Joe beat me and he beat Sharon. He was getting pretty cocky!=)
Then Bob stepped in to try and beat him!
Can you tell by this picture who won?! Way to go Bob!
Then Sharon and Bob played a round. It was so fun to watch them!
Bob won again! He was pretty proud of himself! Love that smile!=)
After Horseshoes, I wanted to swing. I love this swing! They have it hanging from a huge tree in their backyard. Pretty cool if you ask me!
There's just something so freeing about swinging. I have always loved it! Yesterday, I had so much fun being up so high, feeling the wind through my hair, and the warm sun on my face. It doesn't get much better than that!
That night we had an amazing beef stew dinner that Sharon made. SO GOOD!!! They had signed up to feed the missionaries, so they were there also. It ended up being a lot of fun. It brought back a lot of memories, and it was fun to talk to them about the people they were working with, the challenges of their area, and just being in their presence. On Saturday we had planned to go to Toledo Bend to help set up some handcarts for our stake youth trek next week. Joe mentioned where we were going and one of the elders said he recommended this BBQ place in one of his past areas we were going to be driving through. We had no cell phone service in this small town, and for much of our drive. We stopped to ask some people how to get here and they highly recommended it. 
The woman we spoke to recommended the ribs, and the missionary had recommended the baked potato. So, Joe got the ribs and I got the baked potato and we shared. I got turkey on my potato, and it was outstanding! I don't normally like the bbq in Texas because there's usually a really strong smoke flavor. I like bbq that has rich, wonderful bbq sauces, not really the smoke flavor. This place was awesome! We were glad we stopped there for lunch.
After lunch we stopped for a potty break at a nearby gas station. We both just cracked up when we saw this! Joe LOVES the show Swamp People! They catch alligators, and are from Louisiana so they have a very strong accent. It almost sounds like another language when they talk. Sometimes they have to put subtitles on the show=)
One of Joe's favorite guys always yells to his partner "CHOOT 'EM" (SHOOT HIM) and we think it's so funny!
We still needed to kill some time before the people we were meeting were supposed to be there, so Joe stopped at a little thrift store and we went hunting for some goods! I love doing stuff like that! I found a few cool things I am going to spray paint and bring back to life!After lunch, we had no idea what was in store for us. Joe had printed off directions from the guy in our ward that's in charge of Trek. We had left Palestine at 8:30am to drive 2 and a half hours to Toledo Bend. We were to drive to this unpaved road and then there was supposed to be a place where we were setting up the handcarts and leaving them until they went to Trek. Well, our cell phones didn't work. (We learned it was because Verizon doesn't work in this part of Texas. Everyone we told that we didn't have cell service said "You must have Verizon!" Great, just Great! So, we got to the unpaved road and started to drive down it, only to realize there were several unpaved roads that connect off of this main dirt road. So, we went down the main road for a bit and had no idea where to go. We weren't sure if the other guys were there yet so we decided to head out to the main entrance. I told Joe we should just wait there. Well, his thought was what if they were already back there somewhere. So, he figured we should just drive up the road a ways to the next town (the direction the guys should have been coming from from Houston) and maybe we would get service, or pass them. Sure enough, a few miles down the road, we see the guys truck and the scout trailer go past us in the opposite direction. I hollered to Joe to hurry and turn around and follow him! Well, we were on a dinky two lane road in the country and we were in a truck. Nobody was coming, so Joe figured he would just go off of the road a little in the ditch and then turn around. BIG MISTAKE! The ground was wet and muddy and we were soon stuck! Joe gunned it to try to get out, and the back wheels just sunk! Totally our luck! This was Joe assessing the situation after a few tries of me trying to gun it, and him jumping up and down in the bed of the truck to put weight on it.
We tried gathering big sticks and putting them under the tires, nothing worked! We both had mud on us from taking turns trying to jump up and down in the bed of the truck while the other hit the gas, only to have the tires sink and mud get flipped all over us. We were laughing at our luck at first, and couldn't believe it! Then, after trying a few different things, only to have them not work, we started to realize we weren't getting out without help. Joe sent a text to Bro. Owens saying "Stuck in Mud, Help!" Of course with the cell service the way it was, it didn't send until much later.
So, after a while I said "We need to just say a prayer." Joe said he was too hot(upset) to pray, so I was going to have to say it. =) I had just finished the prayer when we heard a vehicle coming. It ended up being a truck, and Joe flagged it down. It was a nice older woman probably in her 60s. Joe asked if she could pull us out.
She was wondering what had happened! She was so nice and said she would help. She turned around and Joe pulled out the straps he had in his toolbox.
