Lessons from Hiking the Y

 Yesterday for family night we hiked the Y. It was my first time hiking it. It's a pretty good hike. Cadence hiked the whole way, without being carried!!! He was so thrilled to be at the top too! Well, I say he did it, but we all did. We all had to encourage him to keep going and remind him he had to do it himself. We'd say let's make it to that fence and then take a break. We took lots of breaks. We sang songs (he didn't want any marching songs, just I Love to See the Temple). We pointed out the temple and how far we had come (our car was so small). When we got close enough he'd say "Where's the Y?" I said "It's so huge you can't tell up here it's a "Y". Austin and I had to switch off kids. We had to try different things to keep the kids going. There were so many lessons to be learned.
 But one of the most amazing lessons happened when Austin got so far ahead, just enough up a steep slope and around a tree that Cadence couldn't see him. He said "Where's daddy?" He wanted to give up. He wanted me to carry him. He wasn't going to go any further if he couldn't see his dad. Even when I said "He's there, I promise, I can see him." he wouldn't budge. So I called to Austin and told him Cadence was done. He started to walk back and as soon as Cade could see him, all of the sudden he RAN to daddy - to Daddy's open arms. It was a powerful lesson for all of us. Daddy leads our family and we all have to be able to see him to know where we're going next. We need our Daddy!!
  Learning this lesson made the rest of the journey that much easier. Daddy and Kory would move ahead a little, then turn back and cheer him on (Kory flailing his arms and calling his crude  version of his brother's name). And Cadence ran! He did it! I was so proud of him!! He loved playing up at the Y, and it took some different convincing to get him to go back down. You would have never known he complained the whole way up.
 Afterwards, we got ice cream, his favorite treat and I didn't make him share. He deserved it. He earned every bit. He was so awesome! I was so grateful for my husband who was inspired to go on the hike. We admitted it was hard to Cadence. We told him how we needed breaks too. But we did it, all together. We did it!! And I hope we can say that in heaven to - that we did it together.