Yes, we are Seahawks fans. No, we are not bandwagoners. Kent grew up in Washington loving the Seahawks and 12 years in Texas did not result in us loving the Cowboys. 

With the Super Bowl being in Phoenix this year, we had to take the opportunity to go downtown and have some fun. Paul Allen, owner of the Seahawks, rented Chase field where the Diamondbacks play and invited all the Seahawks fans to come down to a celebration for free!

Even though many teams talk about how their fans are the 12th man, the Seahawks really mean it. For you non-football fans readers, let me explain.  In football, only 11 players on each team are allowed on the field. The 12th man means that when the fans are involved in the game it's like having an extra player. The fans are considered a member of the team and this could not be more true than with the Seahawks. We went to a couple of games when we lived in WA and the crowds at Century Link Field are crazy and insane with their love of their Seahawks. The place is so loud and is considered one of the hardest places for visiting teams to play. They also have a special ceremony before each game where a special guest hoists the 12th man flag. 

So, we hopped on the metro train with our friends, the Andersons (also big Seahawks fans) and headed down to Super Bowl Central. The train was packed and so were the streets of Phoenix. Seahawks fans were clearly in the majority and we headed toward the stadium. After some tricky maneuvering we managed to get inside.

They had tons of fan giveaways. Unfortunately it took us so long to get inside that we missed most of them, but we managed to get some "We are 12" signs and green bracelets. The big screen was showing highlight videos and the music was blaring. There were games all around the field for big and little kids alike. The atmosphere was pretty electric!

We left even more excited for the big game and glad that we braved the crowds and went to 12fest!

Staci and I planned quite a feast for our Super Bowl watching party. After church we headed over and considering it was fast Sunday, started chowing down.

Well, we all know what happened... The Seahawks were about to win with a touchdown and threw an interception at the goal line that ended the game. We were stunned. Still, it was a great game with a lot of excitement and a close score. We still love our Seahawks and hope they will make it back to the Super Bowl for a 3rd straight year!!! With the Bills and the Andersons as part of the 12th man, they have to, right?

We aren't really Vegas people. We don't gamble or drink and the Strip is not our scene in any way shape or form. So, why would we celebrate Kent's birthday in Vegas? Well, it is his 50th and we needed to do something special. But, especially because our dear friends, The Taylors, live there. We've known them for about 22 years and love to spend time together. We also invited Ryan and Sarah down to spend the weekend with us!

Here are the highlights.

1. Breakfast at IHOP and a super cute waitress bringing Kent a sundae at 9am in the morning!

2. M & M World!

Before breakfast on Saturday, we were in our hotel pouring over brochures to try and figure out how Kent wanted to spend his day. He said golfing was out because he just wanted to be with his family and the Taylors. We saw everything the city had to offer and Kent finally spied what he wanted to do. Yep, 4 stories of M & Ms!

3. A slight detour from the birthday festivities. Some of our other dear friends, The Tuckers, have a son on a mission here in Vegas. Elder Tucker and his companion are serving very close to where the Taylors live, and we just couldn't miss this chance to see him and treat he and his companion to lunch. We met at Chipotle and I sent Julie pictures and video throughout our encounter so she could feel the joy and see her son in real time. This is, of course, every missionary mothers' dream come true!

4. Dinner at The Claim Jumper and then on to see Penn and Teller. I don't have any pictures of dinner, but it was delicious!

5. Coming home a little early because Troy was sick all weekend and just persevered and didn't complain. Poor kid ended up having pneumonia! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENT! Here's to another 50!!!

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you may have seen something about a tie. Here's the full story:

This past year, I discovered that President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a member of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an Apostle, and I have the same birthday on November 6th. With a house full of boys, you can imagine that we take our ties very seriously. Every 6 months, the Church has a General Conference that is broadcast all over the world. The boys and I love taking note of President Uchtdorf's ties in particular. He has very good taste and always wears extremely dapper ties. An idea came to me while talking to Ryan about his ties...

Why not send President Uchtdorf a tie or two for our shared birthday?

Well, a lot of people had opinions about this and most of them could be summed up as: "You would be a creeper" or "You can't bug him." I was undeterred. I figure if I explained my reasoning behind the birthday ties (our shared birthday and the fact that every conference we like to see what ties he is wearing) he would not think I was a creeper and it wouldn't bug him. 

I did a little research (looking at every video of him speaking in the past few years) and discovered that he mostly wears striped ties with a few solid ones thrown in here and there. I purchased these 2 ties:

Here's the letter I wrote:

Dear President Uchtdorf,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I hope you will allow me to explain why you are getting a birthday present from a complete stranger… I recently discovered that you and I share the same birthday – Nov. 6th, but that is not the only reason. Here is my explanation:  

We have three sons. Ryan is 23, served a mission in Santa Rosa, CA, is now married and goes to school in Provo. Sean is 20 and serving a mission in South Carolina. Troy is 16 and a sophomore.  My husband, Kent and I have been married for 26 years and feel so blessed by our temple marriage and our wonderful, faithful sons. 

Having 3 boys, a couple of who have served missions, means that we buy a lot of ties and we appreciate a good-looking tie when we see one. My boys started noticing your ties quite a few years ago and it has become a point of fun anticipation as we look forward to each general conference to see the ties that President Uchtdorf wears. 

Last general conference, after a texting conversation with our oldest son about how much we loved your tie, we decided that we would send you a couple of new ones for our shared birthday. We have noticed that you seem to like stripes, so hopefully these will fit in easily!

Thank you so much for your counsel and guidance and service as an Apostle of our Savior. As a family, we heard you speak during a special visit you made to Allen, Texas a few years ago.  We have since moved to Phoenix, Arizona and heard you speak just today at our stake conference broadcast. Again, thank you so much for encouraging us to follow the Savior and make the temple a focal point in our lives.

We are thrilled about the dedication of the Phoenix Temple in a couple of weeks and loved serving as tour guides during the open house. Our son is participating in the cultural celebration and feels so privileged to have members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve here for this once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate the dedication of the newest House of the Lord.

So, happy birthday to you! Hope you enjoy November 6th with your family. I know I will.

Jocelyn Bills

I sent it off and did not think about it again or expect anything in return, but a few days I received this in the mail:

What a humbling experience! This man, who by all accounts, is extremely busy conducting business of the Church all over the world took the time to thank me for the gift. I am really bad at thank you notes. I say thank you in other ways, but his gracious response of gratitude taught me a valuable lesson. All my boys, including Kent, were so happy and loved seeing and reading the letter. We talked about what this has taught us and expressed gratitude to our Father in Heaven for such a humble and kind servant of HIs.

The story doesn't end here. 

The night of the youth cultural celebration for the Phoenix Temple, I was looking through my camera as President Uchtdorf entered the stadium. Was he wearing one of the ties? It looked very similar, but the colors seemed more pink than orange. I got a few texts from friends who were watching the broadcast on the internet wondering the same thing. When I asked them about the coloring, they also thought it looked more pink, so I figured it was not our tie.

The story doesn't end here, either.

A couple of days later, Pres. Uchtdorf posted some pictures to his Facebook page from the Phoenix Temple Cultural Celebration and it definitely was the tie! Somehow the lighting in the stadium made it look different. 

His kindness is just incredible. He knew our family would be watching and he knew our son would be present and he gave us such a fun, sweet gift by wearing our tie during the temple celebrations in Phoenix.

Already started searching for ties to send him for his birthday on November 6, 2015!

Participating as tour guides for the Phoenix Temple Open House, Troy performing in the Youth Cultural Celebration for the prophet and other church leaders, and then witnessing the dedication of the Phoenix Temple is an experience that we will never forget and will forever be grateful for. 

