mel Is Awesome

Since Mel is a Blacker (blogging + slacker, ©2009, Cory Reese), I thought I'd make a post about how awesome she is.

Of the many reasons she is awesome, one particular reason is that she is running the BRYCE CANYON HALF MARATHON in two weeks!

I'm impressed with the time and effort that she has dedicated. She wakes up at an inhumane hour to go running with me, and even goes out in the evenings which are miserably hot. I'm proud of her.

Currently I'm trying to talk her into wearing this outfit for the half marathon: