Saturday morning, we got our breakfast made, and packed up our camp. It was our day to leave first, and we told our kids that if we were packed, we could be the first ones in line within our company. After breakfast, we had a morning devotional and testimony meeting. The kids were given letters to read that their bishops had written for them.

The night before, at our dinner, we had told our kids the history of their names. Of our kids had picked the brother. He was in his 40s, and lived through being struck by lightening. A month before reaching Utah, he died of dysentery. The rest of our family lived to reach Utah. At the meeting Saturday morning, they asked everyone who represented a person that died to stand up. Quite a few stood up, and really set the the tone for our testimony meeting.

After the meeting, we headed back to our camp, and got our wagon. We were the first wagon ready, which meant we were first in line for our journey back down the mountain. As we waited for the other wagons in our company to gather, and the vehicles to head down the mountain ahead of us, we made the kids take a picture.

Back row- Peter, Emma, Marie, Ashley, Gabby, David

Front Row- Vincent, Aaron

Our company was finally ready to head out. Because it was such a steep hill, and downhill the entire way down, we were told to turn the wagons around. This way, no one was in front of the wagon in case it got out of control. It also allowed for more braking power for the wagon. I walked a lot of the way with President Yost, our company commander. He set the pace for our company, and that way, I could hear his radio. The kids cruised down the hill, only slipping a few times. Our wheel actually broke, right out of camp, but since it was just a spoke and not effecting our travel, we left it alone. It was fine the rest of the way down.

About a mile from the bottom, we got word that a truck needed to be sent up for someone in the last company. She had taken a Benadryl, and it had really affected her.  The road was only wide enough for a car, so we all pulled over and waited. By this point, we had passed a few different sets of people. A group of 4-wheelers passed us close to the top. I’m pretty sure they took a picture of us. The lady actually said, “This is so cool.” as we walked passed.

The next was two trucks with dirt bikes. Those guys didn’t seem to excited as we traveled passed. They really looked annoyed. I looked at them and smiled while saying, “There’s about 20 wagons behind us.” I’m sure that didn’t make them too happy.

The last set of people was a family on horses. They looked at us and laughed saying we looked like we needed horses. We told them we sure did, and we asked to borrow theirs. The daughter looked at us, and asked, “What are those.” We smiled and told them, “Handcarts.” I’m sure it looked even more confusing, because we were pushing them backwards down the hill.

Originally, we were supposed to wait a little further down the hill, and gather everyone together. The parents were waiting at the bottom, and they wanted us all to enter together, without breaks between the companies. Since we had to wait for the truck, we regrouped further up the hill. The last mile, all 21 wagons were together.

We were the first wagon to enter the valley, coming out of the mountain. The parents lined the trail and sang “Come, Come Ye Saints.” What a thrill the saints must have felt as they entered the Salt Lake Valley. We made our way to the trailers, unloaded our wagon, and the men there to help immediately started to break the wagon down. There was a pulled pork lunch for the us and the parents. Once all our kids gathered their stuff, and were with a parent, Kevin and I asked if anything more was needed of us. Our task was complete, so after I got some allergy medicine, we got in our car and headed home. I called home to check on my Dad with the kids, and to let him know we were on our way. We survived.