Christkindl Festival

Today I ventured out with my neighbors to another small Wisconsin town called Black River Falls. They were holding their first annual Christkindl Festival. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a festival of German Christmas. No one knows how to celebrate Christmas like the Germans. It’s thanks to German traditions that we decorate Christmas Trees, hang Christmas Wreaths and put Nutcrackers on mantels. Because of them, we bake Gingerbread men, open Advent Calendars, fill Stockings with treats and put Angels on-top of Christmas Trees.

Since the Middle Ages, German towns have held Christ-child markets, or Christkindlmarkt, in their market squares. The tradition of the Christkindl is known among German-speaking countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and also Czech Republic, Italy, Liechtenstein and even some South American countries. Christkindl is a fairy-like being, dressed in a gold and white robe with a crown atop her golden hair. Depending on region and family tradition, either the Christkind (pronounced Kristkint) or “Der Weihnachtmann” (Father Christmas, also known as Kris Kringle and Santa Claus) will be the bearer of gifts for children on Christmas Eve.

During Advent, which runs approximately from our Thanksgiving holiday through Christmas Eve, rustic timber booths draped with fragrant evergreen boughs, line the town squares. It is here that vendors and artists sell items such as toys, blown-glass ornaments, cones of warm sugared almonds and steaming mugs of Glühwein (spiced mulled wine) to holiday shoppers.



This is a picture of Father Christmas (also referred to as the spirit of good cheer), Christkindl, and me...of course. These two teens actually went through an application and interviewing process to be this year's above mentioned characters.

There was a large tent set up with all kinds of booths with decorations, German food, handmade crafts, and baked goods. They also had a stage set up for performers that came about every hour or so.



There were also two reindeer and a baby camel to see. I just thought the camel was so cute that I tried to give him kisses (not really). He wasn't really having much of it and instead gave me lots of disgusting (revolting) stinkers. How kind of him. :)



They also had the traditional Santa Claus come around and I had to get a picture with him. He kept calling me "little girl" which made me feel a little younger. :)

I couldn't bring myself to eat any sauerkraut or try any Glühwein or German beer (obviously) but I did have my very first (whole) bratwurst. It was very tasty! I have tried bites of other bratwursts before but could never bring myself to eat a whole one. I quite enjoyed this one. Very delicious! I also tried my very first fresh-roasted chestnut. Considering I am not a huge fan of any nut other than peanuts and sometimes cashews...I didn't really care for it. But my neighbor sure liked them.

The Christkindl festival was a lot of fun! And it was nice to try some new things. I would have liked to have Jaren there but I still had a great time. Definitely another one of those things that enhances the Christmas spirit!

Winter Driving

Our winter has been very mild until this week. It was only just a few days ago that we started staying in the 20's and 30's during the day. Yesterday was our first day of snowfall that stuck to the ground. We only received and inch or so but it still made for several accidents. The local news reported that the county received about eighty phone calls mostly reporting minor accidents or asking for assistance on the road. I know that snow and cold temperatures make for slick road conditions but come on, eighty phone calls for maybe an inch of snow???



I was in the line to pass this accident (how on earth this guy managed to flip on his side driving straight...I will never know) and about 200 ft after I passed it I witnessed a car on the freeway overpass just ahead of me slide right off the freeway and roll over down the hill. Yikes! Maybe these Wisconsin drivers are over-confident with their winter driving skills or think that you can still drive like a speed demon with a thin layer of snow/ice on the road. I'm not a huge fan of driving in these types of conditions but I really don't mind it unless there are a bunch of idiot drivers on the road flying by. Hopefully this isn't a precursor to what the rest of the winter driving will be like. Drive safe everyone!!!

Thanksgiving

Jaren and I decided to just stay here in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. We invited another military family from our Branch to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. They have two boys ages 7 and 5 and a little girl around 1 1/2. This was our first Thanksgiving having it at our own home. I got cute plates and table cloths and even made cute little turkeys with candy in them for each place setting. Sorry, I'm lame and didn't take pictures. We decided to split up the food assignments. Among other things, I was in charge of all of the desserts and went a little overboard. :) I made a pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll (for Jaren), and a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake that was SO good. Only us adults ended up eating dessert and they didn't want to take a ton of it home so we had left over dessert for days...bad to have when you're trying to watch your weight. We also ate Thanksgiving dinner left overs for another three meals. I never got tired of it. It was all so good! After dinner and dessert we hung out for a while until the cute little girl was getting restless. Once they left, Jaren and I watched movies and enjoyed a quiet night together.

