Alisha

Ward Trek

2009-07-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

We trekked back to our carts, had lunch, waited for everyone to come back and then we continued back to the Visitors Center to load the bus home. On our way home we played a FUN game, the Ipod Game. We would pick our favorite song on the ipod, put our head phones, crank up the volume and sing to it pretending that no one was around! This is Josh doing it, he was pretty quiet but good. It was so fun to hear people sing. Most everyone was off key, making up words, dancing crazy and getting into it- we really got to know eachother. I could only sing with a blindfold over me. It was fun, i recommend it :) All the planning, time and stress put into this trip was worth it. It was such and unforgettable experience. Our theme was 'Remember the Journey.' Jenny Phillips who has a CD album called that came and did a fireside for us before we went. That was our theme song as well. So beautiful-it was perfect.

This is the view walking out of the cove, what the pioneers would have seen as they continued their journey with the rescuers. Its such a beautiful area, unique tho. The pioneers had a lot of faith to be able to keep walking every single day in obedience to a prophet of God.

We parked our handcarts right before Dans Cove and had a devotional there. The bishop gave us a ward blessing and talked to us. I was crying thru the song-Come, Come Ye Saints and the blessing for us. It was so special. From there we were given time to walk in silence thru the cove a couple miles alone to ponder and write in our journals. This was my favorite part of the trek. It really is sacred ground we walked on-Wyomings temple as they call it.

Crossing the Sweetwater bridge again on a hot Saturday morning

Our ward family with Martins Cove in the background.

The next morning we woke to a delicous meal our cooks prepared for us (biscuits, sausage gravy and eggs) at 6:30am! We broke camp as quickly as we could and got on the trail to head to Dans Cove and Martins Cove.

This was our camp right before the storm came in just as we were getting ready to say Family Prayer. Everyone was in their tents on time (10 ish) to keep them from blowing away.

After Ephraim Hanks visited and we all read our letters from home we walked down the road to Square Dance and do the Virginia Reel. It was a blast, everyone came out to watch or dance. We were worn out by the end :)

From the visitors center we trekked to the Sweet Water River and did a reverent crossing with four of our men acting as the Valley Boys who came and carried us all across the river. It was such a neat experience, everyone was helping and participating. Josh went in first with me on his back and found the holes- it was the deepest they'd ever seen the river. We could have waited for a warmer day but we decided to stick to the plan and do it friday in the rain anyway. I'm glad we did it in the rain and experienced a little bit of a struggle as the pioneers had to do it in the cold wintery-icy- river. Once we all crossed we kept going in the direction of our camp and stopped and did the Mens Battalion (men leave the women to pull the carts as they go off to war). We watched the men walk in front of us up a steep sandy hill while we prepared for our Womens Pull. This was another special experience, it was not easy to do in our wet clothes with 2-3 girls a full handcart. We would push and pull one of the 9 up the hill and go back and help the next one. I heard later how hard it was for the men in our ward and 'families' to have to stand there and do nothing to help. Once we all made it to the top, we reunited and kept trekking to our camp another mile or so. We made it to camp, set up, ate a wonderful stew, were visited by a missionary acting as Ephraim Hanks (a rescuer) who told us his story. The came in with the Pony Express delivering us all a letter from home.

The first day was rainy off and on. It would rain on us, ruin our journals :( then the sun would come out and dry us out a bit. But everyone kept a good attitude and enjoyed the experience.

The drive there was fun and squishy. All 60 of us got to ride on a fancy busy to WY! We met at the church at 4:30 am and the bus didn't come til 5:30 am (bus driver thought he was on time). We made it to the Martins Cove Orientation on time tho so it all worked out!

Zachy

2009-07-09T21:26:00.001-07:00

So Zach my brother, my friend, my missionary has left and i have failed to announce that on my blog. I miss him around...he's fun to play frisbee or any sport with or to talk to. He's really honest and heartfelt, thats what i miss hearing everyday from him. But he's doing really well which helps :) I got to know him really well his first semester of college-my last semester. I'm so glad i could spend that time with him. I think we became great friends, I hope he doesn't see me as his 2nd mother tho :) I felt responsible for him at times...

Zach is a great example to me of living what you believe and being true to yourself. I love him! (He's been gone since May 20th!! Times flying)

My vacation at home...