Temples are very important to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Here is a short temple that explains a little bit more about why these buildings are so sacred to us:

The Phoenix Temple is beautiful and it was such a privilege for Kent and I to be tour guides and help others, who are not of our faith understand more about temples. Governor Jan Brewer even came to a tour of the temple and said this:  

“The opening of the Phoenix Temple is especially exciting for me. No doubt, the other temples are wonderful. However, you see, I am a West Valley girl and you have to be loyal in life. So I am officially declaring today that the Phoenix temple is my hometown temple!” http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865613312/Visitors-tour-Phoenix-temple-during-public-open-house.html

These are just a few of the pictures that we have taken of the temple over the past few months. If you would like to see photos of the interior, and I highly recommend that you do, just click on this link:  http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/lds/photos-take-a-look-inside-the-phoenix-arizona-lds-temple/collection_372a59a7-00d1-5325-ae42-3d6390f5d9a6.html#0 I probably could have downloaded the pictures, but don't want to violate any copyrights! The celestial room and baptistry are particularly amazing, both having an elliptical shape. The word on the temple grounds was that only 2 temples in the world have celestial rooms/baptistries shaped like this: Phoenix and Nauvoo!

Kent and I both had a couple experiences as tour guides that were special. Kent was able to take the Bertrands through the temple. Jaime works for him and she brought her husband Bill. They loved it. They were so impressed with what they saw and learned that they brought their daughter, Tatiana, back for another tour. They have attended church now as well, and will be learning more from the missionaries. They are wonderful people!

During one of my tours, an older gentleman slowly made his way to the front of my group as we walked through the temple. He was alone and I could tell he wanted to talk to me. I gave him a little information about a painting we were passing and in reply he said, "You know, I'm Jewish, and I've been to every important building around the world. I've been to Greece, Italy, and Jerusalem just to name a few. But, I must tell you, I have never in my life seen a building as sacred and beautiful as this one. The feeling here is incredible. Such peace!"  I got goosebumps and a little emotional as he spoke, because that is how I feel when I attend the temple. We can truly feel God's presence in the temple and it was lovely to hear that he was feeling that same tender, peaceful spirit too.

The Youth Cultural Celebration

A recent tradition included in the dedication of a new temple is the cultural celebration. The church puts together committees from the area of the temple and they produce a musical and dance performance for the visiting church leaders. It is a way for the youth to be involved and gain a greater understanding and love for the work and worship that goes on in the temple. We had about 5,000 youth perform that night!!! From a news report:

"The celebration featured the local culture of the area, where a city was first built by the Hohokam Indians in 1 A.D. Because the Hohokams constructed irrigation canals from the Salt and Gila rivers, the youths paid tribute to "the ancient inhabitants that brought life-giving water to the dry desert."

They also celebrated, through music and dance, the pioneer Honeymoon Trail; Arizona's five C's — copper, cotton, cattle, citrus and climate; and air conditioning. In addition, the teens paid tribute to those who have served in the military and to the "culture of service" shared by modern-day Latter-day Saints. The celebration ended as missionaries from the Phoenix Arizona Mission marched around the football field carrying the flags of many nations."

The youth in our stake (which is a geographical area that incorporates 7 congregations) performed a dance celebrating the talents of the people of Phoenix. They practiced 1-2 times a week for almost 3 months. Kent and I both work with the youth at church and to show them that even though singing and dancing might be out of their comfort zone, their leaders were willing to try it too. Here's a video of the leaders at our first rehearsal to get the kids laughing and ready to learn their parts:

I must say, the youth ended up doing a far better job at dancing than we did, but it was fun. The youth worked really hard and had to sacrifice in order to participate in the celebration. Some of them would be at their sport practice all afternoon and then go straight to the church for the celebration practice. The kids even spent 2 Saturdays practicing all day long. 