We laughed about it afterwards. What are the odds!? Now we had a completely new issue. How on earth were we going to find Bro. Owens? We ended up going down every road that went off the main dirt road, and we didn't find them. So, we headed to find a pay phone. We stopped at a Beer Store and an employee let Joe borrow his phone. Bro. Owens said they were just south down the road off to the side with a semi truck. He said we couldn't miss them. He busted up at our story of getting stuck in the mud.
They had to take the semi driver down the dirt road to see if he thought he would be able to get the semi to the open land they needed the handcarts taken to. While we waited for them we played a little game of Mancala. We had stopped at a couple dollar stores to kill time earlier in the day and had picked it up there. I love this game!
The semi driver said he could get the truck down the dirt road and could turn it around on the open lot. Sure enough, he did it!
The truck was filled with handcarts! I have never been on Trek, so I had no idea what to expect.
We pulled them all out and laid them on the ground so they could be put together. The semi driver couldn't believe people were actually going to pull them. 
I was in charge of putting grease on the axles and wheels and then the guys went through and put them together.
These are all the guys from the stake that came to put them together. I represented for the females!=)
Joe thought it would be funny for me to put my arms up like this, so it looked like I was holding them. The weather was great, and it was pretty cool to see all of these put together. One day, maybe I will actually go on Trek=)
On the way home we drove past our sink sight. I had to take a few more pics. So funny to see these tracks!
We have some great stories from the day. The drive was beautiful. I have never been through that much of East Texas. I was told it was beautiful, and it really was. So many tall trees, rolling hills, fields of wild flowers, and a lot of cute houses just out in the country.
When we walked in the door, we walked in to freshly cleaned carpets! Getting ready for little Braden to be crawling around! I love me some clean carpets! All in all it was a great day!
We tried gathering big sticks and putting them under the tires, nothing worked! We both had mud on us from taking turns trying to jump up and down in the bed of the truck while the other hit the gas, only to have the tires sink and mud get flipped all over us. We were laughing at our luck at first, and couldn't believe it! Then, after trying a few different things, only to have them not work, we started to realize we weren't getting out without help. Joe sent a text to Bro. Owens saying "Stuck in Mud, Help!" Of course with the cell service the way it was, it didn't send until much later.
So, after a while I said "We need to just say a prayer." Joe said he was too hot(upset) to pray, so I was going to have to say it. =) I had just finished the prayer when we heard a vehicle coming. It ended up being a truck, and Joe flagged it down. It was a nice older woman probably in her 60s. Joe asked if she could pull us out.
She was wondering what had happened! She was so nice and said she would help. She turned around and Joe pulled out the straps he had in his toolbox.
It just took a few minutes, and the truck was out of the mud! Thank Heavens!!!
We laughed about it afterwards. What are the odds!? Now we had a completely new issue. How on earth were we going to find Bro. Owens? We ended up going down every road that went off the main dirt road, and we didn't find them. So, we headed to find a pay phone. We stopped at a Beer Store and an employee let Joe borrow his phone. Bro. Owens said they were just south down the road off to the side with a semi truck. He said we couldn't miss them. He busted up at our story of getting stuck in the mud.
They had to take the semi driver down the dirt road to see if he thought he would be able to get the semi to the open land they needed the handcarts taken to. While we waited for them we played a little game of Mancala. We had stopped at a couple dollar stores to kill time earlier in the day and had picked it up there. I love this game!
The semi driver said he could get the truck down the dirt road and could turn it around on the open lot. Sure enough, he did it!
The truck was filled with handcarts! I have never been on Trek, so I had no idea what to expect.
We pulled them all out and laid them on the ground so they could be put together. The semi driver couldn't believe people were actually going to pull them. 
I was in charge of putting grease on the axles and wheels and then the guys went through and put them together.
It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get them all put together.
Here's the row of finished handcarts. Pretty cool sight if you ask me!
These are all the guys from the stake that came to put them together. I represented for the females!=)
Joe thought it would be funny for me to put my arms up like this, so it looked like I was holding them. The weather was great, and it was pretty cool to see all of these put together. One day, maybe I will actually go on Trek=)
On the way home we drove past our sink sight. I had to take a few more pics. So funny to see these tracks!
We have some great stories from the day. The drive was beautiful. I have never been through that much of East Texas. I was told it was beautiful, and it really was. So many tall trees, rolling hills, fields of wild flowers, and a lot of cute houses just out in the country.
When we walked in the door, we walked in to freshly cleaned carpets! Getting ready for little Braden to be crawling around! I love me some clean carpets! All in all it was a great day!
