And Summer Comes to a Close

I can't believe summer vacation has finally come to an end.  Hannah and Ashley start school tomorrow.

We have enjoyed a fun and busy summer.  We finished up with a bang on a camping trip this weekend with our friend group.  This time we went to Twin Lakes in Idaho and the kids had a blast.  It's amazing to me that you can give kids a canoe, paddles, and two feet of water and they can be entertained for 7+ hours and then wake up the next morning and start all over again.

We are so blessed to have such amazing friends that are willing to hang with us.  I love how well all of the kids get along with one another.  It makes the outings so much fun.

As summer closes, here's a recap:

• Six weeks of swimming lessons....and Mom survived!
• Hiking the Subway
• Oler Family Reunion
• Camp trips with friends to: Crystal Hot Springs, Wellsville Dam, George Town Idaho, Beaver Mountain and Twin Lakes
• Rides at the Cache County Fair and staying out and riding until 11 p.m.
• Rodeo at the Cache County Fair and how amazing the girls were
• Making new friends at Aunt Emma's
• Once a week with Traci where she took the girls to the Splash Pond, Bear Lake and the Aquatic Center......twice
• Finding Fireflies
• The girls catching frogs
• Fun times in Nibley for the girls catching chickens
• July 24 party at our house and enjoying the Mendon fireworks

Hannah told my mom the other day on the phone that we really haven't done much this summer.  What?!?  I hope she'll look at this list some day and say, "Wow!  My parents are amazing!  We had a great summer!"

Now it's time to bring on homework, piano, TaVaci and soccer.  Fall is here.  Bring it on!

New Calling

On Fast Sunday in July, I was called to meet with a member of the Bishopric and asked to be in nursery "full-time".  Since moving to Mendon three years ago, I have been in nursery but only once a month.  They decided to revamp nursery and have people in full-time, which I agree with.  It's easier on the kids.  This also meant that I would still keep my Enrichment Leader calling......a little bummed at this.....I've been on the Enrichment Committee since moving to Mendon and have been the Enrichment Leader for almost 2 years.

Then came the phone call to meet with a member of the Bishopric on August's Fast Sunday.  What in the world could this calling be?  I was only put in nursery full-time a month ago.  I was a little shocked when the Bishop asked if I'd be the Secretary to the Primary Presidency.  Wahoo!  Secretary work is right up my alley!


It was announced last Sunday in sacrament meeting and Hannah and Ashley are stoked!  Mom in Primary with us!  Awesome!!  I sat in Primary on Sunday to see what I'm suppose to do and Nicole was so cute.  She kept turning around in her chair to wave at me.


First Presidency Meeting Thursday night!  We're off and running.


I was released from Nursery and from my Enrichment Leader callings.  It will be a good change of pace.

Oler Reunion

We left the Subway hike take out point at 10 p.m. and headed to the Oler reunion.  Mind you, we thought we'd be arriving at the reunion anywhere between 5-7 pm.  Hmm....that didn't work.
In preparing for the reunion, Dave did some research online to make sure we could drive through Zions National Park with our travel trailer because there are two tunnels.  His research found that we needed an escort through the park because our trailer didn't meet the height and width requirements.  At the end of the canyon coming from the hike, we pulled off and our brother-in-law, Bryce, said that Nate had done some searching and the escorts to get us through Zions Park were only available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.  They (Dave and Bryce) decided to go for it anyway and if the Ranger turned us around then we would find somewhere for the night and try again the next day.

As we're driving toward the park you can see all the signs on the side of the road warning you not to drive through the canyon with a trailer and all the signs about the tunnels.  We reach the Ranger's station and guess what?  They're closed.  Dave decides to head forward anyway.  At this point, I once again hit panic mode.  Are you kidding me?  We're really going to go through these tunnels in the middle of the night without an escort?  Have you been reading the signs?

