Maw & Paw Dalton & the Dalton Gang

The day after girls camp, I caught a flight and headed out to Cleveland (see this post and this post for a refresher) to spend time with Ayrel and Avery, made an impromptus roadtrip to Tucson with cousin Mel (see here), caught a flight back to Utah on a Tuesday, and spent Wednesday getting all of our supplies for our Stake Trek.  Back in September, Brad and I were asked to participate in the Trek as a Maw and Paw and have been attending classes and meetings to TRY to prepare us for the adventure.  I say try because I don't know if anything could really prepare you for it at all.  The night before (Wednesday night) we left I was a complete basket case about EVERYTHING!!  Even though I'd done my best to physically, mentally, and spiritually prepare, I felt very unprepared.  It's a good thing Brad is so laid back and calm to equal us out, but his face was priceless when he walked into the kitchen to a crying girl (yours truly) holding both of her thumbs in front of her right after she had jammed them on the bucket lids (you use your thumbs A LOT...I didn't realize it until I couldn't use them anymore...).  But alas, the show went on.  We took our stuff to the church Wednesday night and woke up bright and early to head back to catch our bus to western Wyoming.  We had no idea who our "children" would be and the whole bus ride over Brad and I kept wondering if anyone on our bus would be in the Dalton Gang (Dalton Gang by day, Daltinos by night...).  We arrived in Wyoming, found our handcart, and waited for the kidlets to come find us.  And we were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO lucky, we had the best.family.ever.  We didn't know any of the youth and they didn't really know each other but by the end of the trek, we were truly a family.  

Here's a slide show of the event...

Squeaky clean

The Fairfield Ward YW

Maw and Paw Dalton

He liked to brush his teeth...a lot.

Had to capture games with Brad and B.VanKomen linked arm in arm :)

After the Women's Pull...these girls are so strong!!

Blister Prevention...no blisters in our family :)

These 2 became BEST FRIENDS by the end of the week.

It started to rain so we ate our dinner underneath our man-made tent.

This is what happens when you turn your back on 2 girls pulling taffy...

And these were just from DAY 1!!  You might have noticed that there are individual pictures of each member (or most, the others were taken on Day 2) of the family with a doll.  They named the doll Anna Nellie and right before we started our trek, I shared a family story of my ancestor.  She was 7 years old when she came across the plains with a handcart company but her family told her that there wasn't enough room to carry the doll in the cart so she could either leave it or carry it the whole way.  She decided to carry it the whole way.  So we decided to incorporate a family doll into the Dalton gang where each member had to carry the doll and couldn't put her in the cart at all.  The girls LOVED her, some boys didn't mind, but most weren't too crazy about it....oh well.  Welcome to the Dalton Gang!!  :)  I was so grateful for the amount of young men in our family.  Brad and I aren't campers but where we lacked in skill, they picked up the slack.  It was so nice to have people that knew what they were doing and helped us out.  And our "daughters" were the sweetest in the world.  They loved asking Brad and I questions about how we met, how did he propose, what was our wedding day like, etc. etc.  And every night they made sure I sang a lullaby.  I love those girls.  And they demonstrated just how strong they were during the Women's pull.  The men were asked to not help push the cart for 2+ miles and they were the hardest 2+ miles during the whole trek.  They didn't complain.  They didn't whine.  They took the task with quiet dignity and perseverance.  Just remembering their goodness is making me emotional.  I loved our family!!  On a different note...it was soooo dusty out there.  I took a wet wipe bath every night before going to bed, I couldn't stand it.  

Here are pictures from Day 2.

Cat's Cradle

The Dalton Gang!

 

The girlies

Okay, embarrassing confession...I wore all my dresses BACKWARDS!!  I thought the buttons went in the back...and there were darts and everything!!  That's what happens when there aren't any mirrors, I couldn't see how ridiculous I looked and didn't realize it until I got home...

Serious pioneer pose

The boy-ees

Hoe-down time!

The second night was bittersweet.  We were all tired and excited to go home but were having such a fantastic time, we didn't want it to end the next day.  It was wonderful to see the dynamics of the family this second day; we became more than friends and really felt like a family by the end of the day.  It was so sweet to hear them call Brad "Paw" and me "Maw" and how interested they were in each others lives.  

Here's Day 3 (unfortunately, some sand had gotten into our camera lens and it wouldn't open up consistently so we don't have many pictures from Day 3...

This guy turned 14 the last day of trek.  He got a complimentary ride in the cart for 5 minutes.  Everyone in the family also went around the circle and told him something they liked about him.  Happy Birthday!!

One final family picture.  We love you guys!!

What an experience!  Brad and I were very apprehensive before Trek but had an absolute BLAST while we were there.  26 miles and no complaining...it was fantastic!!  I loved seeing the friendships of these complete strangers form, seeing their testimonies grow of the Gospel and the dedication and sacrifice of the pioneers, and become a family.  I love the youth.  They are so strong and valiant.  I can only hope that one day our real family will be as wonderful as the Dalton Gang from 2012.