What a summer!

Tomorrow it's coming to a close as I go back to work but I just have this overwhelming sense of gratitude for all my many summer opportunities. Here are a few pictures of the things I've done.

Pittsburgh ain't the pits after all...

Who wants to go to Pittsburgh? Well I sure didn't...but there's something called being spontaneous...something that I'm not super good at because I  like to mentally prepare myself for trips. Any who, I called on one of my favorite pals, S-dog and we rocked a road trip pretty last minute; first to Falling water in PA, which is a fancy house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Cool house and beautiful venue, but I'm way more interested in historical homes, just my taste.

Then we decided to go to Pittsburgh. After seeing a Pirates game, we chilled at the hotel and the next morning we went on a tram up Mt. Washington, and then headed to a market where I ate some perogies. It was grand. And we were on our own schedule and felt like we could do as much or as little as we wanted. Just how I like it. So then we left...

The biggest realization? Well, Pittsburgh is super pretty. I was surprised. But hey, what other assumption do you make when it's a steel town...?

S-dog and I

Pirates stadium. Look at that view!

Another great view of the city from Mt. Washington. I'm squinting.

Perogies! Brought me back to my time in Canada!

TREKing it.

I am so behind with posting. There's something about summer vacation that makes you NOT get anything done. You think you'll be productive but in the end you just do nothing...anyway, I am digressing from my real purpose with this blog post.

About 3 weeks ago I had the opportunity to do pioneer trek with the my stake. For those of you who don't know what that means, we reenact our early Mormon heritage by pulling handcarts and wearing pioneer clothes. Sounds crazy? Sure, just a bit. But wow, did my appreciation grow for my Mormon ancestors who traveled thousands of miles to arrive in Utah.

I did this mostly because I never did it as a youth and I wanted the experience of roughing it in nature and pulling a handcart. It seemed kind of romantic at the time, but in all honesty, the experience was difficult. Especially since that same weekend DC decided to have a humongous heat wave. So it ended up that I wore pioneer clothing, in open fields, pulling a handcart, with nasty humidity, AND in heat that was recorded at a 124 degree heat index. Yes, I was absolutely disgusting; sweating like crazy and dirty like no other. Hubba-hubba.

However, we made the best of things. The first day I had no "Pa" (aka, a guy that is assigned to head up my group with me. See I was "Ma" and he was "Pa" and we had about 9 kiddos with us). So while "Pa" was trying to get a flight back to DC, the kiddos and I pulled the hand cart and sweated. like crazy. Have I mentioned that I was really sweaty?'Cause I was...and it was nasty and I was so exhausted.

Pa eventually did come, and the last 2 days were a breeze compared to the first, but we all managed to have a good time, to get along, cook with a Dutch oven, participate in pioneer activities and games (like, making corn husk dolls, archery, learning the polka, cutting some wood, and making some taffy). I had a blast shaking it at the dance Friday night with sweaty hair plastered to my face as I wore my bonnet and danced around in my pioneer clothing. What a sight we were!

Most importantly though, the kids had some great spiritual experiences and learned what hard work really is. One of my kids told me that she "has never worked so hard in her life." Kind of sad, but kind of funny too. They were a bit dramatic but we had a great time together and my "kids" were good sports overall.

Although I sounds like I'm wining, I'm glad I did it. I definitely had some great insights and reflected on what's really important in life. I love indoor plumbing, btw...

Here are some pics, not too many because honestly--I just wanted to survive. So taking pictures was not my top priority and I looked disgusting so there's really none of me...and that was on purpose. Yowza.

The kiddos collapsing in our hut after a long day of pulling our handcart. Luckily one of my "kids" created our shelter with a few other resourceful young men and my pal, Ryan. Thank goodness for men!

Here is our whole family. Pa included on the right :)

Pushing the carts.

River crossing. After the boys crossed with the handcart they came back for the women.

Our last day on trek. Going home. Notice the portal-poddies in the back. Note: I never want to go in one again. Talk about, eeew. Can you tell that I'm just not a natural camper? :/

Here's just a glimpse of our experience. This wasn't even the worst of it, but you get the idea!

Bottom line? Great experience. So glad I did it. Don't want to do it again.