The following day we didn't get up and rush off to the stores for any good deals but Jaren decided it was finally time to get a Blu-Ray player. I said this would be his Christmas present and he agreed to let me wrap it. We also bought a couple of Blu-Ray discs and DVDs. Of course, when we got home the first thing Jaren did was take it down stairs to open everything up, plug the Blu-Ray player in and try it out. When I made a comment about wrapping it up for Christmas he simply said "Oh well". I have a feeling that he had no intention of letting me wrap it. Like he said...oh well.

The next night we drove over to La Crosse (the nearest "large" city) and went to see the Rotary lights they put up every year. You can drive through or walk around to see all of the lights and Christmas displays. Choirs and bands come to perform as well. It was a nice way to get in the Christmas spirit. Sunday I put up all of my Christmas decorations after church. Unfortunately, Jaren left Monday so we won't be able to get a Christmas tree. When he gets back , he'll be on the swing shift for a straight week and won't have time to get one then either. We'll just do without it this year.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great! Happy Christmas shopping!

Movie Review

This weekend Jaren and I went and saw two movies. Of course, I took him to see New Moon with me. I was 99 % happy with the way the movie turned out. There were only a couple of cheesy moments that people were outright laughing at (i.e. Alice's image of Edward and Bella frolicking through the forest as vampires). Jaren kept turning to me and asking me questions or making comments (like when Jacob takes his shirt off). I kept having to shush him because I knew there were crazy ladies in the audience that would kick him out if he kept it up! :) But we both enjoyed the show!



We also saw The Blind Side which was SUCH a good show. As much of a Twilight fan as I am, I would recommend this movie over New Moon if you could only choose one. I love movies that are based on true stories and this one was amazing! I was all choked up throughout the whole movie. A great one for Thanksgiving because it really makes you appreciate what you have. Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw were great! Also, Quinton Aaron (who plays Michael Oher) and the little kid who plays S.J. were really great too! I would go back and see this in a heart beat. Jaren leaned over in the middle of the show to tell me we have to buy this movie when it comes out. I agree! It was so good!



So these are my movie reviews and recommendations. We have the tradition of going to the movies on Thanksgiving. Either of these would be good to see if you have that same tradition! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Motivation

There is absolutely nothing new and exciting going on here. Jaren has left me again for 2 weeks doing Army stuff. To occupy my time when he would normally be home and my daily tasks are completed, I ordered all kinds of books from Deseret Book. That should keep me busy. I've been feeling the sore throat/cold yuckiness trying to come on for the last two days. It will probably hit me full force in the next day or so. I'll just try to keep combating it with salt gargle (gross), lots of Vitamin C, and echinacea tea. Regardless of me feeling less that okay this morning, I was able to motivate myself to go work out at the gym for a couple of hours. Usually I'm more successful at convincing myself to NOT go to the gym and to stay in my comfortable bed. I guess knowing that the military ball is in 2 weeks and I have a few pounds I would like to shed before then helps with the motivation. Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Passing time

Jaren has had a crazy work schedule lately. They have some soldiers that they are training right now and they have to staff a 24 hour office. He got the 4:00 pm - 3:00 am shift. There isn't really a lot going on during that time. Since I am a "free" woman (jobless) I can stay up and wait for Jaren to get home. Therefore, I have a lot of time to kill. I LOVE to read and didn't have anything in my bookshelf I haven't already read so I went to Walmart to see what I could find. I have been told by several people that "The Hunger Games" was a good book and saw that they had it so I bought it and the second book, "Catching Fire".