I ask Dave if he's really going to go through the tunnels.  I'm thinking that we should turn around and find somewhere to park for the night and try again tomorrow.  Dave tells me not to "freak" out that he's not going to hurt anyone.  I am once again praying like I've never prayed before that we're not going to meet another car coming the other way through the tunnels because as we're driving Dave makes the comment that there's more cars coming the other direction than he thought there would be.  Yikes!

We make it to the first tunnel and I am so scared.  My eyes are closed and I'm praying like crazy.  I asked Dave how long the tunnel was and he said 1 mile.  Holy Crap!  He woke Hannah up in the back seat so she could see the tunnel.  I did open my eyes for a little bit to check it out. 

Phew!  We made it through.  We didn't pass one car coming the other way but as soon as we exited the tunnel there came another car.  Wow!  That was cutting it close.  Thank you...thank you....thank you Heavenly Father for answering that prayer.

Oh but there's more.....there's not only one tunnel.....there's two!  So we had to do the same thing once again.  We made it!  Now we're home free of the tunnels and on our way through the windy canyon to the reunion sight.  We pulled into the Clear Creek Ranch at 11 p.m. and set up our trailer.  We were exhausted but we still had to get things a bit in order and shower.  It ended up being a long day/night.

We slept in as long as we could Thursday morning but Nicole and Ashley came to find us as soon as they were done eating breakfast.  I can't say I blame them.  We hadn't seen them since Tuesday night.  Nicole was so full of kisses and I love yous.  She couldn't get close enough to Dave and I.  It was fun.  However, it was in the morning that I realized how bad my quad muscles hurt from the hike!  Holy smokes!  I seriously couldn't get myself out of the bed.

Thursday morning of the reunion was playing at the Pink Coral Sand Dunes.  Everyone left and headed on their way and we were following up after.  Well, the map didn't print on the directions I had so after driving back and forth for 30 minutes, we finally stopped and got some directions and arrived at the sand dunes just in time for people to be heading back to the Ranch for lunch.  Oops!  Better luck next time.  The rest of Thursday was free time, relay races, slip n' slide, kid crafts and that night was a nice fireside focusing on Dave's Aunt Sharon.

Friday morning brought a six mile hike to an observation point of Zions National Park.  On Thursday with my legs being so sore that I couldn't even get myself off the toilet, I told Dave there was no way I was going on Friday's hike.  On Thursday night, Dave asked Hannah and Ashley if they wanted to do the hike and of course they did.  As we went to bed it was decided that we'd plan to go and if I woke up the next morning and couldn't it was fine.  There were actually two options for the hike.  One option was three miles in to the observation point and then three miles back out.  The other option was three miles in and then a straight down hike for I'm not sure how many miles to the bottom of Zions National Park into a slot canyon.  I did tell Dave on Thursday that if I went on the hike I would do the in and out option.  There was NO WAY I was heading straight down.  Forget that!

We got up early Friday morning to eat breakfast by 6:30 a.m. and be ready to go on the hike.  We packed our sack lunches and were on our way around 7:30 a.m.  Nicole stayed behind with Aly and Grandma Welker.  Poor kid.  This is round two that she's been left out.  In our truck was Dave, me, Glade, Hannah, Ashley and Rachel (niece).  Rachel was a trooper.  She really didn't want to go but she did it anyway.



Here's a few pictures of the hike:

Here's a little observation point along the trail.  I was too freaked out about the drop off behind everyone so I chose to take the pictures and not be in them.

We made it!  It really was a neat observation point.  Once again I was FREAKED out at the heights.  You could stand from this observation point and look across the canyon and see the people standing at Angel's Point.  Yep, the same Angel's Point that people die at!  Our observation point was higher than Angel's point.  We saw a double bus driving at the bottom of the canyon and it looked like a matchbox car.  It was tiny.  You could also look across the canyon and see the zigzag trail that some of the group was taking to get to the bottom of the canyon.  Holy Crap!  I'm glad I told Dave I wasn't going on the "down" trail.  It looked intense and straight down!

Here's Glade with Ashley, Hannah and Rachel.

