High Adventure

Ethan and Wes got back from High Adventure on Saturday. They have had a particular bond created during their sufferings over the past few days. They hiked 40 miles round trip to Kings Peak, which can be a day hike (like 26 miles/14 hour round trip for good in condition hikers) but the leaders turned it into a 4 day 3 night back packing trip. The weather was terrible most of the time (rain, hail, lightening when they were at the peak!! Yikes!) Ethan is pretty sure he peed on all this clothes, there were tons of bugs, yeah, they felt like they had just returned from the front lines and had a lot of war stories to share, not that any of us would understand the true extent of their sufferings.

 

Ethan telling a story. Wes was about in tears. They said they felt like crying for most of the trip. "Why am I here? Why am I doing this!??!"

Ethan was pretty proud of his manly whiskers too and was looking forward to finally getting a good shave, ha

Some pictures of the trip: they reached the summit right as a summer storm was starting, and just before Ethan's camera died.

Their hair was standing up and they could feel the electricity buzzing in their ears. 

They took a few pictures and then headed right down. Their leaders (who are quite the out-doorsy people) said this was the scariest summit they've had of Kings Peak. I'm glad they didn't die! And that I didn't know how dangerous it was until after they were safely home. Ethan was playing with a face app with his pictures for a lot of today. He made these new pictures: this was how much life experience and wisdom he had gained after such an arduous climb:

 This is how hammered he felt:

 This is how much facial growth the thought he had:

Ha. Those are the only pictures Ethan loaded to my computer cause he used them for his instagram post. I'll need to find the other pictures and share some of Wesley. Wes did come to me in tears yesterday as he said "You know what the best part about high adventure was? Ethan! He was so nice, he helped me so much!!!" Wes was like choked up! Well I'd say that trip was worth is just for that comment. It warmed my heart. They all shared stories and some gospel parallels today during testimony meeting. Wesley and Ethan both got up. I had some thoughts today too - another lady shared about trials with breast cancer, and another shared how he had a goal this year to swim 22 miles in the ocean. I was thinking of trials, goals, experiences... and my take away is: all these things are helping us learn and become what we need to become to return to our Father in heaven. Hiking, cancer, endurance athlete goals, or raising 12 kids - we all have callings and things the Lord wants us to do. We are his servants, we each have different callings in his vineyard. I'd like to go backpacking, or to challenge myself physically through sports, but God has called me to be a mom, he's blessed me to be able to be a mom, and I will give my calling all I've got.