I could NOT put the first book down. The day I got it, I read until Jaren came home, went to bed, woke up around 10:00 am and read the rest of it by the time he got up around noon or 1:00. I started the second book the minute Jaren drove off to work. I had it completely finished when he got home. It was SO good. I am so bummed now that I have to wait a whole year for the third one to come out. If I had known it was a trilogy before hand, I would have waited until next fall to read them all at once. Jaren took the first one to work yesterday to pass the time when he's not doing anything. He got just as hooked and had about 2/3 of it finished by the time he got home then finished the rest when he woke up. He's now working on the second.
If you are looking for a good read...these are definitely it! But if you are like me and HATE waiting to see what happens, then don't read these until the third book comes out next fall!

Chaplain's Seminar

Jaren and I had the wonderful opportunity to fly out to Utah and attend the Chaplain's Seminar held during every October General Conference. This is held for the LDS Chaplain's of all military branches and their spouses. The Seminar starts on Friday evening with a dinner and devotional but Jaren was unable to get off then. We flew out Saturday morning and made it in time to watch the afternoon session of General Conference. We were able to spend time with family and friends Saturday and Sunday then we drove down to the Church Office Building for the seminar bright and early Monday morning. I had planned on taking pictures of the both of us or even with family and friends but as always, I never remembered to pull the camera out. These few are the only ones I took right before we went into the Church Office Building Monday morning.







At the Seminar, the chaplains come in their military dress uniform and the spouses in regular church dress. We didn't bring his cool looking dress hat because packing it in a suitcase would be difficult so we just brought his beret. He still looks all spiffy and handsome here!

The theme of this year's seminar was "Spiritual Resilience - Enduring to the End". Definitely things needed in these latter days. Monday and Tuesday start at 8:00 am and generally go until 4:30 pm. We had the privilege of hearing from many wonderful speakers. Some of which included Elder Robert S. Wood (Quorum of the Seventy) and Chaplain Douglas L. Carver (Army Chief of Chaplains). The chaplains and wives always split Monday morning and the ladies go over the the Relief Socity building. We heard from a few chaplain's wives then had a luncheon. The speakers at our luncheon were Chaplain Carver's wife and Sister Barbara Thompson of the Relief Society General Presidency on Monday. Tuesday some of the speakers included were Dr. Robert Millet (BYU Religion Faculty), Elder Gerald N. Lund, Elder Robert C. Oaks and our concluding speaker, Elder Jeffery R. Holland. Inter-mixed throughout the entire seminar are special musical numbers and breaks with refreshments. Several of the chaplains spoke as well telling some of their special experiences in deployments and in their "ministry" as we call it. I can't even describe the amazing experience it is to participate in this Chaplain Seminar. To get instruction from these wonderful men and women is so great! Hearing our leaders of the church in General Conference is such a blessing but then to hear from them in a more personal setting with their messages directed to our specific career/mission is even more of a blessing. Jaren may not be a chaplain yet but the messages still applied to those who are working towards Chaplaincy.

One of the chaplain's wives that spoke Monday morning showed a music video. The song was written by a twelve year old girl who knows what it is like to have her dad gone on deployment. The National Guard came in and filmed the music video with the girl and her sixteen year old sister performing together. They have gone around performing this song in different places. The message really strikes home. I don't know if it was a good or bad idea to show this to all of the spouses because it wasn't just misty eyes but tears streaming down faces and some full-on sobbing. Tissue boxes popped up and were being passed around. Thank goodness I had my own tissues ready before they showed it. I get all choked up every time I watch it. I want everyone to see it so be prepared with your own tissues. I love you all! Thanks for your support of us and our troops!

You know you live in the country when...

- The unpleasant aroma of skunk through the open window keeps you half awake all night long.

- Pulling up next to a tractor at the main stoplight in town is common place

- Driving along the highway, you frequently get stuck behind a slow-moving tractor and 10 other cars waiting to pass it




- The locals tell you there are two types of Wisconsinites...those who have hit a deer and those who are going to hit a deer. (Thank goodness I had time to slow down when it was almost my turn)



- Driving through the country roads you pass "buggy crossing" signs



- You watch the Amish horse and buggy coming down your road to pick up their son who works construction on the Town homes a few down from you or the horse and buggy you saw driving down the road with a mattress strapped to the top???