In the weeks leading up to the event, I had the privilege to be involved in the recording of some of the music for the celebration. We, 12 women, 12 men, and 12 youth, recorded a special arrangement of "Called to Serve" that would be played as all the missionaries from the Phoenix mission walked out onto the field with the youth. There is a very special back story about the arrangement of this song:

William Joseph, a composer, pianist, recording artist, performer, who grew up in our stake was serving a mission in Australia when his mission president asked him to put together an arrangement of "Called to Serve" for the missionaries to sing when a church leader was visiting the mission. As this young missionary began working on it, he had a flood of ideas for an arrangement that thousands of voices would sing, but he realized quickly that he would have to shelve this idea as it clearly wouldn't work for just a few dozen missionaries. A few years later, the MTC called William and asked him to write an arrangement that the missionaries at the MTC could sing. He thought this was it! He could finally put together that arrangement that first came to him on his mission. However, as he worked with only a few hundred missionaries, he realized that even this was not as many voices as his original idea was supposed to be written for. Again, he shelved it.  Then 10 years later, the Phoenix Temple committee called and asked him to write an arrangement for the cultural celebration where almost 5,000 youth and over 200 missionaries would be singing. William was overwhelmed with the feeling that the Lord had put this arrangement in his heart many years ago for this very purpose, at this very moment, for this temple dedication.

When William told us this story at our first rehearsal, tears sprang to our eyes and we all had goosebumps. The Spirit spoke to each of us and we received a witness that what we were about to sing and record was given to William by the Lord, so that we could celebrate this wonderful temple, these amazing youth, and these incredibly obedient and dedicated missionaries.

Here is the finished product. This recording played while the missionaries marched out and the youth on the field sang along. 

When performance time came, it was very exciting for Troy because they announced that the Prophet and President of the Church, Thomas S. Monson, would be in attendance. His first counselor, Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, were also in attendance. Because of limited seating at the stadium, only a handful of people from each ward in the temple district were allowed to see the performance live. Many people said that it was easier to get a ticket to be inside the temple during the dedication than it was to get tickets to the cultural celebration! Everyone was asked to watch the broadcast on the internet instead and we were very blessed that the local ABC affiliate here in Phoenix streamed the performance on their website. A few days before the performance, we were so grateful when the Bishop showed up at our house and gave Kent and I two tickets to see the performance live at the stadium and to be in the presence of the prophet along with our son on the field!

It was so incredible to hear these youth singing together. This song is so inspiring and is a fitting finale that speaks to the quality of our youth and their commitment to following the Savior and being a light to the world. Here are the words:

We were saved for these final days
And He has blessed us with the faith
To follow Him and remember Him
In a world that’s gone astray
To rise above the darkness that’s around us
That we might have His holy light surround us

We will stand strong
In the presence of our God
Letting virtue garnish every thought
We will hold on
Always steadfast in His ways
Faithful to the promise we have made
By the way we live our lives
We are the keepers of His Light

True to the faith that our parents have cherished,
True to the truth for which martyrs have perished

We believe we’re children of a King
And we will honor Him faithfully
We will lift our minds, 
We will choose the light
Living lives of purity
We can feel His mighty pow’r inside us
We know He is reaching out to guide us

We will stand strong
In the presence of our God
Letting virtue garnish every thought
We will hold on
Always steadfast in His ways
Faithful to the promise we have made
By the way we live our lives

We are the keepers of His Light
We are the keepers of His Light

This is the full production as seen on ABC15 here in Phoenix. 

Sorry this is out of order! I posted the state champs before the district champs!

Troy's district meet was stellar. He could not have swum any better. All his hard work over the short high school season paid off. Here's a breakdown of his accomplishments at the meet:

1st in the 100 back
School record in the 100 back
Meet record in the 100 back

1st in the 200 free relay
School record in the 200 free relay
Meet record in the 200 free relay

1st in the 400 free relay
School record in the 400 free relay

2nd in the 100 fly
School record in the 100 fly

A little explanation before you watch his record breaking 100 back! When you are the fastest going into the final at the Peoria District Champs, they let you choose the song for the march to the blocks. Troy was very excited about this and called his big brother Ryan for advice on what song to choose. I overheard their conversation and Ryan advised him to decide on the message he wanted to send when choosing the song. They discussed many songs including "The Final Countdown," and "Gun Means Goodnight."

