Bardwell Summer Excursions

It's time, yet again, to update our records with the highlights of the last few months. So pull up a chair, get comfy, and prepare yourself for another edition of "Best of the Bardwells!"

We've had a busy, but great, summer so far. We've been to the Reeder family reunion, the Winmill family reunion, we celebrated the 4th with family and fun, we attended the 24th of July parade in Salt Lake, and on and on and on! It's been fun. Unfortunately I don't have time or energy to blog about all of it. So I won't.

But just so that there's some record of the summer, here's some of my favorite pics from the last two months or so:

It was great to have so many of us together for the Winmill family reunion on beautiful Cedar Mountain.

The Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden:

Liberty Park in Salt Lake:

Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake:

The last day of Co-op preschool

A highlight for Ben and I was the opportunity we had to accompany the youth of our stake on a 4 day pioneer trek. Ben and I mostly helped behind the scenes with the equipment, transportation, food, and medical committees. But when it became clear that they didn't need our help as much as the handcart pullers did, we decided to test our metal and help out there.

(We grew intimately acquainted with a whole lot of this)

To no one's surprise, Ben pulled for two days with no trouble. But the one day I helped pull a handcart over sagebrush and up hills, in a long dress, gave me all kinds of respect (and maybe a few questions about sanity) for my pioneer ancestors. And of course I did it with plenty of hot food in my belly, in ideal weather, and with good shoes on. I can't imagine doing it day after day for months, sometimes in 18 inches of snow! Crazy.


We visited The Needles, a stately grouping of monoliths that pop right out of the treeless, rolling Wyoming Highlands where Brigham Young paused for 3 days to recuperate from Rocky Mountain fever before heading to the Salt Lake Valley. Apparently there's a rumor--that church historians just hate--that Brigham Young got the inspiration for the spires of the Salt Lake Temple by looking at The Needles. I think historians claim that the design was revealed to Joseph Smith and B.Y. long before anyone ever reached Wyoming. I don't know. There is some resemblance. But either way, I figure both were designed by the same being, right? It makes sense to me that they could look alike.

The most difficult and rewarding experience for me was the women's pull. Minus the men and boys, we started up the road on a hill. I was exhausted when we got to the top, and I almost died when they lead us off the road, where we were to cross several ditches and head strait up a hill that a 4-wheel drive truck struggled to climb, all while hauling our 200ish lb. handcart! The men were all gathered at the top, and they sang to us and shouted encouragement. The first cart did well; they had some tough girls in that group. The second cart almost didn't make it. One of our best pushers, my sis-in-law Millie, ran to help them. I somehow ended up in the harness of our cart (third in line) beside Lisa Handcock a 40-something woman in our ward, and by the time we were 20 feet from the top my strength was gone. I was dizzy and couldn't even see where I was going. Lisa was amazing, however. If I ever have to do anything like that again, I want her by my side!
When I had reached what I thought was the end of my rope, I remember hearing my name repeated. I thought it was just inside my head, but after a bit I looked over to see my good husband calling out to me. Of course after that, I knew I would be okay. I knew if I wasn't, Ben would feel horrible, so I just had to make it. But I didn't mind a bit when 3 of the tough girls from the first cart came back to help us. Actually I don't know if we'd have made it without them! After that, most of the women and girls ran back to help the other carts. By the time the last few carts came up the hill, there wasn't even a place to put a hand to help, because there were so many girls helping! It was great. It was inspiring.

Many of our men and boys were touched to the point of tears. Bless there hearts, they wanted to help so much! But I'm glad they didn't. It was only one hill, but somehow I feel so strong, because I was part of something worthy of note. Somehow this proves to me that I can do hard things. Of course I couldn't be a husband-less handcart pioneer. I'm clearly not tough enough for that. But I do think I'm great at psyching myself out of trying things that I could probably handle, if I'd give myself the chance.
If you ever get the opportunity, don't miss out! It was well worth the cow pies and effort we made to be there.

We still have two more important events to look forward to before we head back to school. But I had to make some kind of record, however insufficient, of the great summer we've had so far.