- At the end of your road is a huge cornfield



- You're driving down the highway when you come upon some lightly colored gravelly stuff all over your side of the road. You realize what it is as you pass the old beat up truck on the side of the road with a huge pile of corn feed in the bed and the driver trying to stop it from pouring out the back.

- The locals mention the Piggly Wiggly and you are the only one that laughs at the name.



- Having moved from another side of the country...you are the one with the accent

Have a great weekend!

A Trip Home

Just about every year my siblings all make a trip back to Washinton to visit my parents and Ashley. Several times Jaren and I have been the only ones missing. This year I decided I was going to make it as well. It also happened to be the week of my mom's birthday. Unfortunately, Jaren was not there because he had Army stuff as usual. He was gone for the two weeks before then got home the same day I left. We just missed each other because I left in the morning and he got home that night. He couldn't fly out because he had to go back to work. So I spent a week out in Washington while he was home alone. I have no idea what that's like!

Us girls spent nearly everyday at some store shopping or exchanging or going back for something we saw earlier. All of us agreed how nice it was to be able to shop with someone. We had family home evening at the park playing softball and Frisbee with the kids. We then got ice cream cones and ice cream at Walmart for our refreshments. Lily and Logan haven't quite learned how to eat it without getting it all over their faces. After relaxing, shopping, hiking, and visiting other friends in the area...we took a trip to the beach on Thursday. It was beautiful! We found this cute little cove that surfer's mostly use. You have to hike down to the cove which was about a half mile or so. It doesn't seem that long unless your arms are full of "beach stuff". Scott and I made it down before the family to get a spot. We waited for another 15 minutes just basking in the sun before they showed up. As soon as the came down to where we were the clouds rolled in...typical. The water, as always on the Oregon coast, was frigid. The kids didn't seem to mind that and spent quite some time playing in it.

We had a couple of boogie boards and Logan was using one of them to try and ride the waves for the first time.

Though the boogie board was rather big for her to carry, Lily wanted to do the same thing her big brother was doing. She grabbed that huge boogie board and started walking out to where Eric and Logan were.

These kids are just too cute!

Logan wanted to be buried so Scott obliged. After he piled a huge mountain of sand on top of Logan, he began sculpting a muscle-man body with Logan's little noggin as the head. It was really funny.

Friday (mom's birthday) mom did everyone's laundry and finished the huge pile of hemming and mending that we brought. That just isn't right, I know. That's just my wonderful mom. Us girls really should learn how to sew so we can hem things ourselves but we know that mom will do it exactly how we want it. I just don't trust myself. As for the laundry...she just started doing the laundry and asking for our clothes! That's not all she did either. We had been asking her all week what she wanted for dinner and she never could come up with anything. That morning she decided she needed to use the green bell peppers from her garden and she made Philly steak and cheese sandwiches for dinner. She also baked the cake because I was at the doctor having the screw removed from my foot (that post to follow later). I did make the chocolate mousse filling and ganache to finish up the cake. Thanks for all you still do for us mom! Saturday we all made our way back home and after three weeks of being away from each other I finally got to see Jaren. Wahoo! I know three weeks doesn't compare to a year but any time apart is miserable. All in all, my trip home was great! I loved being with my family and hope it won't be too long before I get to see them again!
If you would like to view the full album, click here. I did realize after the week was over that I basically only took pictures of Lily and Logan. Probably because I didn't bother to get the camera out except when I thought they were doing something cute. Sorry family!

Perfectly Peanut Butter

So, I made Peanut Butter cookies for the very first time today. I have had them before but was never a really big fan and since Jaren doesn't like P.B. I never had reason to make them. My neighbor is a big fan though and I promised him some for helping me out with some things while Jaren has been gone doing Army training. Anybody that knows me and baking knows I can't leave a recipe as it is. I ALWAYS have to tweak it, enhance it, and make it my own. That's exactly what I did today. So for all of you followers out there that want to try a scrumptious Perfect Peanut Butter cookie with a surprise center...this is for you.



I thought that plain peanut butter cookies would be boring and wanted to add something to them. You can never go wrong with chocolate! I couldn't decide between trying the Dove chocolate with peanut butter center or plain Dove chocolate so I just had to try both.