Apparently, Troy decided to go for some sort of humorous message... click play:

Troy continues to surprise us as he is becoming a man. He is intense, competitive, and serious about a lot of things, but also has an awesome sense of humor! He told all the guys in his final about the song and asked them to have some fun with him. This was a highlight for his coaches, who just loved this surprise march out on his way to capturing the district title. Also, the announcer is one of Troy's friends from his club team. We appreciated the excitement when he announced Troy's name!

Now for a short commercial break in our sports coverage... More of Troy's humorous side between races:

And now, back to our coverage.

Troy's first state meet and it was incredible!!! Troy finished 11th in the 100 back, 11th in the 200 free relay, 18th in the 400 free relay, and 20th in the 100 fly! It was like we could hear Keith Jackson calling out: "Oooh, what a soph-o-more!!! 

His best performance was the consolation final of the 100 back. He was 16th coming out of prelims and only the top 16 make it to finals, so he just squeaked in! He had been pretty nervous that first day. I mean, it is the high school state champs! Pretty intimidating. Something changed between the prelims and finals though. Troy realized that it was really just a glorified club meet. The competition is basically the same that he sees at his club end of season meets. Don't get me wrong, this meet is fast, but Troy has competed in a lot of fast club meets too. This totally got rid of his nerves and he swam so much better the 2nd day.

He moved up from 16th to 11th and took almost a second and a half off his best time. He also qualified for Sectionals, which is a fast regional club meet! The other thing that was notable about this event was that as he was getting ready for his race, he pulled his cap on and SNAP! It totally split apart. He ran away from the blocks to get another one and Kent and I were thinking "What is he doing? He's going to miss it!" Apparently he had the same thoughts because he turned around and headed back to the blocks. Decision made: swimming in finals without a cap. Clearly, it didn't hinder him in any way!

As swimmers say, "Outside smoke!" Troy is in lane 8. Love Kent's howling at the end. It was a great moment!

Enough talk... here's the proof!

This is a little video clip of Troy in the warm down pool after his race. Satisfied is the perfect word to describe his feeling about that race.

Troy's high school coaches at Liberty - Coach Laird and Coach Jones. These are some wonderful ladies. So positive and inspired Troy to set high expectations and goals for himself this season. We are so excited for Junior year with them!

Something needs to be said about the young man with Troy in the picture below. This is Seth Calvagno. He is a senior and Troy and he became best buds almost immediately. Seth has been the fastest boy on the team for a long time and when Troy became part of the team, Seth was overjoyed to have another team mate to push him and race with! They had such a great time together and Seth was such a good friend and teammate/mentor to Troy. Seth is super fast, won the 50 and 100 frees at District and finished 3rd in the 50 at state. He is a great swimmer, but an even better young man and friend to our son.

Some more pics from the state meet. Kent is getting pretty good with his new camera!

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke these words in a an address he gave to the worldwide church in October of 2012. His address was directed at those not of our faith and he explained why missionary work and missionaries are a vital part of our faith.  You can read his entire address here:  "Ask the Missionaries, They Can Help You!" This is a wonderful talk filled with humor and love.

Recently, I've thought about the missionaries we have known and how they have helped us. I'd like to dedicate this post to a special group of missionaries that hold a very special place in our hearts: the missionaries of the Washington Tacoma Mission!

Kent and I were talking about them and why they are special to us because the 2 1/2 years we spent in Gig Harbor, Washington cannot be remembered without many, many tender and cherished memories of these missionaries in our home. They were an integral part of our lives there and this experience is one that had not occurred before and as much as we may try, will probably not occur again.

Let me explain. In Gig Harbor, we had the missionaries over every week for dinner. Near the end of our years in WA, the mission rules changed and we were not allowed to have them eat with us more than once a month. Here in Arizona, we have Sister missionaries and while we love them and enjoy the time they are here, when you have only sons, the connection just isn't as strong.

