Pioneer Trek

 We just got back from a youth Pioneer Trek. It was a fun experience. We went to Riley's Farm, in Oak Glen, California, and spent 3 days recreating the Handcart Pioneer experience.

  David and I were Ma and Pa to 12 young men and women.

Jordan and Kallai were in other families.

. I've been on 2 treks before in Wyoming, at Martin's Cove, but this was definitely a different experience. The Martin's Cove treks were very spiritual, and somewhat physically challenging. This one was more historical, and extremely challenging.  There were several actors that played the part of important Mormon leaders, including Porter Rockwell and Brigham Young. They did a great job.

 There were lots of period activities, such as stick wrestling, log sawing, square dancing, archery and musket shooting.

We crossed the "Platte River", although it was really a pond filled with muddy water.  The boys carried the girls across.  When the real handcart pioneers went to cross the Platte, it was freezing cold, with chunks of ice floating in it, and the pioneers were starving and didn't have the heart to cross it, so 4 teenage boys who had come to rescue them carried most of the pioneers across. 

The terrain we covered was very challenging. We had to lower our carts by rope down into a ravine.

We had to go up and down super steep hills, and we had ropes attached to the front/back of the cart so we could have extra people adding their muscle to push to the top, or keep the cart from running out of control to the bottom.

 At one point, the menfolk left us and went off to march in the Mormon Battalion, and the women did some pioneer activities while they were marching.  We made candles and butter, we learned how to crochet, embroider, and write letters with a feather pen.  Writing with a feather is harder than it might appear at first.

While the men were gone, the women had to push the handcarts further along the trail.  At one point we had to descend a hill so steep that our stuff started falling off the top of the cart.  Our water cooler fell off and all the water spilled out, and we had to beg water from the other families until we reached the next filling station. We had to push up another hill that was extremely steep and sandy, and it took all the women from 2 carts to get each cart to the top. It was on that hill that my foot got ran over by the handcart wheel. I was on the front right bar, pushing the cart up the hill. It was becoming very steep and sandy, and I was really leaning into the bar to put my full energy into it. My right leg was back, and I was about to take the next step with it, when the sand around my foot fell away, and my foot was sucked into the pocket under the wheel. My foot was upside down, and I was sure my toes were going to be broken, but I jerked it as hard as I could, and it came free. Luckily the deep sand cushioned my foot, because I just came away with a small amount of pain in the joint of my big toe.

The final challenge was Testimony Hill. It was extremely long and hard and steep. It required putting two ropes on each cart, then filling each rope with men and boys, pulling each cart to the top, and then sending people back down with the ropes for the next cart. I made it to the top the first time, pushing our family cart from the back. By the end, I wasn't pushing much, just trying to keep up with the cart. After resting at the top for a while, I decided to go back down and help, but I only went part way. When a person on the back would get tired, I would jump in and take their place and push until I was too tired, and then someone else would jump in and take my place. David, Jordan and Kallai each went down to the bottom and helped 4 carts to the top. I'm proud of them. It was a lot of hard work.

 When we made it to the valley at the end, we were tired and sore, but proud of what we had accomplished.

Our reward for all that hard work?  New and deeper friendships with our ward and stake members...

 and Carls Jr. Cheesburgers!

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Jordan's Senior Prom

Jordan took his beautiful girlfriend Alexia to Senior Prom in May.  Prom was on the USS Midway, which is a retired Aircraft Carrier that is docked in the San Diego Harbor.  Jordan wanted to drive his dad's car, but was not able to drive to the dance, so they rode with some friends.  Jordan's inability to drive is an interesting story that caused him much frustration.  In California, it is illegal for young drivers to drive other young people for the first year that they have a license. When we moved to California from Utah, Jordan had already had a Utah license for several months, but California refused to count that time towards his year.  He had to have a California license for one year, or until he turned 18, whichever happened first.  Jordan's birthday was 3 days after Prom.  Hence the frustration.  They had a great time anyway.  They ended up eating at Pizza Hut, which was not in the plan, but Alexia said that the quirkiness of it made it even more fun.

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Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Two high school graduations, one elementary school graduation, one middle school graduation, one DARE graduation, five award ceremonies, three High Honor Roll certificates, one VATSENDAL Award, one 4.0+ GPA certificate, one college scholarship, two choir concerts, one band concert, two birthdays, one wedding, one bishopric calling, two seminary graduations, one Duty to God award, one Star rank advancement, thirteen relatives in town, two museums, one company party, three days of pioneer trekking, and one crawling grandson.
These are all the amazing things that our family packed into one 30 day period. Awesome! Once I catch my breath, I will blog about it.

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A tribute to Jordan

 Jordan turned 18 a few weeks ago, and will graduate from High School this week. 

I can't believe another one of my children is all grown up. It's not quite as shocking the second time around, but it's still a moment full of emotion. I miss my quirky little boy, but I'm so proud of the man he has become. I want to hold on to him forever, but I know I have to let him go. I want him to go out and experience life, but I'm afraid that I will lose the closeness that I have with him. Ah well. I'm probably not the first mother to have these same feelings. In celebration of Jordan's adulthood, I'd like to share 18 memories about his journey as a child.