I took about 1 Tbsp. of dough and shaped it around the chocolate piece then rolled it in granulated sugar before baking.



See how yummy these look! The verdict between plain chocolate and chocolate with a P.B. center is that they are both delicious! I, being a huge chocolate fan, like the plain chocolate better. These do require a big glass of milk!



Perfect Peanut Butter cookies:

3 Tbsp Crisco
5 Tbsp Coconut oil (refined or non-flavored)
1/2 c peanut butter (I used reduced fat)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
25-30 Dove chocolate squares (or Dove peanut butter filled squares)

In stand mixer cream Crisco, coconut oil, peanut butter and sugars until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and mix until fluffy. Slowly add dry ingredients until well combined. Take approx. 1 Tbsp. dough and shape around each chocolate square. Roll each cookie dough ball/square in granulated sugar and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375° for 7-9 minutes or until edges get small cracks (Do NOT over bake). Immediately remove from cookie sheet by sliding parchment paper with hot cookies onto cooling rack so cookies do not continue to bake on bottom. Once cooled enough to move, remove cookies from parchment paper directly onto cooling rack and parchment paper can be used for another round of cookies.

Notes:
* The dough is pretty soft. If it is too soft to shape around the chocolate then chill for about 20-30 minutes.
* These cookies are great even plain. If making them plain, roll dough into balls then dip in sugar. Bake same amount of time. You do NOT need to smash the dough down, it will flatten on it's own. You could also just add 1 cup of chocolate chips and scoop dough onto cookie sheet to bake as another variation.
* The secret ingredient in this recipe is the coconut oil. It is what causes the cookies to flatten on their own and makes them a little more soft and chewy than regular P.B. cookies. The refined coconut oil (non-flavored) can usually be found at Walmart on the baking isle. It will be on the top shelf above the Crisco. The brand they sell is called Louanna.
* I baked my cookies for exactly 8 minutes and they always came out perfect.
* Always use parchment paper when baking cookies. It keeps the cookies from over baking on the bottom and they are much easier to get off the cookie sheet. Parchment paper can be found in the same area of the grocery store as the aluminum foil, Ziploc bags, etc.

Enjoy everyone!

Amish

Here in Sparta, Wisconsin is one of the many areas that the Amish live. We have seen them riding down the street in their horse-drawn buggies. These are members of the Old Order Amish because they still use horse and buggy. We have also seen New Order Amish driving down the street in mini-vans and doing their grocery shopping at Walmart. I couldn't help but snap this picture as we were driving down one of the country roads here.



There is an Amish community here that will allow you to come take a tour through it for a cost of $50 per person. Jaren and I didn't take the tour but we did meander through the small cottage like shops they had and even purchased a few things.





Because the horse-drawn buggies are considered a slow-moving vehicle, they are required to display an orange reflective triangle on the back of the buggy. Signs are posted in areas where the Amish live to show the buggy crossing.



I haven't spoken with any Amish folk and am too chicken to go and ask them questions so I just did some research about them online. In the 18th Century Amish Mennonites migrated to the United States from Germany and Switzerland. To this day many traditional descendants of the Amish Mennonites speak Pennsylvania German (or Pennsylvania Dutch). As you probably know they are mostly known for their plain dress and simple living (without modern conveniences). Jaren and I wondered what their retention rate was and in my research found that they have a steady increase of about 4% a year. From 1992-2008 their numbers increased by 84%! That's more than I thought. I really like my modern conveniences but I do wonder what it would be like to live a quiet life without the distraction of so many worldly things around us. The Amish people seem to be such hard workers and very nice neighbors. I enjoy that there are so many living in this area because it means all of this beautiful farmland will be sticking around!

Sparta, WI

The new town that Jaren and I live in is called Sparta, WI. It is "known" as the "Bicycling Capital of America". This statue is of Ben Bikin' which sits on the corner of two of the major streets/highway in Sparta. Apparently he's the largest Ben Bikin' statue in the world.