Dave was determined that I needed to get close to the edge to really "see" the view.  I really hate heights and drop off edges so here's the photos of me freaking out and Dave trying to get me to "look".  You can't tell but I'm hanging onto his shirt in the bottom picture.  One of the cousins commented later that night that it was hilarious to see the two of us and every time Dave moved I scream.  Nice!  Glad to be remembered for that one!

Wendy and Kevin went on the hike with us too! 

Friday afternoon brought a little nap time.....and I mean little......the girls couldn't hold still and watch the movie.  Dave then headed off with Kevin to help with a repelling activity.

The girls went to the lodge for a 3-10 year old activity where they made sugar cookies and mini loaves of bread and I stayed behind and had a wonderful shower!

Friday night brought some amazing rain storms or should I say down pours.  They were incredible.  In between rain, we managed to have family pictures and then another fireside focusing on Dave's Uncle Ken and Aunt Sharon who were celebrating their 59th (I think) wedding anniversary.

Saturday morning was the day to head home after the family meeting.  We were leaving the ranch and heading on our way around 11:30 a.m.  We decided not to go through Zion's park on the way home because we would have to buy a park pass for $25  and pay another $25 for the escort.  Hmm.....guess there was an advantage to coming through the park in the middle of the night on Wednesday!  So we're on our way heading toward Mt. Caramel/Kanab.

When we left the Subway take out on Wednesday night in the pitch black our truck and trailer came to an abrupt stop when we hit something.  Dave thought we had hit a hole or something but it was too dark to see anything.  He backed up a bit, moved to the right, and off we went.  Wednesday night when he was setting the trailer he noticed that there was a small crinkle on the trailer where we hit.  He only saw cosmetic stuff.  No big deal.  I was too tired Wednesday night to worry about the cosmetic stuff.  Dave said he knew I would be that's why he thought it was the best time to mention it on Wednesday.  Smart man!

So, we're heading down the canyon and I can tell that Dave's not going as fast as normal and he keeps looking in his mirror.  We're not too far when he says, "You need to find me a place to pull over."  Well, instantly the hair on the back of my neck stands up be because I can tell something is wrong.  I ask what the matter is and he tells me that he doesn't know but he needs to pull over.  There was a place we had turned around on Thursday morning not too far down the road when we couldn't find the sand dunes so when we found this area we pulled off the side of the road.  Dave gets out of the car to see what's going on and returns a few minutes later to inform me that we have a bent axle on the trailer and it's shredding our tire.  Really?  Really.

Dave's Dad and Glade pass and turn to come back and help.  Everyone else is on their way to Panguitch so here we are on the side of the road trying to figure out what we're going to do.  You can't straighten axles.  You have to replace them.  Of course you do.  We're Welkers and if we didn't have bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all!  Dave tells me to start a movie for the girls because it's going to take awhile.

I did have to snap a few pictures for documentation.

Dave taxed through his brain about what our options were.  He came up with removing the tire, using a tie down strap and putting all of the trailer weight on the back axle.  We then needed to limp the trailer as far as we could, drop it and return at a later date to retrieve it with a new axle.  Dave says we have three tires we can use on the trailer in case they pop.  Oh that's a pleasant thought!

We make it to the end of the canyon which was only a couple of miles.  We fill the tires up with air and then it's decided that we're going to try and push on to Panguitch, which is 50 miles from where we are.  Yikes!  We can leave the trailer in Panguitch at Erin's (Dave's sister) roommate's parent's house and then Dave will return on Monday to bring it home.

Thank goodness Grandpa and Uncle Glade took the girls in their vehicle.  It was a major tense ride to Panguitch.  I'm not sure how things would have gone over in the truck if they all of a sudden started fighting.  The ride was pretty quiet and we were listening to every sound.

The max speed reached was 45 mph.  For the most part we drove 40 mph but we made it!  Safe and sound we pulled into Panguitch and were able to drop the trailer.  We didn't even pop one tire!  I call that amazing and a huge answer to the prayer said between Dave and I before leaving the canyon.  Once again, we were watched over and safe.