2009-05-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Jessica and her family came to visit for a whole week! It was fabulous. I couldn't wait to come home everyday, not that its much different other weeks...but i had someone to play with and so much to do !!

Kaleb is my friend. I loved playing with him, reading to him and singing him songs.

Braydan loved the farm, he might be our neighbor some day! COngradulations Braydan!

I'm just glad i didn't have to travel too far for this priceless vacation :)

It was a much needed visit. Thanks for coming Jessica and Braydan!

YSA

2009-05-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Im still young enough and single enough to go to the Young Single Adult conferences. Yeah! I was in charge of getting our ward to Bozeman, MT. Luckily i wasn't incharge of any activities because getting 30 some adults there and sheltered and happy was plenty for me :) I alone had quite the time getting to the hotel and to the insitute every hour on time without getting lost! I don't know what the deal was with me but it made for a fun weekend. Luckily i didn't have to drive...i had a great chauffer.

The first night we gathered in our room for some games and craziness. I think we all had the idea of coming to this conference to get to know other SA from the surrounding areas but we really just stuck together and got to know eachother a lllloooot better.

Sean Covey came as our speaker. He was great, really funny, he had a good message for us. The meals were great too :)

Jericho Road came and they were so fun to watch. OUr ward proceeded to take the front row which was the best idea (you feel like the show is all for you :)) The first 10 minutes i was laughing because of their dancing...it was good...just funny to see LDS men, seriously dancing like Backstreet boys. Bishop was right behind us enjoying every minute of it :)

Afterwards i was quite shy to meet them but my friend Ellyn helped me get a picture with em. THis is definitely a nervous smile. They had such a good show overall, the guys in our ward weren't so excited about it all...some left midway :(
Thats a weekend in a wrap up. I still wonder if im too old to go to these things...even though half my ward that came was at least 4 years older than me. THere's a good mix of 26 year olds and 18 year olds! Yipee

Martins Cove April 19th Training

2009-05-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

My pictures are going backwards...that must be my thing lately but it'll work anyway. So this foggy picture of the morning is the last day of our Martins Cove training. It was an amazing two days in Wyoming. I was given the calling of organizing a ward Trek to Martins Cove. My bishop and his wife invited me and the R.S. president and another friend, now committee member to come along for the experience (to go back and get the ward pumped to come in 2 mos!). It was such a spiritual experience. I can't wait to take my singles ward in the summer.

It was pretty cool that we were there the weekend it snowed a little. We drove in at 4:30 friday morning thinking there was no way we were going to set up camp later that night...but after hearing stories all day of the pioneers amazing experience we agreed to do it anyway even though it was cold, wet and snowy...the pioneers experienced much worse 14'' worse! Friday night after square dancing and being up since 4 a.m. we set up camp and there was not a single snowflake or raindrop that fell the whole night (that i could tell). The night was so beautifully calm. We were truly blessed. I would have slept throught the night had i made a better decision on where to sleep in our cozy tent but i chose to try and fit on a double size mattress next to a pile of foam pads. I ended up in between with my head cranked on the mattress :) Oh well the training and meals were worth every minute of uncomfortable sleep...and to think of what the pioneers went through night after night with out a tent or food or warm clothing to change into.

Setting up the tents in the dark was quite hilarious. It took us forever to finish up and put on the flies and make our fire nice and toasty. We'll blame it on bishops lack of sleep and energy :) Jk...we couldn't even figure out the mattress pumper-uper. One was new and it took three smart adults :) to open the cap to insert the air! We made it really hard to pump those dumb things up. We got to know eachother really well, it was a blast.

I loved square dancing and learning how to dance the Virginia Reel. The missionary couples are so cute and fun. We were called the Montana girls...we had a lot of energy i guess :)

Friday day we got to push a handcart to Martins Cove and hear the story of Gordon B. Hinckley coming in 1992 and calling this place 'Hallowed Ground' where 56 pioneers died in 1856. It is such a neat place. My testimony of faith has grown so much during this trek. Because of their faith they kept going day after day obeying the prophet, knowing that what they are living for is true. Its just an amazing concept to think about.

I found real beauty in Wyoming...

