The Pioneer Trek was this week, so we sent Brett off to push a handcart. He's awfully handsome in his pioneer garb, don't you think?

My favorite part of his clothing was the vest.  We've had our supply list since March, but we couldn't find a suitable vest anywhere in all that time.   Finally, the night before the Trek, with the hours ticking down, we found a fabric remnant at a thrift store for $1, and we made our own.  I love it when a plan comes together! 

Meeting at the church the morning of the Trek

 

 

 

The whole group from our ward

Brett's "Ma" and "Pa"

Packing the handcarts

Preparing lunch

Moving west

Brett's Trek "family"

He came home tired, sunburned, and dirty.  He said it was fun but hard.  We packed him an entire roll of moleskin, but he didn't even need it.  He has no blisters at all, but he is nursing a couple nasty rope burns on his hands. Really nasty.  He couldn't even hold a fork last night.  Hopefully recovery will come soon.

Jeff went on a four-day camping trip with the Deacons to hike Mt. St. Helens.  He had to take all kinds of winter climbing gear to be prepared for the mountain.  They climbed for 10 hours but didn't quite make it to the top before they had to turn around and get back to camp before dark.  He said the camping was cold and miserable, but there were enough fun parts that he's glad he went.  Pictures of his adventure haven't been posted yet, so we'll detail Jeff's trip in the next update.


On Wednesday night, Karen and Bryan arrived with Jacob, Adam, and Chelsea.  It was so fun to see them!  Dell and Becky came for dinner with their girls, and I love it when I get to be part of an Anderson Family Dinner!  We had Cafe Rio Sweet Pork which is quickly becoming the staple replacement of Anderson Taco Salad.  (Jim says, "Replacement?  Tortillas, meat, cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, olives, dressing.  What replacement?")

Aislyn and a very tired Adam

And I have to add a disclaimer before this next one.  Ashlee and Alexa had been swimming all day.  Their mother does not generally allow them to be seen with "pool hair," so she won't be happy with me posting this picture.  But pool hair or not, they're darling.  And Jacob's pretty cute, too.

Jacob, Ashlee, and Alexa playing video games

Then, right between dinner and dessert, like it was no big deal at all, Bryan gave us the best gift ever.  He replaced a toilet that has been causing us problems for years.  Seriously, years.  It's been a headache for so long that one of the first things Bryce said about his Rexburg apartment was that it had a toilet that actually worked.

So I'm telling Bryan that I really have to do something about that, and I ask him for a recommendation of which toilet to buy.  There are thousands of them out there, which is one of the reasons I have put off dealing with this for so long.  The other problem is I don't know how to install the silly thing, and the last problem is how on earth do you dispose of the old one?  All I want is a recommendation from Bryan but he says, "Do you want to go get one now and I'll put it in for you?"  He says that like it's no big deal. 

Jim jumped on that one.  A  minute later, he and Bryan were headed to Home Depot.  And within an hour and a half, they had bought a new toilet, installed it, and disposed of the old one.  An hour and a half!  Literally, right between dinner and dessert.  Totally amazing to my limited little mind.  So a huge thank you to Bryan for his services that saved us lots of money and hours upon hours of frustration.

And to celebrate the new toilet, I also got a new shower curtain AND a new shower head for that bathroom.  It's like a complete remodel!  Life is good.  (And in case you're wondering, here's the way you dispose of a toilet:  You put the entire thing in your dumpster, and then you take a hammer to it and hack it into tiny pieces.  Then you wait with baited breath on Friday morning to see if the garbage truck really will haul it away, and sure enough, it does!)

And one final note this week, we had our first strawberry harvest.  One whole strawberry!  We divided it four ways and had it with dinner.  Delicious!