Sparta isn't very big. We do have a Walmart (which I thankfully live only 2 minutes from), a Walgreens, a small Sears, and the Piggly Wiggly. These are pretty much the stores in town. There are other small shops in the downtown area but a lot of the stores on the main road are closed down. The biggest concentration of shopping is 30 minutes away. I just couldn't resist a picture of the Piggly Wiggly. I didn't even know this was a grocery store for the first week we were here.



We've got some very nice neighbors. We found one place to rent that was nice and available...everything else was for sale. We have now named our street "Military row" because just about everyone in these town homes are either soldiers temporarily stationed at Fort McCoy or are retired military now working as civilians at Fort McCoy.



This town home has the most space we have ever lived in since Jaren and I got married. It may not look very big in the picture but it has a whole basement too. It has 3 1/2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. I say 3 1/2 bedrooms because the 1/2 is a very small room without a window. It serves as my food storage room. The over-sized furnace/utility room has all my other storage. And we even have a 2 CAR GARAGE!!!! Jaren now has room to do his building projects in the garage instead of in my living room as he did before. He also has his very own room downstairs for all of his Army stuff, trains, and other misc. hobby items to go. I thought a whole room of his own would be plenty of space but alas, it is already spilling out into the open area downstairs. What a mess...don't guys appreciate organization? I threatened Jaren that if the mess ever got to me to badly, I WOULD go down there and do some "organizing". This means he may no longer be able to find certain things whether it be because they are actually put away or because they accidentally fell into the garbage. :) Though Sparta is a lot more remote than any other place we have lived, we love it! It's so beautiful here! There are definitely lots of places to explore and I will blog about some we've experienced soon!

6 Years!

July 26th marked our 6 year anniversary! I can hardly believe the time has flown by so quickly. I am so grateful that the Lord inspired me to join the Army so I could find my wonderful husband! I could never have found anyone so perfect for me. I'm looking forward to many more years and adventures together!

Day two and the late arrival

We left the Motel 6 around 7:30 am so we could make it to Mount Rushmore by the time the park opened. We drove through the Black Hills of South Dakota to get there and it was just beautiful! I understand why they call them the Black Hills. From a distance the Ponderosa Pines covering them are so many that it gives the hills a black appearance.

While driving through we came across some animals such as deer, bison, and even a mountain goat as we got closer to Mt Rushmore!

It was really neat to see this national monument and hear the story and history behind it. It was a gorgeous day!

There were a ton of people around to help take a picture of us but the trick was finding one that could handle a camera decently and put us in focus. This guy did ok.

Of course it was just our luck as we started the tour walking down by the monument itself. The fog rolled in and covered it completely until right at the end when we got to the closest legal spot and this was the best picture I could get. Another 2 minutes after we started heading back it was completely clear again. Oh well, we still got a couple of good shots from a distance. It was a nice stop along our journey!

We continued on driving along I-90 through South Dakota which was pretty but very monotonous after a while. We made our way into Minnesota and decided we would keep driving as far as we could so we could be close enough to Sparta on Sunday to go to the branch that meets there at 10:00 am. We stopped around 2:00 in the morning about 30 miles away to get gas, unhook our Tacoma off the trailer, and fill the tires so I could drive it the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the gas station we stopped at was soon to be closing down and the guys working there (probably in their 20's) were on strike, drinking beer and vandalizing the premises. The air wouldn't work and they didn't care to help us fix it so we hooked the truck back up and drove another 10 miles to the next gas station. We filled the tires mostly before the time/money ran out. I got in the truck and it smelled SO HORRIBLY of diesel exhaust. Note to self: next time you haul a car/truck behind a stinky diesel, turn the air vent to recycled air instead of outside air and close the vents. If you don't, the car will reek for days and make everything inside reek as well...such as our suitcases and everything in them. We made it to Sparta at about 2:30 am and stopped at a hotel but they had no room. We called every hotel in town and there was no room. It wasn't any special weekend so I don't know why such a small town would have NO Vacancy. One hotel in West Salem had a room left so we drove 15 minutes back the way we came and parked the truck. The hotel only had the Jacuzzi King Suite available so we took it. Now I wonder if they say that to everyone who checks in at almost 3:00 in the morning. We got a few hours of sleep before I got up to get ready for church, packed up again, and headed back to Sparta. We parked at the same hotel we had come to the night before and made a reservation for that night and the following night but nothing more because they would be booked Tuesday on. We made it to church about 10 minutes late smelling of diesel exhaust and everyone staring because they knew we were either new or visiting. We even snuck in the back! How did they feel our presence there to turn around and smile at us? At least they were smiling! Several people came up to us after Sacrament. They were so excited that we were most likely going to be in the branch and lots of people gave us tips as to where to look for a place to live. Long story longer, we found a place Monday and signed papers Tuesday morning so we only needed the hotel for those two nights anyway. We moved in Tuesday and were able to get the moving van back early! We were definitely blessed. That's enough for this post. More updates to come!

