Trek

Most of you know by now that Travis and I have the amazing opportunity to attend Trek with our Church. Trek isn't every year, it usually comes along every 3-5 years. This year we are going to Wyoming. We will have the opportunity to pull handcarts like the pioneers did. They pulled 1,500 miles through 5 states on their way to Utah. Handcarts were a more cost effective way for the Saints to travel to Utah. We won't have to pull that far but we will have a 15 mile pull in 100+ degree weather, along with a few 4 and 5 mile pulls. We will dress in traditional clothes(pictures to come), all of our belongings will fit in a 5 gallon bucket (the pioneers didn't have buckets but they did have limited room. They were only allowed 17lbs of belongings per adult). Here are a few pictures of what we will do next week. This will be a great experience for all involved and we can't wait to partake in the journey.

This is Rocky Ridge. You can still see the original wagon wheel grooves. This is the 2nd
day of Trek. This journey is 15 miles and should take 12 hours. When the saints first crossed it was the dead of winter and many passed away do to exposure. Since I am
pregnant I will not be participating in this pull!

This is the Sweetwater River. We will cross the river with our handcarts. The Saints also crossed this in the winter. Many of the men carried the women and children across.

This is Martin's Cove. The Martin Handcart Company (one of 5 companies) Couldn't pay the toll to cross the North Platte River, they were forced to cross on foot. They took refuge from the storm in a small pocket on the side of the Sweetwater Mountains. Many died through the nigh due to exposure.

Here is an excerpt from Daniel W. Jones one of the rescuers.


Rescuer Daniel W. Jones described the scene: "There were old men pulling and tugging their carts, sometimes loaded with a sick wife or children, women pulling along sick husbands; little children six to eight years old struggling through the mud and snow… The provisions we [had] amounted to almost nothing among so many people, many of them now on very short rations, some almost starving… The company was composed of average emigrants; old, middle-aged and young women and children. The men seemed to be failing and dying faster than the women and children…"



We are very excited to be able to go. It will be such an awesome experience! We will post pictures of our Journey!
We leave in 4 days!

A month of Birthdays!!

Well July happens to be a big birthday month for our family. Zachary's was on the 14th and Madison's is on the 27th. We also have 3 grandparents, a cousin and a soon to be nephew as well. Zachary received a Toys R US gift card and a card from (great) Grandma and Grandpa Naranjo. That card of course contained $$$! So last Wednesday we took him to Toys R Us for Birthday shopping! I can't believe my "little" guy is 4!! He is 44 inches tall, 45lbs and wears a size 13 shoe!!!!

This is his 4 year old picture! He was pretty excited all day! He even chose where we at dinner.

If you go to Toys R Us on your birthday you get a balloon and crown! With his money he bought the crane. The Thomas the Train toy (bottom of picture) was free with a coupon! The Transformer toys were from Travis's friend TJ at work. He had a pretty fun day!

Next, my Grandma Z is a fantastic quilter and sewer! She sent the kids each a package last week. They each got 2 new pillow cases! Zachary's has fire engines and Madison's of course has horses!! They love them soooooo much, as soon as they had them opened they ran and got their pillows!!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Okay, this is the last part of the post! I promise! Our internet was down for a few days and now I am trying to catch up!

Each year we have a huge party for the kids with all our friends! Most of our friends have kids at or around the same age so we do a joint party! There were pools, slip 'n slide, and of course food! It was also VERY HOT!

Our niece Ryleigh and our friend Jenna.

The "girls" pool!


The "boys" pool!


We had a Buzz Lightyear slip 'n slide. And Zach's friend Alec had
a pretty good time trying to figure it out!!

We had a pretty fun day! Thanks to all those who came!

Adventures in Swimming!

(waiting for lessons to start)

So we signed the kids up for swim lessons this year at the city pool. It's everyday for 30 minutes for 2 weeks. The kids got lucky had have a few friends in each of their classes. Zachary is in the pre- school class and most of the time they pretend to be wild animals in the water and walk back and forth from wall to wall.

Here is Zach making his way across the pool. Notice the goggles on his head. He is in 2 ft of water!! Always prepared!

At the end of class their teacher lets them jump in! This is the kids
favorite part of class! Zachary and his friend Verl will jump at least 10 times!

Zachary mid jump!


All done!

We put Madison in the level 1 class, which we knew would
test her water skills! The first day she would only put her face in the
water and today (day3) she was going all the way under!! Her
teacher is really good about making her face her fears
and tells her if she doesn't participate she can leave! We'll just say that she
now fully participates!!
She claims that the goggles made her brave!!