THis will be my second trip here, I went when i was in yw but this trip i have gained so much more. Everyone should go at least once. Prepare and go!

Im going backwards...but its a good one...Hamilton!

2009-04-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Little Miss Muffet...it was fun to see her and be all together on this get together. She changes so fast!

Josh and Braydan loving the outdoor jobs.

THis was their reward for working so hard...bonfires :)

Jessica the professional cook we hired in from WA. She made tasty meals that kept us coming back! Josh was the dishwasher that never failed us. Grandma would be proud yet fighting him for that position at the same time :)

One of the jobs Kaleb and I enjoyed was emptying all grandmas water jugs. It was fun and messy!

I always volunteered to keep her happy... who wouldn't??

THe speedy garbage kings. This was a constant job throughout the whole house and outside. They had to stand on it and push it down several times to get most of it in these beasts.

Mom had to monitor a lot of their work because they'd get carried away. But there work was much appreciated!

Easter Sunday!

2009-04-12T21:48:00.001-07:00

April 12-The best day ever. Zach got back this weekend so its been fun to play altogether, with his roommate Martin visiting too. THis morning we awoke to mom busy cooking in the kitchen our breakfast and dinner for after church. Josh, Zach, Martin and I went to the singles ward Stake Conference. It was so good. Perfect for centering our thoughts on Christs life. Afterwards we made it to our parents ward where we were spiritually fed once more. We had a great dinner altogether. Here is a few shots of us trying to get all in the picture but some weren't getting the picture ( if you know what i mean :)). The last picture is me in my after church attire. The apron shows I was a big cook but not really, just the luscious potato creator and I got to feed the two baby calves. It was a beautiful day all around. We missed Jessica and her family tho :(

Bonfire

2009-04-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had a huge bonfire (see below) to burn up all joshs hard work he gathered from the sheds and around and invited the whole ward out. We had a really good turn out. It was better than any activity or church service. It was great, Josh's idea :) Unfortunately I don't have pictures of all the people. We roasted hot dogs, mom helped everyone ride a horse who wanted to, shooting was going on and we played 'wave me free' afterwards. It was so fun.

Life does go on...

2009-04-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

Since my last post my life has gotten a lot busier I guess. Now that I have gotten so far behind I'm not sure where to start. THe bishop in my ward has put me to work being in charge of choir, YSA conference and a Martins Cove trip. I'm so tired usually from working a little and playing all night that the days go by quick.

I'm going to begin where my pictures begin...in Hamilton. Jessica made an awesome blog summing our weekend up so if you want more info go to hers for explanations. It was a great trip to see each other and work together. I love that house on Ricketts lane but its not the same anymore. Now all our memories must come from our pictures and our favorite things we were able to collect from that house to remember Grandma and Grandpa.

Eliza has changed so much since February! She's a cuttie :)

I'm going to miss visiting Hamilton and the smell of the Bitterroot Valley. I should have captured it in a bottle :)

I miss you guys...

2009-02-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

I made a little friend in WA. It was so hard to let him go and say good-bye to Jessica's cute little family. I miss the walks me and Kaleb went on, the dancing to hip-hop music...

I miss racing down the slide with this big boy :)

I got to witness Eliza Susan's beautiful blessing from her Father. She was so reverent during it and Kaleb was too. I just have to comment how well mannered he is at church. He knows just what to do thanks to his parents good example :)

I fed Kaleb some green beans one night and wasn't paying attention to how he was eating so many of them! I later found out he was stashing them away in his chair so that he could be done!

Jessica and I got to do lots of fun shopping with the kids, playing and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was great. I got to put this pumpkin to bed everynight. I love videos and snuck one just so I could keep this memory :) I love you guys!!