1. I call Jordan my bargain baby. Heavenly Father was ready for me to have another child before I was. My first child was a difficult baby, and I wasn't so sure about going through that again. After much prayer, I realized that despite my feelings, the time had come. I prayed and told God that I would have a baby as long as He was going to help me out, a lot! My "bargain" was accepted, and I became pregnant almost immediately. Heavenly Father kept his end of the bargain by sending an angel of a baby, who turned into an angel of a toddler, who became an angel of a boy, etc. Jordan has never been just an average kid. He has always been extraordinary. I have always wondered why it was so important for him to arrive exactly when he did, what important work he has before him that was so time sensitive. Maybe I'll never know, but I do know he is destined for amazing things.

2. Jordan has always loved books. From the time he could make his preferences known, one of his favorite past times has been reading. As a toddler, he would ask me to read a book, then when I had finished, he would turn back to the front page, point to the first word and say, "What's that?" then the second word, "What's that?" and so on until either I lost patience, or we had finished the book a second time. As I taught Mariasha her letters before she started Kindergarten, he would sit and watch us, until suddenly he started saying the letters too. By the time Jordan was 3 he was reading. By the time he was old enough to start Kindergarten, he was reading chapter books. In Junior High, I would often ground him from reading. I would say, "You can't read anymore until you go play with a friend for one hour!" I was worried that he would not end up with any social skills, but he turned out alright. Now, we enjoy many of the same types of books, and he will often hand me a book and say, "Hurry up and read this so I can talk to you about it."

3. Jordan has always been quite particular about his appearance. The first example I can remember was his shoes. Even before he could tie his own shoes, he insisted that the loops and ends of his laces be the same length. All four parts had to be exactly the same length, and he would compare them. If they weren't exact, he would cry, take his shoes off, and insist that they be tied again. I would often have to relace his shoes completely, so I could start out with laces exactly the right length, so the finished product would be acceptable. I quickly tired of the experience, so I bought him shoes with velcro closures. I thought I was very clever, but with those shoes, he insisted that the velcro loop side fit exactly over the hook side. He didn't care how lose his shoes were, as long as the two sides of the velcro lined up exactly. As a teen, it is his hair.  He has to have every hair in the right place, no matter how much time it takes.  He will often point to his perfectly done hair and say, "See, this part right here is not working."

4. Jordan has always been a clown. He loves attention and he loves to be silly. He makes funny faces, has crazy laughs, and will often run into the room, make a weird noise like a turkey gobbling while on helium, then run out again, just for the fun of it. I often ask him what his girlfriend thinks of his weirdness, but he tells me he doesn't do it in front of her. Probably a good thing. He has many different voices he likes to use, the mad scientist voice, the Igor voice, the Scottish voice, the Golem voice, the Lilo and Stitch voice, and most of them sound pretty authentic. In 6th grade he drove his teacher crazy with his jokes about fish. They didn't make any sense, but he thought they were hilarious! He loves to ham it up for the camera, or anyone who is willing to laugh.

5. When Jordan was young (2-5) he adored dinosaurs. He had several dinosaur books that he loved to read. He insisted that I teach him how to pronounce each dinosaur's name. One day we went to Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, and he went around to the different dinosaur exhibits and read the names on the plaques. Then he proceeded to tell whoever was willing to listen, several interesting facts about each dinosaur. Everyone there was amazed.

 

6. Growing up, Jordan was always small for his age, and a bit of a late bloomer. He was young for his class, too, and his classmates towered over him. He didn't let it stop him though, and he became very good at basketball at a young age.  He was a tiny little thing, but he could make a 3 point shot. He played every day at school, in rain, sun, snow, whatever. Unfortunately, around 6th grade, he finally realized that he was not going to grow. He didn't really hit a growth spurt until 9th grade, and it got pretty difficult to make the shot when his opponents all had a foot on him. In 6th grade, he gave up basketball completely.  He tried his hand at soccer, which he was good at, football, not so good, and cross-country, which he took up in High School, and was quite good at. One of my favorite experiences that we've shared was when Jordan, David and I all ran a triathlon together.

7. Jordan has always loved puzzles.  He used to spend hours at Grandma's house putting them together.  At age 2 he could put together a 100 piece puzzle, all by himself.

8. Jordan can sleep anytime, anywhere. As a child, he would fall asleep in the craziest places.  When we would stay up late on the weekends, we would find him zonked out around 8 p.m.  Everyone else would stay up until midnight or later, and want to sleep in.  Not Jordan.  He was up, zooming around and ready to play around 6a.m. Even as a teenager, we will often call the kids together for prayer around 8:30p.m., only to realize that Jordan is already sound asleep in his bed.