Finally, and this is probably the most important reason why this experience was so unique:  we truly believe that one of the main reasons we moved to Washington was for Sean.  Moving when you are a junior in high school is difficult, but we saw Sean grow so much during our time there and there is no doubt in our minds that his frequent and consistent interaction with these missionaries had everything to do with it.  With his brother Ryan serving a mission at the same time, they became his big brothers. 

I'm going to list some of our favorite memories with these missionaries, and I apologize if you don't fully understand what I'm talking about... it's probably one of those "you had to be there" kind of things. 

1. Garlic rolls
2. Missionaries blowing out birthday candles and opening presents on Ryan's birthday
3. Elder Bullough's socks
4. The story about Elder Cheney's ex-girlfriend (that term may be a stretch) serving in his district
5. Kent's advice to the missionaries about life as they were sitting around our table
6. Guessing their first names
7. Pleading phone calls for a ride at the bottom of a big hill when it was pouring
8. Sean racing to the truck so he could pick them up at the bottom of those hills
9. Emails and pictures sent to their mothers and the friendships that developed from those
10. Basketball on Wednesday nights
11. A house packed with missionaries every Halloween
12. Farewell ties
13. Waiting for certain missionaries to come out of the bathroom
14. Squeezing their arms because it was all I could do to stop myself from hugging them, which is against the rules. The boys and Kent got to hug them, which made the desire even worse!

These are just a few memories, but there are 2 that are our absolute favorites and these are the ones that have filled our hearts with incredible love for these missionaries:  their Christmas gift to members and people in the Tacoma Mission and the Gospel messages they shared with us.

The Gift
Just before Christmas one year, the missionaries were all abuzz with the gift the entire mission had decided to give the members and the people living in the Tacoma Mission.  They had practiced and practiced and invited us all to come to a musical performance that included their testimonies about the Savior, Jesus Christ. Without a doubt, this was one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had and thinking about it now brings me to tears of gratitude and love for this gift.

The Gospel Messages They Shared With Us

Their messages were full of hope and love. Hope in the Savior, Jesus Christ and love for all those they were serving in the Tacoma Mission. 

These are the same messages that our missionary, Sean, shares with the people that he has come to love in South Carolina. He truly learned how to be a good missionary from the wonderful example of our beloved Tacoma Missionaries. If you would like to learn more about that message, please ask us, or visit http://www.mormon.org.

So, there are some rules here in AZ about when and how you can qualify for the state meet or break a school record. I've been trying to understand why the swimmers can't just achieve these things at any meet. I think I figured it out...

They don't have any swimming officials at the duel meets between the high schools.  I can see how you can't make it officially a school record or a state qualifying time if there aren't any stroke and turn judges or officials. To accommodate this, they have what are called "Invitational Meets" periodically throughout the high school swim season.  The Liberty HS Lions attended their first invitational, along with 16 other high schools, in Mesa this past Saturday.  There were definitely a lot of officials around, so it seemed legit!

I'm really grateful Troy got to attend this meet because it was so fun!

Troy swam the 100 butterfly first.  Honestly, I'm a bad mother because I didn't think Troy would break the school record until a little later in the season. Boy, was I wrong!  In the video below, Troy is in the red cap, 3rd lane from the left.  We haven't seen the official results yet, but we believe he took 2nd overall based on the call by the announcer. I tried to get a shot of the results board at the end, but it was too blurry!

Next individual event was the 100 backstroke. Troy came into the meet with the 2nd fastest time, but that time was 59 seconds.  Unofficially, he has gone faster, more in the low 58 second range.  We also knew that this school record was definitely going down since it was 1:02.  We just didn't realize he would go quite this fast! He's wearing a black cap this time, right there in the middle.  It was a battle the entire race! Excuse my "expletive" at the end of the video... :o)

Troy was barely out touched at the wall by 2 tenths of a second!  He was really happy about the record and his time, but disappointed about the finish.  He will definitely use that as motivation in his upcoming meets.

