Around December I started thinking about Stake Trek. Our stake goes every four years and I've had the privilege of going 3 times. The first time they called a week before trek and asked if I would help with food. That was an easy assignment, I helped load the trailer and then pass out the food to the families. I got to walk the trail with the handcarts and my job was to spray them off with my spray bottle to keep them cool. It was fun to be up there with Heather.
The next time we had trek they asked me and Steve to be a Ma and Pa. This was a lot more work, but we had the best kids and it was so much fun. The downside was they didn't give the ma and pa a tent or the boys so the last night it started to rain. We covered all our boys the best we could with the tarps and then realized we had nothing for ourselves. We saw a truck and decided to crawl under it with our sleeping bags to try and keep dry. The person was asleep in his truck so we didn't want to wake him and needless to say I didn't sleep the whole night worrying that he was going to take off with us under the truck. Also the ground was slanted and my sleeping bag got soaked with the rain. The next morning we were awakened to "O what a beautiful Morning" All I could do was laugh. Taryn and Greg were on this trek.
The next time trek rolled around we were asked again to be a Ma and Pa. We were excited because we loved last time and Taylor would be going on this trek. This was the most difficult trek. They had a heat wave and it was in the upper 90's in the mountains. They also thought that it would be great to make us go an extra 3 miles the first day. The last 2 miles we ran out of water and we could not find the water truck. Kids were dropping like flies due to the heat and no water. We made it to the campsite and everyone just collapsed. The kids were so worn out that they didn't want to play the games or do the square dancing that night. The next day it was still that hot, but we were able to camp in the upper meadow and with all the green grass and trees we were able to cool off and have a great night. Along with the heat, we were also hungry. I guess poor planning lead to not enough food. That day we were supposed to have meat sandwiches and they didn't even have enough cheese for everyone or mayo, so I had a meat sandwich with no cheese or mayo.
So around December I started thinking of what I would say if they asked us to be Ma and Pa's again. I decided I would tell them no and then the thought came to me that they were going to ask us to do the food. I hoped that I was just having strange thoughts, so when they gave us the assignment I knew the Lord had been preparing me.
One day while buying 72 bags of chips in the store I ran into the lady that I helped do food with for the trek and told her what I was doing. She said that doing trek food was the hardest assignment she has ever done. I agree with her I put in 100's of hours before hand buying food, looking for sales, figuring out amounts and praying for help.
The day before trek begin was a nightmare. We got the trailer loaded up that they had given us and realized it could not handle the weight of all the food. Also our truck was not going to budge it. Luckily Chris's brother loaned us his diesel ton-truck to pull the big trailer and we rounded up three other trailers to get all our food and gear up there. Here are some of the helpers loading up the trailer.
Steve decided to grow a beard a couple of weeks before the trek. We had to laugh that the middle part was so snowy white. It started to bug him a week before and he couldn't wait until trek was over to shave it off. We worked our heads off up there feeding 360 people. The first night we cooked them pulled-pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad and watermelon. That night after the dance we served peach cobbler and chocolate cherry cobbler. Then we cleaned and packed everything up and drove 2 miles away to set up for breakfast. We were all up at 4:00 getting ready for breakfast. We served breakfast burritos, hash browns, cinnamon rolls, bananas and hot chocolate. Then we had 20 minutes to clean up and head up the trail before they took off in their handcarts. Up on top we served yummy Gandolfo's sandwiches with chips, cookies and apples. Once they reached the top we had more cookies and apples and bananas to eat. That night they made taco-topper soup and biscuits in the dutch oven. After the fireside they ate brownies. The next morning we sat our yogurt, muffins, cinnamon rolls and bananas. Once they reached the end we had watermelon sat up for them. One boy at the end told me that I gave them too much food. I am taking that as a compliment. With all that food I still was $1,500.00 under budget. Will I ever do this assignment again. That would be a big fat NO. But I'm happy that it was successful and the kids were never happy and loved the food.
