Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission Tales

This is an old blog that I'm going to resurrect to record our Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission experiences. We left on March 23 to head north in Georgie Boy! We spent the night north of Las Vegas in the Love's parking lot. It was like a city with all the tractor/trailer rigs humming away. This was our first night sleeping in the motorhome and it wasn't bad at all!

We pulled in to St. George and I don't know why we don't have any pictures of Mick and Shirley, or Karen but we had a great time! We went to Tuachahn to see Jay Leno with Shirley and Karen and it was absolutely beautiful. Our trip from St. George to Provo had a stiff wind and we were almost blown off the road once! That got our little hearts beating!

We arrived at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, UT on March 26. We decided not to stay in Georgie Boy because he was having generator trouble so we checked in to the MTC room. It was like an apartment and we had plenty of room, we just had trouble remembering what we wanted to have with us! We only locked ourselves out of the apartment once=) 

Easter was a great day at the MTC! President Ballard came and spoke powerfully about the resurrection and what it means to each one of us! The Spirit was beautiful! We had an amazing dinner with Kelly and LeaAnn Adams and didn't take a picture! It was a beautiful day all around!

The MTC is like a city with over 1500 18-20 year old missionaries and there were 77 senior missionaries. It was cold and it had snowed pretty close to the Y. I'm not a big fan of cold, especially wearing skirts! We worked hard in the MTC in small groups. Elder Tuttle was a District Leader and there were 6 other people in our district. A district is just a way to divide people up so everyone knows what is going on and no one gets lost in the shuffle. We had two Sisters that were actually sisters and they were headed to Peru to work in the mission office. They were delightful. We ate in the cafeteria 3 times a day and it was a challenge to not over eat! There were lots of choices. There is a strong Spirit at the MTC and I can see our grandkids start coming here in just a few years. 

Just before we left Gilbert I had a biopsy of this little thing on my nose. I didn't worry about it at all because I had bigger fish to fry, so to speak. On our first day at the MTC I got a voice message from Dr. Woods saying that the biopsy showed basal cell carcinoma! Giant Bummer! I called and set up surgery with a MOHS doc in Casper for April 7. We told Elder Taylor about the situation and he suggested using a local doctor, within 24 hours I had the surgery over. He scooped out some tissue and looked at it under a microscope while we waited in a cozy room. He brought me back and scooped out some more and checked again. It was okay so he took skin out of my ear and sewed it onto the hole on my nose. We were there 2.5 hours and Dr. Peterson was really funny but caring at the same time. He called me the night before to see if I had any questions and about an hour after surgery to see if I was okay. It wasn't fun but it is over and it was a good experience.

While we were at the MTC we were honored to be dinner guests of Mary and Scott Bitter Friday night and Karen and Dick Blackham on Monday night!

We went to SLC on Saturday on the Frontrunner to go to the afternoon session of General Conference which was fantastic! We met Kristy and Steve Hill and had lunch at the Garden Room on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building! We had a yummy lunch and a great time talking about pioneers and old times! The phone with the cute pictures is lost and we continue to look for it!

Every missionary who spends time in the MTC has their picture taken in front of the famous map! We are no exception! We also had our picture with our Gilbert neighbors who are now in Russia, Elder and Sister Crittenden!

The trip from Provo, UT to Evanston, WY was breezy because the breeze was at our back side and Georgie Boy flew down the highway (comparatively speaking=). But after we spent 2 hours in Evanston grocery shopping and eating lunch our direction changed and the wind was not our friend any more! We went to Rawlins and then north and east to Ranch 66 where we now live in Georgie Boy!

Evanston WalMart

The set up!

Frost on the car

Setting Up

Our back yard

Pete the Pronghorn

The first day we were here we spent our time trying to get organized, I use that term loosely. The second day we followed a school group in our pioneer dress. I loved being with the kids! We were on   on the work crew Monday (April 11) and it was fantastic because we got to be with the young Elders and Sisters from the Casper Mission that came to help us move about 200 handcarts and some wagons. There was one little Sister that I thought might have Turner's Syndrome, like Molly, and after talking to her I found out that she does! She is willing to communicate with Molly and Cam and I hope it will be beneficial! We were learning about the Visitors' Center today and it is all so much fun! There is also a lot to remember and remember correctly. It is also a lot of work but in a good way! 

I know this is ridiculously long but we haven't had our computer set up and the broadband is very narrow here. Verizon has no service here so Roy's cell is on vacation and mine will only work when we go to Casper. You can email us=) We love you all!

GAK

Marx found a book at the house with recipes for all of these different concoctions and he decided we needed to make one. I don't remember what it was called but it was the same as GAK. We needed glue and I didn't have any so we had to go to the store. I didn't realize glue was expensive because I always have a gallon at school but it is. The boys made the GAK, after watching a youtube video, and had a great time playing with it. I think it wound up in Texas. There was purple glue everywhere, I mean everywhere. I don't know how it got all over. It was on the fridge, floor, counters, even the patio. I'm still picking it off of stuff but it was so much fun it was worth it=)

Mano and Metate

We picked up some mesquite pods and I told Marx that if he could grind the pods into flour like the Native Americans, we could use the flour in cookies. He worked and worked, look at the sweat in his hair, but he never got the pods fine enough for the cookies. He couldn't believe how hard that work was=)

Rocket Launch July 5, 2010

This was our second annual rocket launch and I was running out of engines so we used some C engines and had some of those Alpha Rockets go pretty darn high. I think there were 5 rockets. Molly didn't want to push the button on the launcher but then was deliriously happy when the rocket came down.

Shrek Shakes

I'm not exactly sure how this happened but Cambria made smoothies out of spinach and bananas and convinced the kids that Shrek had come while they were outside and made the smoothies for the kids and then left. Even Maddox, who is notorious for being a picky eater drank the smoothie and declared that it was wonderful. We got him to drink one more and then he was done.

Summer 2010

I can't believe summer is new the end, well not the end of HOT, just time to go back to work=) Yipee!! Well, not for going back to work just for getting a pay check. The best thing we have done all summer was the Tuttle Family Reunion. We spent a week in the Uintah Mountains in the Tuttle cabin (Thanks Max for letting us use your cabin) and had plenty of food and fun. We had the potential for 39 people to be in attendance and 33 showed up. Pretty darn good. We had family T-shirts and photos were taken. There were some rowdy games of spoons, great talks around the campfire, hiking, eating, s'mores, swinging, riding on the six by six, and zipping down the zip line were some of our activities. Marx and Maddox came from Florida and Cambria and here kids were here from Mexico. We will do it again in 2013!!

Mexico for Memorial Day

We traveled to Mexico over Memorial Day weekend to see the Memmott family. We had never been introduced to baby Lydia and it was so nice to be at her blessing. We got to deliver the list of things Cambria ordered and some fun things like a quilt for Lydia. The neighbor's dog has puppies that Molly adores and carries around like little sacks of flour. Sunday night I was taking the pits out of the avocados for guacamole and put the knife completely through my hand. Greg took Roy, Alan, and I to the Mexican emergency room and I got 2 stitches. The doctor was very nice, the surroundings were reminiscent of the 70's, and the bill was $54. He didn't ask my name until he was writing up the prescription. Just before he shot me with Novocaine he asked if I was allergic to anything. I told him no and later asked him a question which he didn't understand. We went to to pharmacies to get the antibiotics and pain meds that totaled $36. Molly and Alan are enjoying the new baby although Molly might take advantage once in a while=) Cambria is feeling good and looking good. Greg's back was hurting him and we hope it gets better pretty quick.