The girls and I met up with others at Henry's Drive Inn for some lunch while Dave and Nate removed the axle from the trailer to bring home with us in the truck so we could get the exact measurements for the replacement axle.  It took them a little over an hour to remove the axle, we met up at the house where we left the trailer and we were all off once again heading home.

It ended up being a really long day.  We arrived in Mendon at 10:30 p.m.  I do have to say the girls were troopers.  They never complained.  We have awesome travelers.  We did stop and eat at Panda Express in Lehi/American Fork and got rained on.  The girls thought that was pretty cool.  We ate outside and as we were sitting there in came a thunderstorm.  Sweet!

Arrangements were made with Dave's Dad and Nate to head out early Monday morning and retrieve the trailer.  Nate had done a bunch of phone calling on Saturday while we were stranded trying to locate axles.  Mondays are Dave's day to watch the girls so he packed them up early Monday morning at 6 a.m., took them to Nibley for the day and the three guys were off to collect the trailer.

Now let me just say, we can't do anything the easy way.  The guys arrive in Salt Lake at 8 a.m. to pick up the axle.  Where we're changing one axle we might as well change both axles and take them from the "drop" style to the "straight" style.  Yea....I didn't understand it either until I could visually see what Dave was talking about.  Upon arriving in Salt Lake the company only had one axle.  Nice.  So they then drove to Orem to another store to get one more.  Well, wouldn't you know it.  The store in Orem didn't have one.  So back in the truck they get and retrace their miles to Ogden where a company has two.  Dave was very impressed with the place in Ogden because they took the time to do some welding on the axles that more time would have needed to be spent finding a place to weld.  Once they get that finished, they need to go to Salt Lake and return the other axle they purchased.  I was heading to swim lessons with the girls at 4 p.m. when I chatted with Dave and they were about 50 minutes away from Panguitch.....meaning they hadn't made it there yet.  I talked to Dave at 9 p.m. and they were at Henry's Drive Inn finally getting some dinner and then would be making the drive home.  Dave arrived back in Mendon at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning......with the trailer......hurray!!!  What a trooper!  That is a very one day!

As Dave and I were alone in the truck on the drive to Panguitch, I said, "Do you think just once we could have a vacation where we didn't have an "adventure" and a story to tell when we got home?  Just once I would like to return and say it was a pretty low key vacation.  Nothing really happened."  Yea right.....like that's going to ever happen.  I'd write a book about all our adventures but it would be published as fiction and no one would believe it!

Hiking the Subway in Zions National Park

Every third year, we attend the Oler family reunion.  This is the reunion of Dave's Mom's brothers and sister, their kids, grandkids and now even for some great-grandkids.  This year there were 136 people that attended the reunion.A few months ago, Dave's brother Nate decided to apply for hiking the Subway in Zion's National Park.  This is where the Oler reunion was being held so it was something that could be done on the way to the reunion.  Two permits were drawn for the Subway hike which made it so 24 people could go.

Dave remembers hiking the Subway some 20 years ago with his family when he was about 16 years old.  I vividly remember standing in the kitchen when he asked if I'd like to hike the Subway with him.  I seem to always tell Dave no on adventurous things.  I river rafted with him once....that was enough...I'm not a strong swimmer.  I have snowmobiled a couple of times but that's really something he goes and does on his own.  I did hike with Dave right after we were first married and I thought that I'd rather be on land than in the water so I said I would go.  It was even decided from the get-go that Hannah was hiking also.

In weeks prior to the hike, Dave and I started walking around Mendon.  We got to the point that we were walking 3 miles at a pretty good pace and we were even jogging a bit until I rolled my ankle the first part of July.  Two days after I rolled my ankle we were suppose to hike Latham's Hollow as a family but I still couldn't walk.  Dave wanted me to stay behind so my ankle could rest for the Subway hike.  He did end up going and took Hannah and Ashley and he said these two did an amazing job.  The hike was only suppose to be 6 miles but ended up being 8 1/2 due to the high waters and the canyon being closed on the other side where the pick-up car was suppose to be.

