Saturday, October 8th, I happily accompanied my girl's Young Women's group to the Effigy Mounds National Monument Park on the Mississippi bordering Wisconsin.
We had a very physically challenging, spiritually uplifting day! The round-trip hike was about 7-1/2 miles up and down hills. The views along the way were absolutely beautiful and just being outside in God's amazing world all day was so wonderful! And then the icing on the cake...getting to spend the day with my wonderful daughters, my mom, the awesome young women and their leaders and moms. The purpose of the trip was a for a spiritual activity reminding us all to live virtuous lives. At the top we would be planting a banner stating "An Ensign to the World: Return to Virtue." We stopped at 2 lookout points on the way to the top. At each stop one of the Young Women leaders spoke on a topic along the lines of Returning to Virtue - Mom spoke on how the the world can poison us by degrees, another leader spoke on taking our goal to return to virtue one day at a time. This was one of those lookout points. Look at that gorgeous view and those even more gorgeous girls!
The whole group...patiently posing for pictures!
Amanda found a little friend along the way...
Mr. Frog!!
The last stop was this lookout point called Hanging Rock. SOOOOOO beautiful up there!! At this stop, we took some time for a snack and to write in our journals, our Young Women's President gave a wonderful talk on the importance of temple attendance and worthiness, we sang some songs and the girls recited the Young Women's Theme. Then they unfurled and lifted the banner...
And, of course, ended with a group hug!! It was a wonderful, memorable day!