9. Jordan is a rule keeper. He's the first one to point out when a game rule is not being followed correctly, and he'll get out the rule book and prove it to you. He's also very concerned that his siblings and his parents follow the rules. It can be annoying at times, but it's not all bad. He also keeps the rules in life. He didn't turn 16 until the end of his Sophomore year, so he couldn't go to any of the school dances. A girl he really liked asked him to 2 dances and he had to tell her no. He turned 16 one week after the last school dance, and when we found out, we told him to go ahead and take her to it. He wouldn't do it, though. He said, "I've turned down too many dates. There's no way I'm going to give in with only one week to go." I was really proud of him.

10. When Jordan was young, his dad was on the Eagle Mountain Fire Department. Jordan was so proud of his dad, and for a long time thought about becoming a Fire Fighter/ EMT like his dad. One of his favorite things each summer was to ride on top of the Fire Truck during the Pony Express Days parade.

11. Jordan is afraid of hights and spiders.  He didn't want to jump off this cliff, but I convinced him to do it for the picture. 

12. Jordan is very musically talented.  He played piano as a child, and picked it up very quickly.  His teacher (grandma) was so sad when he decided he didn't want to play anymore, because he had so much potential.  Later, he decided to play the guitar.  His talent showed up there as well. He picked it up very quickly, and he plays beautifully.  When we moved to California his Senior year, on a whim he decided to try out for Madrigals, the High School's top choir (18 people).  He had never taken choir, or sung in a formal choir, but he made it!  His choir competed in Orlando, Florida, and won best choir out of about 30 choirs.

13. When he hit 7th grade, he had a tough time transitioning over to multiple classes and teachers. He got a bit sloppy about turning stuff in. He had a Study Skills class, that he was getting a good grade in, but he forgot to turn in a project on the last day of the term. His teacher wouldn't accept it late, and it was worth half his grade. His report card came home with A's and B's, and one C-. He was mortified. He laid on his bed and cried. I talked to him about learning a lesson from it and changing his habits so he wouldn't have to bring home such a bad grade ever again. He took it to heart, and from then on he was a top student. He did his homework, and turned it in with almost no reminders or help from me. He graduated High School with above a 4.0 GPA, and after the first term of 7th grade, he only earned 3 B+'s the rest of his Junior High and High School career. The rest were A's.

14. One of David's favorite memories of Jordan is golfing with him.  They have golfed quite a bit together, and it has always been a special time for them.

15. Jordan earned his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts, his Eagle in Boy Scouts, his Faith in God in Primary, and his Duty to God in the Aaronic Priesthood. We're very proud of him. He loved camping as a young scouter. During his first summer camp, it rained nonstop. The leaders didn't let that hinder any of the activities, and they ended up going on a 5 mile hike in the pouring rain, up a mountain, slipping and sliding in the mud. He had a blast. I was his Webelos leader in Cub Scouts, and his dad was his Scout leader for most of his time in Boy Scouts. They had a lot of fun camping, fishing, waterskiing, slot canyoning, and caving.

 16. One year for Christmas, Santa brought Jordan and Kallai model airplanes.  They were so excited to fly them.  They went to the park a few days later to try them out.  David was afraid that Jordan would crash his plane, so David insisted on flying it first, to figure it out.  It sped down the sidewalk, then lifted off and banked to the left, then crashed into a sign (or something similar).  The plane exploded into several pieces, and Jordan was heartbroken that his new toy was ruined.  Kallai's plane didn't even get off the ground, because he wouldn't let David touch it.  They brought the pieces of Jordan's plane home and taped it back together, but it never flew again.

17. Jordan has always been a history buff.  When he was in 6th grade, he insisted on participating in the school's wax museum, and dressing up as Jose de San Martin.  Who is that, you ask?  You'll have to ask Jordan.  I had never heard of him.  In Junior High and High School, Jordan took extra history classes for fun, and his history teachers always raved about him at parent teacher conferences. His 11th grade US History teacher called him "The Great Mediator".  The class was trying to hammer out a Constitution, but the different parties were not willing to cooperate.  They had spent several class periods refusing to compromise at all.  Apparently, Jordan finally got up, pointed out the similarities of some laws, the absurdity of other laws, and negotiated compromises and trades to get the class to come together.  Once he decided to step in, he took them from the brink of forming separate countries within the class to ratifying the completed Constitution in about half a class period.

18. Jordan has a testimony, and has always been deeply touched by the Spirit.  When he was 8, he burst into tears after watching a movie about Christ's life.  His Primary teacher came to get me, because she didn't know what was wrong.  When I got there, he explained that he just felt Jesus' love for him so strongly that he couldn't help crying.  He has always had very high standards for himself, and he strives to live up to them.  He decided on his own long ago that he wants to serve a mission, and he has been working towards that goal since he is small. 

It has been a privelege to have had the opportunity to be Jordan's mother.  I am so sad to see him leaving to go to college, but at the same time, I can't wait to see what else he is going to accomplish. 

We love you Jordan!

I have added several new posts recently.  You may have missed some, keep reading!