Throughout the next couple of weeks Dave and I continued walking even though I continued to still have issues with my ankle.  Now it's time for the Subway hike.  What am I going to do?  My ankle still hurts at the end of the day.  Can I really hike the 10 miles of the Subway?

Let the story begin.....

The Subway
Let me start by saying this hike ranks in one of the top five hardest things I've ever done.  I've thought about what my list would be of the hardest things I've ever done and here's what I came up with:
#1 - child birth - c-sections are not easy...especially with Hannah when I had to fight so hard for my life
#2 - losing my dad
#3 - living with my in-laws (I hope no offense is taken but this was one of the hardest things to do.)
#4 - Hiking the Subway
#5- River Rafting the Rogue River

For a couple of days prior to this hike, I would pray fervently to my Father in Heaven asking that if this hike was something that I couldn't do then I needed something to happen to make it so I couldn't go.  In my prayers, I asked that I'd be able to make it out because I was leaving two girls behind that needed me.  If there were any chance that I would get hurt or not be able to make it out then I needed the miracle so that I didn't enter the Subway.

As I'm sure you've already figured out, I never received the prompting or miracle that I shouldn't do the hike and let me just say my faith grew 10 fold in this adventure because I know my Heavenly Father carried me through this hike.  The Sunday before we left, we sang "Faith in Every Footstep" in sacrament meeting and this song played over and over and over again in my head as I did this hike.  This is what kept me going and as I tell the story you'll see why.

The morning began at 4:45 a.m. when the alarm went off so we could get up, dress, eat breakfast, and be down to the truck by 5:30 a.m.  Hannah got up and got ready to go with us while Ashley and Nicole slept and stayed behind with Grandma Welker.

We left the hotel parking lot pretty much on time and headed to the hiking location.  We stopped and left our truck and trailer at the take out point and hopped in with the Ropers and up the road we went to the hike starting point.  I have to say I was impressed.  The goal was to begin the hike at 7:30 a.m. and it was 7:30 a.m. on the dot when we began.



The trail's not looking to bad to begin with.

Here's the group: Janee, Grandpa, Brandon, Nate, Glade, Bryce Dave, Ben, Bridger, Sam, Me and Hannah.

These section was pretty cool.  Dave said the rocks would be awesome to take a 4-wheeler on.  Hannah was all over chasing the lizards!

You have to go "down" to get to the Subway.  This was the first major decent.  I had to make sure and get some photos that we actually climbed down this stuff.

Phew!  We made it down and now comes the adventures in the Subway.

Here's the first water section that we needed to wade in.  Can I just say the water was freezing!  I'd love to get Janee's video of the next water section where it came up to my chest and I scream the whole way because it was cold!

Then came the "Indiana Jones" section of the hike.  This is where Nate and Dave had gone a scouted things out and determined it would be better to send Hannah, Grandpa, Me and Janee around this swimming section.  Well, sending us "around" meant climbing up on the hillside, crawling on our hands and knees in wet mossy mud to reach a point where we could use the rope and come down the mountain on the other side and bypass the swim.

Now let me just say as we were crawling under the rock, Dave, Nate and Glade we walking the edge with the rope in case someone started to slide.  They said they had good footing but holy crap I was scared to death because if you went off the edge.....you were done for.

I remember Glade putting his hand out to get me over a hurdle.  I thought to myself, "you've got to be kidding me!  There's not enough room there for both my feet!"  As we were crawling, Hannah was in front, then Grandpa, then me, and Janee was behind me.  It was so hard as a mom to have Grandpa between me and Hannah when she came to a section that she was freaked about about scooting around.  All I could do was give words of encouragement that I was behind her and that she could do it.

Then came the point where Grandpa was now scooting on him bum (he told Hannah to try it this way because it was easier on the knees) and I hear him say, "I'm sliding.  I'm sliding."  I look up and yes he's sliding!  Nate came over and stopped him with his foot.  Thank goodness they said they had good footing!

