Trek 2009 "Be Thou an Example Through Faith in Jesus Christ"

Well, we made it through another trek to Martin's Cove and Rock Creek Hollow this year. I think that this one was better than the one we went to four years ago. As much as I hate camping, (and I mean I really hate it) I still really enjoyed myself. Brooks and I along with another couple from our stake were called as the Grand ma's and pa's for the trek. Our main responsibility was to train all of the ward ma's and pa's. We started this task in January and finished in May. June was reserved for the unknown. Once we arrived at the Cove, we also had a few other responsibilities, mostly minor things, but it was a special opportunity for us to be able to mingle with the other families a little. We were also fortunate to be in the same camp ring as Kara and Phil's family, along with the family that we were a part of. We had tons of fun and the kids in our families were really great kids! We had some really great spiritual experiences and we were fortunate to have a choir and a lot of other pre-recorded music.

Here is Brooks and I when we first arrived at Independence Rock.

You can actually walk right up onto the rock and walk all over it. The group had a great time here.

Kara and Phil in front of Independence Rock.

Kara and Phil getting their handcart ready to go.

I thought that this was an inspiring picture of about one half of our trekkers making their way to Cherry Creek camp ground.

Kara, Phil, and Mark (our Pa) early the next morning getting ready for the days events.

Grandpa Brooks catching some last minute reading (along with a diet coke) in preparation for our testimonies in the Dan Jones Cove.

Kara was loading their cooler into the wagon to get filled with our sandwiches and lunch stuff.

Breakfast time. We were fed well. Once again, I'm pretty sure that I gained weight this time around.

Kara and Phil's family heading into the Cove.

Our family heading into the Cove. We tried to keep each family staggered so we could remain reverent and enjoy the spirit and beauty.

Me inside the Cove. The hair is starting to look bad, just wait until tomorrow!!

After a really fantastic eventing devotional and an okay nights rest we up early again with the buses loaded and ready to travel to Rock Creek.

We had 35 families and these are all of the babies that the families had to give up when they arrived. It was pretty hard on most of them, they weren't prepared for this event. (they did get them back after the devotional)

If you look closely, you can the see our group in the amphitheatre where we had our devotional. This was the end of our trek. After this, we had our lunch, loaded the buses again and headed for home. Today I finally finished up with the was and I'm starting to feel clean again!

Fourth of July

We had another fun Fourth of July celebration again this year in Lewiston. The weather turned out to be really nice, no one was sick, and no one got hurt. I hope everyone else had a great celebration also. Kara and Phil were in charge of the softball tournament. They have volunteered this job for the last four celebrations. They put on a really nice tourney and I think that for the most part, all of the entries really enjoy it. It's really supposed to be family teams but a few teams try to stack their teams. The past few years, the Tarbet/Foster team has only had to add one non family player. They won the tourney last year and lost the championship game this year. Here are a few pics of my kids.

Brady

Phil

Kelsey....She had the winning hit for one of the games.

Kade......A little tired after just finishing with the 3 on 3 basketball tourney.

Molly was soooo good for the entire day. She looks like she's really enjoying the games.

Kade and Eric working hard at the 3 on 3. These two volunteered to do this event this year.

Jaxon was able to make quite a haul from the parade candy. I think he's doing a little victory dance in this picture.

Brynly really wanted to have a chance to hold Molly while watching the parade. Molly doesn't seem to care either way.

My favorite picture of the day. We pulled a flat bed trailer and parked it on the parade route (everyone does this) and put chairs on the trailer and in front and then blankets for all to sit on. We had somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty family members there. It's kind of like one big reunion except better because you don't have to try to make small talk with people you barely know because there is so much going on. Now don't take that last statement the wrong way, I love spending time with siblings, parents, nieces, nephews, children, grand children, in laws and even some extended, this is just a good way of dealing with some of the others.

Lagoon Fun

Fun at Lagoon. This is my idea of a really fun day. The whole day with my kids and grand kids! It can't get any better than this except if Brooks was here also and Molly was old enough to come. Jessica had a really great time on Puff!!!

Rattlesnake Rapids

Notice Jax helping Bryn into the ride. He can be such a cute older brother. Brynly really wasn't too sure about this ride but she was really brave about it. Jaxon loved everything that we went on. He even loved the old roller coaster and the haunted house. We went to lagoon today and had a great time on the rides. Jessica's mom kept Molly for us and Grandpa Brooks stayed home. He said he needed to stay home to work but I think he secretly didn't want to go.

This summer (as with most other summers) we went to the semiannual Tarbet family reunion at the Logan Aquatic Center. I really didn't take pictures of anything but at the pool. We had fun watching the kids go down the slide and just watch Molly for her first swim experience. I think she handled it quite well.