The journey, day one...

We got everything all packed up into our more than big enough moving truck on Thursday. We loaded our Tacoma onto the trailer that evening so we would be ready to get up and go first thing Friday morning. It barely fit and we had to buy extra straps to tie it to the trailer because the straps they had didn't quite fit around the tires.



We said our goodbye's and off we went...very slowly pulling the load we had. We decided not to drive straight there but that we would make a few stops to see things and visit places one or both of us had never been.



Our first stop was the Martin's Cove visitor's center. We didn't hike out to the site where the Pioneers were but walked through the buildings at the visitor's center. We even found the names of Jaren's ancestors on a plaque that had names of the pioneers who came out in the handcart companies. Jaren's ancestors came in the Willie handcart company.




This is devil's gate that you could see from the visitor's center. The pioneers had to go around devil's gate because it was too narrow to fit through.



Just through the other side of Devil's gate you could see Independence Rock. We walked out there and walked a small ways up the rock but I was in flip-flops and they didn't make for very good climbing. We were also in somewhat of a hurry to keep going on our drive so we didn't explore the rock too much to look for names engraved by the pioneers or the "well preserved ruts" from the wagons I've heard about. We did see along the path what looked like the trail the pioneers took. It looked like there was two strips where the wheels wore away the plants and weeds.
It was nice to stop and see these areas that the pioneers travelled. It was especially a neat feeling after having recently done the trek. Now when we looked at the handcarts or looked at what they were crossing I understood better and had a greater appreciation for those early saints. It was hot and hard and very exhausting. They surely had the help of the Lord and his Angels to be able to trek daily for months. I am definitely grateful for their sacrifice!

Wisconsin

(Googled this picture of Wisconsin. Not sure if this is how it really looks!)

Yep, this is where we are off to next! Jaren will have a temporary assignment at Ft McCoy, WI for a year or two. It is a fairly small base and we will be living off-post. We will most likely be living in the small town closest to the post called Sparta. It has a population of about 16,000. To give you an idea of the size...Camas, WA has over 12,500 inhabitants and Brigham City, UT has over 17,400. We will be in the Sparta, WI branch in the Rochester, Minnesota stake . There are 7 wards and 5 branches total in the stake. We will be 2 hours and 45 minutes away from the closest temple which is St Paul, MN. This will definitely be a new adventure. Jaren did receive some other job offers in varying locations but we feel Wisconsin is where we need to go.

We left my parents house in Vancouver Sunday morning after the 4th of July celebration. It was hard to say goodbye. Being with my family while Jaren was gone has made me appreciate them a lot more. I must admit I cried for the better part of an hour after leaving. We camped with Jaren's parents Sunday night and went white water rafting the next morning one last time before we leave this area. It was a lot of fun though it was a little cold and windy. We are staying with the Glover's now for a couple of days. We plan on getting a moving truck Thursday afternoon and packing it up then starting our long journey to Sparta, WI on Friday morning. We are going to make stops along the way and will post about those when we have internet access. We don't have a place to live once we get out there. We will be looking for a place Monday and Tuesday (hopefully we find something to rent in those two days) then Jaren starts work on Wednesday.

It's definitely sad to leave our family and friends here to move so far away but we look forward to what new things we will get to experience there. We will have a small amount of family and friends within a 8-10 hour driving distance so holidays shouldn't be too bad. This may be just the first of the moving around we will do while Jaren is in the active duty Army. He plans on trying to get his schooling finished so he will be ready or almost ready to become a Chaplain when we leave Wisconsin. Well, that's about all for now. Thank you to all of our family and friends who have been so loving and supportive of us. We love you all so much!