It was at the point where it was my turn to cross the little hurdle that Hannah struggled on when the tears came and I said, "Do you guys know how hard this is?!?!?"  It came to my mind once again that I wouldn't be in this situation if my Heavenly Father knew I wouldn't make it so I trudged forward and we all made it down safely.  Then Dave, Nate and Glade climbed back over to do and do the swim. 

Glad to see we're still smiling!

Here's some fun at a little waterfall.  Too bad the pictures came out fuzzy!  Where's me you ask?  I took the "easy" way and jumped down off the right hand side....I'm at the bottom taking the pictures.

Now comes the second part where the tears came because I was so scared.  You'll look at the pictures below and not think the rock looks that steep but let me tell you that when you're standing at the top looking down and seeing what they want you to do.....the rock is VERY steep.

This is the last hurdle in the subway.  After you reach this point, you're home free of the obstacles and the rest is easy-peasy (or so we thought).  At this section, you have to use the rope, walk backwards down the hill and then the last 6 feet is a drop off to the bottom.

When it was Hannah's turn to attempt this I freaked out.  I had to turn and look into the mountain.  I could not watch my child walk backwards down a mountain using the strength of her arms only (no harness) to reach the bottom.  Nate's at the bottom but what if she loses her grip?  Will he catch her?

Janee was up next.  She did a great job getting down.  Then I knew it was my turn.  Dave's at the top coaching me on that I can do it but I started to cry.  I don't think my arms are strong enough to hold me weight the entire walk down.  What if I lose my grip?  What if my arms get tired?  Dave asks me if I'd like the harness.  "Can I use it?"  He hooks me up using the harness and last year's family reunion experience kicks in of repelling down the mountain (thanks to Kevin and family) and down the mountain I went.

At the bottom of this section was some waterfalls.  Dave asks if I want to swim back and see them.  At this point the answer is no.  I am done.  I want to be out of here.  I took off walking with Grandpa while Dave and Hannah went back and played in the waterfalls.  Hannah's fun comment is that her and her Dad took a shower in the waterfall.

Grandpa came down after me using the harness.

Then Dave....minus the harness.

My friend Jessie did the subway hike last year.  She had told me a lot of things to expect on the hike and her insight was very helpful.  Her words kept ringing in my ears that once you reach this obstacle you're at the end of the subway and then you have a straight across walk in hot sand which takes about an hour and then you have the miserable climb up the side of the mountain to the top.

Nate and Dave remember the hike from years ago that when you come out of the subway it opens up and you can "knock the bottom part out" and reach the miserable climb up the side of the mountain.

We came out of the Subway portion and the cool red rock falls and decided to stop and filter water.  We knew we'd need as much water as possible for the climb out.  I remember words between Nate and I where I asked how much farther he thought we had.  I needed an idea so I could get my mind set.  I commented that we should be to the truck by 8 o'clock right?  Yes.  We should be to the truck by 8 o'clock no problem.

The water was filtered and everyone took off.  Dave, me, Hannah and Glade were the last to leave because we had to put the filter away.  We were about 20 minutes behind everyone else.  The trail was suppose to open up and be sand and off we'd go.  Well let me just say that due to the wet spring/summer there was no sand trail.  For the next 3 hours we hiked over boulders.  We would go in the water and over boulders to the other side.  Then you'd go back in the water and over boulders to the other side.  This continued on and on and on for the 3 hours.

It was so frustrating to be on a trail for a few minutes and feel that you're climbing and then all of the sudden I would look up and see the Glade had gone back down into the water and was climbing on boulders again.  All the while knowing that he was heading to the other side which meant that we'd have to cross back over once again because the mountain we needed to scale to get out of the canyon was on the other side.  This happened over and over and over.