Around December I started thinking about Stake Trek. Our stake goes every four years and I've had the privilege of going 3 times. The first time they called a week before trek and asked if I would help with food. That was an easy assignment, I helped load the trailer and then pass out the food to the families. I got to walk the trail with the handcarts and my job was to spray them off with my spray bottle to keep them cool. It was fun to be up there with Heather.
The next time we had trek they asked me and Steve to be a Ma and Pa. This was a lot more work, but we had the best kids and it was so much fun. The downside was they didn't give the ma and pa a tent or the boys so the last night it started to rain. We covered all our boys the best we could with the tarps and then realized we had nothing for ourselves. We saw a truck and decided to crawl under it with our sleeping bags to try and keep dry. The person was asleep in his truck so we didn't want to wake him and needless to say I didn't sleep the whole night worrying that he was going to take off with us under the truck. Also the ground was slanted and my sleeping bag got soaked with the rain. The next morning we were awakened to "O what a beautiful Morning" All I could do was laugh. Taryn and Greg were on this trek.
The next time trek rolled around we were asked again to be a Ma and Pa. We were excited because we loved last time and Taylor would be going on this trek. This was the most difficult trek. They had a heat wave and it was in the upper 90's in the mountains. They also thought that it would be great to make us go an extra 3 miles the first day. The last 2 miles we ran out of water and we could not find the water truck. Kids were dropping like flies due to the heat and no water. We made it to the campsite and everyone just collapsed. The kids were so worn out that they didn't want to play the games or do the square dancing that night. The next day it was still that hot, but we were able to camp in the upper meadow and with all the green grass and trees we were able to cool off and have a great night. Along with the heat, we were also hungry. I guess poor planning lead to not enough food. That day we were supposed to have meat sandwiches and they didn't even have enough cheese for everyone or mayo, so I had a meat sandwich with no cheese or mayo. 
So around December I started thinking of what I would say if they asked us to be Ma and Pa's again. I decided I would tell them no and then the thought came to me that they were going to ask us to do the food. I hoped that I was just having strange thoughts, so when they gave us the assignment I knew the Lord had been preparing me.
One day while buying 72 bags of chips in the store I ran into the lady that I helped do food with for the trek and told her what I was doing. She said that doing trek food was the hardest assignment she has ever done. I agree with her I put in 100's of hours before hand buying food, looking for sales, figuring out amounts and praying for help.
The day before trek begin was a nightmare. We got the trailer loaded up that they had given us and realized it could not handle the weight of all the food. Also our truck was not going to budge it. Luckily Chris's brother loaned us his diesel ton-truck to pull the big trailer and we rounded up three other trailers to get all our food and gear up there. Here are some of the helpers loading up the trailer. 
Steve decided to grow a beard a couple of weeks before the trek. We had to laugh that the middle part was so snowy white. It started to bug him a week before and he couldn't wait until trek was over to shave it off. We worked our heads off up there feeding 360 people. The first night we cooked them pulled-pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad and watermelon. That night after the dance we served peach cobbler and chocolate cherry cobbler. Then we cleaned and packed everything up and drove 2 miles away to set up for breakfast. We were all up at 4:00 getting ready for breakfast. We served breakfast burritos, hash browns, cinnamon rolls, bananas and hot chocolate. Then we had 20 minutes to clean up and head up the trail before they took off in their handcarts. Up on top we served yummy Gandolfo's sandwiches with chips, cookies and apples. Once they reached the top we had more cookies and apples and bananas to eat. That night they made taco-topper soup and biscuits in the dutch oven. After the fireside they ate brownies. The next morning we sat our yogurt, muffins, cinnamon rolls and bananas. Once they reached the end we had watermelon sat up for them. One boy at the end told me that I gave them too much food. I am taking that as a compliment. With all that food I still was $1,500.00 under budget. Will I ever do this assignment again. That would be a big fat NO. But I'm happy that it was successful and the kids were never happy and loved the food. 
1 comment:
That's so great you've been on a trek with every one of your kids. Sounds like this was the most work of all but the trek with the heat was probably the most uncomfortable. Now you can relax and know you did a job well done!
Post a Comment