We are really proud of our boy and what he has been able to accomplish this year considering he missed almost all of 2013 with that shoulder injury.  He has worked really hard and we are so grateful we took a chance with acupuncture last January.

Troy has his work cut out for him though... he's only a sophomore and there are some really fast swimmers in this state.  He is sure to compete against a bunch of them at the next invitational and hopefully his times will be fast enough to qualify for the state meet in November!

GO LIBERTY LIONS!

The high school swim season has begun with a big ROAR!  Troy is a Liberty Lion and ate some swimmers for lunch at his first meet.  There were 3 high schools competing:  Liberty HS, Boulder Creek HS, and Barry Goldwater HS.  Troy swam in the 100 fly and the 100 back individual events and the swam on 2 relays, the 200 medley and the 400 free relay.  He won his individual events and the relays both took 2nd.  Not a bad start, eh?

Kent also invested in a new camera to start out the season. We've had the same camera since Troy was a baby, so it was time to upgrade. He got some great shots!

The camera is digital with an awesome lens and does video too! Kent thought a two in one was a great idea. Here are Troy's individual races...

You may know a few youth who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or "Mormon."  If you do, maybe you have heard about how they get together every few years, dress in pioneer clothing, go out into the wilderness for 3 or 4 days without their electronic devices, and pull handcarts to re-enact (in a small way) the 1,300 mile trek the Mormon Pioneers made in the middle of the 19th century to escape persecution for their religious beliefs.

You may be thinking that no normal teenager would do this willingly. You also couldn't be more wrong.

Here's a little background to help you understand why these youth are excited to experience trek:

"Every summer, many Mormon youth between the ages of 12 and 18 walk the journey Mormon pioneers took over 150 years ago.

In 1997, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints re-created the pioneer journey from near Omaha, Nebraska, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Since then, Mormon youth around the United States have increasingly taken part in pioneer treks — a simulated journey of the early Church pioneers, including some of the experiences and trials the pioneers may have faced.

Mormon pioneers began leaving Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846 to escape persecution. About 70,000 pioneers made the trek in covered wagons or on horseback to the Salt Lake Valley. Another 3,000 came by handcart.

Local Church leaders have encouraged youth to participate in the pioneer trek so they could understand the sacrifice early members of the Church made, as well as provide positive examples of courage and faith."

- mormonnewsroom.org

Here are some of the highlights of Pioneer Trek of the Peoria Arizona North Stake:

A Trek Family
Adults as Ma, Pa, Big Brother, Big Sister, and the youth as the children.

Each family loaded up their handcart and began a 15 mile first leg of the trek over rough and rocky trails through the mountains. They trekked a total of about 30 miles over 4 days.

Women's Pull
in 1846, the United States Government asked the Mormons for 500-1,000 men to enlist for service in the Mexican-American War. These men had to leave their families as they were journeying across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. President Brigham Young prophesied that "not a single battalion member would be lost to hostile action." This prophesy was fulfilled and not even one shot was fired by a battalion member except at a herd of rampaging bulls.  The women's pull gives these girls a small glimpse at the hardships the pioneer women and families faced as their husbands and fathers were called off to war. It is also very difficult for the boys and men to stand aside and watch their new sisters and Ma pull the handcart alone up such a difficult hill. They felt a little of the heartache that those husbands and fathers felt as they walked away knowing the struggles their families would go through without them.

Hunger
Many pioneers faced extreme physical difficulties as they crossed the plains. Especially hunger. The kids on this trek were only given water and an orange until they finished the first leg of their trek. When they finished that day, they were given broth and a roll. I had a really hard time with this at first. Ryan and Sean were not deprived of food at any time on their treks. This stake has always done it this way, and I realized that I needed to have more faith that Troy would be ok.  Kent and I decided that we would fast on the first day of the trek too. We both serve with the youth at church, so it seemed like a good way to show them our love and faith that they could get through this difficult first day by being hungry right along with them.  