Pioneer Trek

Jaren and I had the great privilege to be a "Ma" and "Pa" for our Stake youth pioneer trek last week. We left our Stake center in Vancouver Wednesday morning around 11:00 and arrived at our destination (some place in eastern Washington just north of Hermiston, OR) at about 2:00 pm. The church owns a bunch of property out there and we were going to push handcarts out there for a few days.



Here is a picture of the youth and 3 couples (including us) that volunteered as Ma's and Pa's from our ward. YEAH! Can't you tell how excited our youth look about going to be hot and sweaty and tired for the next 3 days!!



It was suggested that each person bring two pioneer outfits to use for the 4 days (Wed-Sat) we were there. The top picture is my light blue dress and this is my darker blue dress. I did not buy them and I did not make them. My very talented mother made both dresses and my bonnets. To the disapproval of Jaren, I don't sew and almost outright refuse to learn. My mom is an amazing seamstress so why should I screw my things up just for her to have to fix it? Right?



Here are a couple of our "boys" showing off our family flag with our last name, the "Glover's" of course, and all of our signatures.



Here is everyone in our family except Jaren because he was always behind the camera. We had three girls and six boys. They were such great youth! They all pulled and didn't complain too bad. It was hot but not as bad as it could have been and we had a bit of a breeze. It was VERY dusty. This is about the grassiest part but looks can be deceiving because it was infested with stickers that would constantly get stuck in your socks! The skirts weren't too bad, especially if the wind made them billow and gave you some fresh air on your legs. It was nice having a bonnet to keep the sun out of your eyes and my head from getting burnt. Unfortunately, my nose was not shaded by my bonnet and promptly burnt on our first major day of trekking then peeled the few days after getting home. The first day we travelled from about 2:45 until 5:30. We set up camp them waited for the stake to bring our food rations. We didn't get them until about 8:00 pm because they couldn't get into their preparation are until late. We slept on the very stickery and lumpy ground (in our tents with sleeping bags) and the wind sounded like it was blowing 100 miles an hour. I heard coyotes in the middle of the night making some of the strangest noises I've ever heard. Then sometime in the early morning I heard what sounded like a bunch of cattle being herded right through camp. I later found out there were cows but they weren't going right through camp. The second day we trekked for a few hours in the morning, pulled our handcarts up a steep hill, trekked some more and then the men were called off to fight in the Mexican War. The men assembled into an infantry march formation and hiked up a hill as we women waved goodbye. The men then came right back down to form a path up the hill. This is there the "women's pull" came in. Us women were supposed to pull these handcarts up the hill by ourselves. The men cheered us on and only stepped in if absolutely necessary. It was a steep hill of nothing but soft powdery sand which the wheels sank into. The wheels would also spray up the dust into our faces and mouths as we were breathing heavily from the strain. The hill was approximately 500 ft or so and the last 200 ft inclined even more. This was when the men had to step in. Even having 10-12 women pulling the handcarts up it was still SO difficult. Jaren said that only 2 of the 45 handcarts made it up without ANY help. It was a tough hill! Since we had to take the women from about 3 handcarts just to pull one up the hill, the guys had to come down toward the end to help us get the last ones because we were exhausted after one trip let alone 2! Jaren and some of our boys came down to help pull ours up and Jaren was hunched over gasping for air when we got to the top so I didn't feel so wimpy for doing the same. And I made it up the hill twice! A lot more took place but this post is too long already to go into more detail. It was fun that our "kids" would call us Ma and Pa throughout the trek experience and we enjoyed our time together as a "family" even though when we all first got there, we didn't know each other. They mixed everyone up so well that none of us were from the same ward. I didn't want to say goodbye when the time came. We will miss them!
Pushing a handcart, being in the sun all day and sleeping on the hard ground was hard work and not very fun! It makes me appreciate the pioneers A LOT more for what they went through for months and not just a few days and worse than what we endured. I would definitely do it again though! What a great experience! Happy 4th of July everyone!