Exodus Trek

Our Stake did this really great youth Exodus Trek. We were gone for three days and two nights. Margaret and Clark watched our younger children (Thanks guys!). Dan and Jan went as parents to a group of youth in the Tribe of Simeon. Chandler and Hanna went as youth in other families. Joy and Dave went as parents also in the tribe of Simeon. We had about 350 people divided into the 12 tribes of Israel. We used handcarts to trek into the wilderness where we build a tabernacle exactly like the one Moses carried around the desert for 40 years, only slightly smaller. The youth worked hard, got dirty and hopefully gained a greater understanding of the Old Testament and our Savior.

Here is Dan on the right after we just loaded up our handcart.
Chandler, with his tribal banner, tribe of Naphtali
Here is part of the tribe of Simeon at the stake center before we left on the trek.
The first night: this is Kellee and Hanna eating dinner with Simeon Tribe.

Jan and Joy
Hanna, Jan, Chandler, and Dan. Hanna and Chandler would occasionally take a break from their own tribes and visit us in Simeon tribe. It was fun to see them. Our kids in our Simeon family would call us Mom and Dad and one time Chandler was sitting by me when someone else said "Mom?" to me. Chandler said "that was weird". We got a laugh.
Here is Chandler pulling his handcart with his tribe Dad.

Chandler in the tabernacle. I didn't take any other pictures of the tabernacle but it was really cool! I'll have to figure out how to get Dave's pictures on my blog.
Hanna with her tribe banner, tribe of Manasseh.
Dan and Jannalee on our first night. It was amazing that it could be so warm in the day and so freezing at night! I have to say that sleeping on the ground with a thin pad in the cold is no way to get any sleep. I was always happy to see the sun come up so I could get up from the sleepless night!
This was an awesome experience, I hope Chandler and Hanna enjoyed it and appreciated it as much as I did.

Hanna!

We were trying to get a picture of Zanya, which isn't easy. At least Hanna was cooperative--she's going to love this, heh, heh.

Grandma Evans

Joanne came for a visit and we did lots of things: We went to Build-a-Bear where Grandma bought Andria a birthday present.

We played at the park. We rode in the car. We read lots of stories.

We went to the Easter Pagent.And we hung out together. It was a fun week!

Family Fun

We are learning that it is fun to involve the whole family when tackling a large project. In the past, Dan and I would work while everyone else messed up other stuff. Then we learned in the worldwide leadership training meeting that families should spend time working together as well as playing together. This seemed counter intuitive because most of the time it is just easier to do it ourselves than to have the kids help. Well, we started out with a project that was sort of big: Chandler's bedroom. Amazingly, all his sisters were willing to help clean it out and it was a fun project. Andria is especially good at taking all the things that belong somewhere else and putting them away.

Last weekend we decided to try the front yard. We needed to rip out some bushes, trim the large tree, and generally clean up. For some reason, kids think anything is fun if you are doing it with them. This is news to us. Those of you with young children, take note and try this, you'll be surprised.

Maranda
Zanya is a good helper!
Dan, Danica, Chandler Danica, Chandler, Zan

Too bad we don't have a "before" picture. After Chandler mowed the lawn, it looked even better. There was still time for fun: Maranda and Samantha

Samantha thinks ballet is an everyday occurance.

Zanya's Tea Party

Zan was having a tea party and dancing with the singing tea pot. The batteries were dying but that is irrelevant. She wanted to make the pouring sound but the pouring sound only comes after you push the top and wait until after the talking. Maybe next time she'll get it!

Kids with Cameras

This is what happens when your children take over the camera.

Our slide Tiger, our fat cat

Maranda

Andria

Hanna

Chandler Danica

Zanya
A picture Maranda drew

There were also pictures of our other cat, the bookcase, Andria's sillouette, etc, but my google server isn't working well. It hasn't been letting me download the pictures and a sign pops up saying to try again in 30 seconds. I'm tired of trying again in 30 seconds and now I am just giving up. If you know how to cure this problem, please tell me!

Samantha's popcorn

Sammy decided to pop her own popcorn which she usually does without incident. We're not sure what happened this time, Dan and I weren't even home. It took days for the burnt smell to leave our house and the microwave. Note the time on the microwave.