A funny story about no food on this first day of the trek came out when we went to The Cheesecake Factory the Saturday night Troy got home. We saw many church members there who had been on the trek and we were all there to celebrate Father's Day that next day. As we were talking to another Ma and Pa from the trek, they said, "Troy, wasn't that broth just terrible?" Troy answered, "No way! It was the best thing I've ever eaten in my whole life!"  Clearly, those that planned this trek understood something that I needed to be reminded of:  Only when we sacrifice, do we truly learn to appreciate what we have. What a great lesson for my 16 year old son to learn!

Troy shared a very personal experience with us about the first day.  He was struggling with hunger pretty badly. Troy doesn't do well without food. He's been like that since he was really little.  He was such a good little boy and happy most of the time. Then suddenly, he would be so grouchy and weepy and I would wonder what had gotten into him and then the lightbulb would go on!  He's hungry!  As soon as he ate, he would be back to his normal sweet self again.  

Anyway, Troy is also pretty private about his feelings and tried to hold it in.  As the day progressed, he felt he might give up, but he decided to pray for help from Heavenly Father.  He remembered a talk given in church a couple of weeks before that referenced this talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Grateful in Any Circumstances" and the woman speaking gave some suggestions on how to have a positive attitude when things in life are hard.  One of those suggestions was to smile.  Troy decided to try that and to think about all the things he was thankful for and he felt himself become happier and more able to handle the hunger and difficulties he was facing that day. 

Incidentally, a couple of the adults on the trek told us that they had observed Troy closely and that he never once complained, he worked extremely hard never taking a break from pulling or pushing the cart, and had a wonderfully positive attitude during the entire trek.  We are so grateful for Troy's willingness to turn to his Father in Heaven when he was having a hard time and eternally grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who hears our prayers and strengthens us when we need Him.

Family Bonding and Object Lessons
Some time was spent as families discussing gospel principles and using activities to reinforce those principles.  Troy really enjoyed these activities and said that they were very fun.  

Hair Washing
They were required to wash each other's hair.  Troy said this was actually a fun thing to do. Below is Mandy Collins, Troy's "trek sister."  Troy washed her hair and then she washed his.  He's the rear end on the left! Ha! I asked Mandy about the hair washing and she said, "Troy did a great job washing my hair! I was surprised because I didn't think a boy could wash my hair that good!"

Mobs of Nauvoo
The Latter-day Saints had planned to leave Nauvoo, Illinois and head west in the spring of 1846. Unfortunately, mobs were attacking and threatening them and so the leaders of the church felt it was imperative for them to embark early, in February of 1846.  The mobs became more and more brazen and destructive in the following months and the violence culminated when the Nauvoo temple was set on fire by an arson.

This frightening time was re-enacted on the trek, so the youth could better understand the faith and courage of these pioneers.

Chickens, Pigs, Pioneer Games, and Dancing
If you are an animal rights activist, you may want to skip this next part!

They brought real live chickens for the youth to butcher, pluck, and cook for dinner.  

They had a greased pig contest and Troy said it was really funny watching the Trek Pas running around chasing after the pig.

They also played a bunch of Pioneer Games and learned some old fashioned square dancing. I managed to find one photo of Troy dancing!

Even though the Pioneers faced deprivations and hardships across the plains, they found time to have fun too.  There are many stories about the games they played, the music they sang, and the dancing at night by the light of the fire.  

This hymn was written as they crossed the plains.  It is a very special song to members of the church and conveys the amazing faith and commitment these pioneers had to their God and their religion.

Troy has told us that if he had the choice, he would do it all over again, even though it was the hardest thing he has ever done.  We are so grateful for church leaders who plan these wonderful experiences that help our children to learn and grow.  Troy's appreciation for the Mormon Pioneers increased and as he experience a small taste of the hardships they faced, his faith grew as well.