Volleyball

2009-02-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

Volleyball is what we play after every activity with our singles ward friends. We don't play after church of course but after FHE, institute, Tuesday nights with the serious older crew from the Billings East Stake, after friday night activities and whenever else we get together! It is so fun! Since Josh loves it he has helped bring more members out to activities and stay so that we can all play and get to know each other! The ward has become more united just in the last few weeks because of this activity, its awesome. We aren't that good, we just enjoy playing for fun. The last friday night activity everyone decided to move to the stake center to play VB. We played for a few hours then switched to BB and ended with indoor soccer. It was so much fun. They were all just crazy jungle ball games. I unfortunately ended the night ten minutes to midnight getting kicked in the ankle. It hurt soooo bad. I hobbled over to the stage and took off my shoe and my left ankle was already swollen on the side like a golf ball was stuck to it. It was crazy. Luckily we had a pro on hand and she wrapped it up and Josh (above) hauled me out. I was still hopping sat. a.m. and was afraid i broke it and wouldn't get to fly to jessica's so i started trying to walk on it. After many attempts I got used to it and could walk :) Its ugly to this day, a little swollen but I can walk on it. I hate passing up VB games so I got back to it and its doing ok :)

Weekend Events

2009-01-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

Ice skating Saturday and below, Josh's first moments at home again. His last with his name badge :(

Mom is back...Joshy's home...Zach came to visit...Life is good :)

2009-01-18T21:54:00.001-08:00

I need to update majorly! So since the last post I continued to cook and made new delicious-successful meals up until mom came home. The night she made it back I made a disgusting dinner, plus I burned the meat, oh well, she just has to believe me that the others were successful.

Wednesday afternoon we gathered at the airport ready to meet Joshua! It was so exciting...we just couldn't wait :) We were all armed with cameras then when we went to turn them on they were all dead! Oh well, I ran home to get some video footage.

When he came down the stairs I just couldn't believe it...he looked different, grown up. He was really emotional seeing us and it took him a bit to talk to all of us. He is so cool, full of the Spirit, we love having him home :)

I Can Cook!!!!!

2009-01-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

So my mom is gone to help Jessica for a week. I feel bad that I never cook at home; for one, I don't want to cook instead of my mommy's delicious meals but she and everyone else wants to make sure I can cook in the near future :) So this week I am committed to cook everyday. I figured this was the perfect time to learn and do it all by myself. Usually when I don't cook its because I am lazy but I like doing it when it needs done and my eaters are excited for my one and only meal I make- BBQ Chx Pizza! This time I picked out five new delicious recipes from my mom's box.
Tonights heavenly meal was HAWAIIAN STYLE CHICKEN (Yum...)
(I didn't do everything it said because I had better ideas but I did use all the ingredients, just made up my own process that worked beautifully)!
Here's the recipe:
Brown in oil: 2lbs Chicken (parts)
Add:
Pineapple Syrup (8oz can crushed pineapple drained)
1 can Campbells Chicken Broth
1/4 c vinegar
2T. Brown Sugar
2t. Soysauce
1 t. Garlic Salt
Cover. Cook over low heat for 40 min.
Add:
1 med. green pepper (or handful of frozen chunks of green pepper :))
1 can drained pineapple (the 8oz one you used the syrup from before)
Cook: 5 min. or til done
Combine- 3T Cornstarch
1/4 c water
Stir into sauce. Cook til thick.
Serve over rice
Wala!!!!
It is sooo good.

Sledding in the field!

2009-01-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

This was the last day little old blue ran on its own. The clutch went out so to end our fun sledding day we pushed the toyota in from the field to get fixed or taken apart for parts :( But it did great for the whole morning, pulling as around for hours at a time (it wasn't used to all that work, usually its only on for 5 minutes at a time).

Dad drove us all around because when I tried I got stuck a couple times. It was so thick and icy. Dad had to use a backhoe to dig out the 3'snow drift to get down the path into the fields. The day was beautiful and I was able to invite friends from the Singles Ward, they loved it.

My friend Stephanie is the narrator for this video. What the video doesn't show is how painful it is to ride in those sleds with your fingers cutting into the icy snow...OUCH!! Everytime I fell off I was glad because my fingers felt like they were bleeding. No one got hurt, yeah! Just left us with lots of bruises :)

Christmas Break

2009-01-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

I have never seen so much snow here, its amazing. It reminds me of last winter in Aspen but here we don't have the lifts to ski down to hop onto :) It is pretty but it keeps us stricken to our homes which makes it hard to get that last minute shopping done.

Christmas Eve its tradition to have dinner at Grandma Smith's. Here is dad carrying over the dinner :) (He hates it when i take pictures of him :)) Jessica called us up right after dinner so that we could watch them open the presents 'Grandma and Grandpa' gave them on the web cam. That was fun, it was like we were somewhat in the same room for Christmas Eve.