After being on our own for 2 1/2 hours we finally came to a spot to rest and refuel our energy.  At this point it is now after 8 o'clock.  What?  I was suppose to be at the truck by now but instead I start to panic that we're lost.  Hannah has reached her exhaustion point.  She's been hiking since 7:30 a.m. and she laid down on a rock.  Dave told her that she had to sit up.  She couldn't stop.  I didn't blame her though.  I myself wanted to lay down on a rock and give up.  I'm exhausted!  I started questioning Dave and Glade and asking if they'd seen any of the trail markers in the last little bit.  I didn't get a picture of one of the trail markers but they're a stack of 3 to 4 rocks showing the say.  Well can I just say that when you're walking through a sea of boulders it's a bit hard to see a small stack of rocks.

Like I said I started panicking at this point.  I asked Dave and Glade how on earth we hadn't caught up to his Dad by now.  These boulders are hard to get over.  How have we not caught up?  This is why I was thinking that we weren't on the right trail or that we'd pass where we needed to be heading up.  As we were standing there, I looked at the mountain, which was on the other side....yep....gonna have to cross again......and I saw Nate's bright green shirt climbing up the side of the mountain!  Hurray!  We weren't lost and we'd found the exit point.  Then we heard Janee's whistle.  What a boost of adrenaline that gave.  Once Hannah saw Aunt Janee she was up and ready to head out.

I hope Dave's Dad and Janee know what a welcoming sight they were.  We were so disheartened that we couldn't find anyone and seeing their faces were amazing.  Thanks to Dave's Dad who was stubborn enough to say that he wouldn't start climbing out until we came.

Janee led the way with Hannah and me behind.  We took off up the side of the mountain and Dave and Glade stayed back to assist Dave's Dad in getting up the side of the hill.  They say they're suppose to be switchbacks going up the side of the mountain.  I have to disagree.  It was a straight up climb with a few boulders along the way for footing/hand holds (if I never see a boulder again in my life it will be too soon).  At this point though, I didn't care.  I knew that once I got to the top the truck was there and it would be over.

Hannah was a trooper and up the mountain she went.  She would stop along the way and play/try to catch frogs.  I actually thought the hike up out wasn't too bad.  It was a lot better than those stinkin' boulders.  I had to stop a few times to rest but not too bad.  One nice thing was that the sun was behind the mountain so it wasn't beating down on us.  Bonus!  I guess Nate didn't have the heart to tell us that after you climbed the steep mountain you still had another 1/2 mile to reach the truck.  I didn't care though.  It was a flat walk...no boulders... and then end was near.  Janee, Hannah and I reached our truck at 9 p.m.  That is 13 1/2 hours of hiking.  Oh my gosh!  The truck is a welcoming sight!

It's getting to the point that it's getting dark so I climbed in our trailer and pulled out two flashlights.  Hannah and Janee headed back down the trail to find Dave, Glade and Grandpa and help them make it to the truck with a little light.  They made it to the truck at 9:25 p.m.  That's 14 hours of hiking for them but they made it!

How was this hike a faith growing experience.  In my moments of despair and when I was so scared of what I was being asked to do I kept telling myself that Heavenly Father wouldn't have let me do this hike if I couldn't make it.  With this knowledge and "Faith in Every Footstep" playing in my head I kept putting one foot in front of the other and I made it!  It ended up being a huge testimony builder for me.

We also had amazing men on the hike with us.  If it weren't for Dave, Nate and Glade the hike wouldn't have been doable.  A huge eye opener for me in my marriage to Dave in knowing how much trust I place in him.  When I can look Dave square in the eye and say, "is it better for me to go around than do the swim?" and he gives me the nod that it's better.  I didn't question it a bit.  I turned around and started the climb.  I know he's going to do everything in his power to protect me.  Thus, I trust him with my life.

What an experience this turned out to be.  I'm blessed to have been able to experience this with Dave, Hannah and the Welker family.  It's a memory that most won't be able to have.  I hope that Hannah is old enough to remember parts of it.  To me I think she'll mostly remember playing with the tadpoles and catching one that had both feet and a tail, chasing the lizards, and playing with the frogs on the climb out.  She is an amazing kid.  She never really complained and only ran out of steam at the end.  For a nine year old to hike for 14 hours, I think that's and amazing accomplishment.

What an amazing thing to experience with Dave.  He is an amazing man.

We made it!!!