Zach took this cool shot when he ventured out and about into the deep snow!

2008-12-17T20:51:00.000-08:00

Dad is going to love me for this one (i never get pictures of him, he always hides). We made it back to MT within 9 hrs! It has been between 0 and 20 below here. Dad is demonstrating how to dress for this kind of weather. I love it :)

THis is a shot of the roads driving from Rexburg to Butte. It was a nightmare! It was so cold out and the little speck in the distance is the best view we had of dad's truck the whole time til Dillon.

Mom had to drive the whole time, it was really stressful for her, I was sick of the whiteness and slowness so I fell asleep pretty easily (being up til 3:30 taking pictures and cleaning and waking up early to clean up messes with the power outage!!!!!!!).

My roommate had to catch her plane at 3:30 A.M. so we took a roommate picture then when their hair looked the best...isn't that sweet of them...:)

Right after graduation it started snowing. We were a bit worried about driving home on the roads but there was no way dad would let those roads keep him from getting home. I had to say my good-byes and finish white glove cleaning (yipee!)

2008-12-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

I was walking a little stiff here because the funny hat was falling off about every step and you see here my hands were too busy to be keeping it up. Yeah!!!!! I am done with school forever!

My parents made the trek down to support me and help me move home.

I graduated! President Uchtdorf spoke at my graduation and it was wonderful, he made us all feel so special! i loved it.

2008-12-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Roommate Love...Here is our beautiful fur tree we decorated today. ROommate specialness here...Becca, Daniela, Me, Laura! THis is our last week together...hopefully we can make it through with smiles to the end.

2008-11-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

I found Kaleb in Grandmas room playing with all her stuffed animals one afternoon. He loved this spot!

DeLis and Nanna at the dinner. (Only pict I have of you mom, sorry!)

Ruthie and Kaleb. She was a good helper during the large cousin picture.

We are only missing a few here! It was a great reunion!

Mom and Grandma

2008-11-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

I love this picture!

2008-11-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

Grandma loves me no matter how I look ;)

2008-11-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

This is the day before me and mom left to WA when she got sick. Its a really cute video. I love her outfit too! She is so cute!

2008-11-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

Making jumps at Grand Targhee. We snuck up here before it opens and tried out the fresh powder. This is Kelly (in red), Ryan, Zach and Kevin.

2008-11-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

Zach with the disc, this happened quite frequently. He would catch everything but then in the endzone the coach would throw it away except for a few Zach was able to get. His coach has problems that were giving me a headache!

2008-11-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Zach watched mine, I watched his. HIs team needs a lot of help. Zach did really well, i was just trying to coach a little too much and give him tips. It was a really hot, humid day...but beautiful!

2008-11-02T21:59:00.000-08:00

Its me handling, what I do most of the time. My favorites were when I could do a forehand, like what i am doing here and lead it to a girl in the endzone and get a quick point from the middle of the field. Those were the best!

2008-11-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

I'm the green girl with the leg off the ground getting up for a smack down. That was the best pic Zach took. I got that one too, its so fun playing defense!

2008-11-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

The night of pizza before the day of grueling tournament games. These girls are awesome!

2008-11-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

Halloween, Zach is a nerd, I am a dark angel weirdo and we are all in a band, zachs actually the accountant and me and martin are the dancers and my other two married friends are the managers. way fun night!

2008-11-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

Crazy as ever waiting for food at Applebee's.

2008-11-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

Duckying around at an FHE bros birthday party

2008-10-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Zach is on a ward flag football team. They have games once a week and haven't had the best of luck. They get to play all sorts of ward teams. Some consist of married guys, singles or teams put together with mass talent. Zach's team is full of freshemen that seem to think they have natural talent and therefore they don't practice and yet they haven't won a game yet. We will see what happens this week with tournaments starting up! Go Zachy!

Ice Caves

2008-10-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

Julie, Briann, Zach and Ben

I have been to the caves before but had never taken pictures. I never realized how beautiful it was! Here are some shots of what we journeyed through.

The Strongest Woman Alive

2008-10-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

I love my mom. I don't know what I would do without her. I hope she knows her whole family loves her and supports her! My mom is the best.