Girls Camp

Last week was our ward Girls Camp. In our Stake, it alternates between stake camp and ward camp. So, when it is ward camp, the leaders plan it all. I am the YW president in our ward, so planning falls to me and my camp director. My camp director is AWESOME! She has been a stake camp director in CA in the past, so she knew what to do. Good thing, since I have only attended camp, never had to plan it. All went well. We did get rained on one afternoon and one evening, but the nice thing about ward camp(and one of the reasons the girls really like it) is that we can be really flexible with our schedule.

On Monday, just the junior leaders and a few adult leaders went up. They spent the afternoon on the lake with a boat. Tuesday all the other girls came. Total we had 22 girls who attended camp from our ward. We did certification and then let the girls swim in the lake. Wednesday we finished up certification, and had rented canoes for the girls to be on the lake. Thursday was the hike. We hiked 8.4 miles. All girls and leaders made it through the entire hike. We thought for sure the girls would want some time to rest, but off to the lake they went to swim. Thursday night was testimony meeting and it was great. Friday, we broke camp and went home. It was a wonderful week. I missed my husband and kids, but enjoyed the time I could spend getting to know the YW in our ward.

Tagged

I got tagged. Thanks alot Jackie.

So, here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

6. Let your tagger know when your blog entry is up.

Six Random Things about Me…

1. I have never broke a bone in my body.

2. I sucked my thumb until I was 8, and never needed braces because of it.

3. I used to get really nervous about holding hands with anyone I was dating because I had sweaty palms. Something about my husband made it go away.

4. In 13 years of marriage, my husband and I have lived in 8 houses or apartment, in 6 different states.

5. I love Haggen Daaz Mango Sorbet but I only buy it when I want some time to myself. I buy a pint and go to my bed and watch a movie or read a good book and eat my ice cream. I don't like to share it. Essentially I am hiding out in my room.

6. I like to try new kinds of foods.

I am tagging Crystal, Angie (is yours set up yet?), Amber, Audra, Chris, (each of you should do one) and I will have to come up with some other unfortunate individual later since it seems my other friends who blog are already tagged.

You know its time to weed when......

You know it is time to weed your strawberry patch, when the neighbor (who is also trying to grow strawberries) asks you if all the weeds in yours helps to keep the birds away from the fruit.

Fun Weekend!

This weekend has been a blast! We had a house full of people. My parents, and all my sisters were here for a visit. Friday, we went to the parade and the kids enjoyed running into the street for the candy that they were throwing to the kids. My kids knew exactly what to do. My sister Crystal has a little girl (same age as -K-) who was just introduced to the art of chasing after candy. It took her a little while to catch on. They were all excited to see horses and tractors in the parade. We came home after the parade, Spalding had been working on the sprinklers all morning. He worked hard all day. Crystal's husband, Dan, helped too. In the afternoon, we put the sprinkler under the trampoline and let the girls jump. They had a great time. It is wonderful when 2 year olds get along. They were very cute, taking turns jumping, and playing.

That night, we had fireworks. -K- and -L- loved the sparklers. -N- was our firework lighter, and enjoyed being the one to set all the fireworks off. Something about boys and fire. Just after we finished up, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kelly, Auntie Megan, Auntie Audra, and her two kids came. We were all very excited to see them.

Saturday we decided to go for a drive. We went to Mesa Falls. We had a picnic and provided lots of blood for the mosquitos. We put on repellant, but almost everyone had bites on their legs or arms. I guess we are all just so sweet! After Mesa Falls, we decided to check out Cave Falls. It was a fun filled day.

Today was a special day for -N-. He was ordained a deacon. I can hardly believe that he is old enough. I think my kids are growing up way too fast. It was a really neat thing to have my husband ordain him,with my dad and brother-in-laws standing in the circle. It was a special day.

Now the house is quiet. Only the noise of my own kids. It is sad to say goodbye to everyone after such a fun visit. The good thing is that we will see each other soon for more fun times.

What have we been up to?

So most of you have seen that it has been about 6 weeks since I blogged last. I AM NOT A GOOD BLOGGER! I guess that I am still getting used to it. Of course my kids say and do funny things, but I never think to go blog about them. Anyway, Since my last blog, school had ended, but winter did not. On June 11, winter returned in the form of snow on the ground. We were taking swimming lessons at the time-in an outdoor pool! My kids thought we were nuts! Maybe we are. Of course, I just wanted to get the lessons done, and we do not have a community pool, so I drive 30 minutes to get to one, and lessons are in high demand. The kids did love having the swim lessons. May and June were also baseball and softball months. -N- played baseball and had a good time. He was also playing soccer through most of May. -E- was playing softball and I coached her team. I enjoy coaching her. I am not sure how much she enjoys being the coach's daughter. None the less, it is fun for us to share the sport together.

We travelled to OR and WA for a visit in mid June. My mom took -N- and -E- to the Whidbey Island to visit my aunt. They had a great time. They looked at tide pools, toured Fort Casey, fished in a lake by the rental house, played with cousins, toured Deception Pass, all in 3 days. My mom was tired at the end, she had also taken my brothers 2 girls, but I think it was a fun trip for everyone. While my mom was with my two oldest, I was with my two youngest and tended my cousins two kids while they were on their Stake's Pioneer trek. All the kids got along well, and I enjoyed being there. We swam every day, went to the park, got Blizzards from DQ and drew with chalk on the sidewalk. It finally felt like summer. We helped bring in the hay at my parents house, and the kids rode horses. Grandpa took -N- fishing, one of his favorite things to do.

We returned home and -L- has started up soccer. Always busy here! But the biggest thing is that we are putting Sprinklers into our yard. We rented a trencher and trenched the yard. A friend of ours drew up the plans for us. There will be 66 sprinkler heads on our property. Spalding put most of the hoses in the ground and heads on the sprinklers while we were away. Our job was to fill in the trenches back with the dirt. It would be an easy job if there weren't so many rocks. We sift through the dirt and put in back in the trench then rake up the rocks and wheel barrow them to a big pile to get rid of later. It is hard work, but will be done soon and we look forward to having sprinklers water for us later. It is hot and Summer is finally here.

Sheriff(s) to the Rescue!

So, L had her last day of pre-school. I was the car pool driver. There are six kids from our neighborhood that all go together. It has been great. L loves it alot. I was helping all of the kids get unbuckled from the car, and L climbed out the front. I think she must have accidentally hit the lock button on the way out. I closed the side door of our van, and went to get in the drivers seat. And yep, you guessed it. I was locked out and K was locked in. She was in her carseat all nicely buckled up and the car was running. I went in to use the phone at pre-school, since my cell was locked in the car too, and called my hubby. I new he was in a meeting and would not recognize the number I was calling from anyway. So L's preschool teacher called a policeman down the street. He was on duty and his wife gave us the sheriff's number to call. (By the way, officers will only come out if there is a child locked in the car, otherwise you have to call the locksmith). I called and one officer came. K was smiling at me through the window and playing with her feet and jacket zipper. I'm sure she was thinking "why is mom standing outside in the rain, looking at me through the window?" The officer asked me if K knew how to get out of her carseat, then she could open the door. That is not something that I have taught her. He said his three year old gets out of his car seat all the time. After about 10 minutes of trying with a slim jim, another officer showed up. They each worked on different doors. K was still just sitting her carseat. About 10 minutes later, two more officers showed up. One asked "is the child crying and screaming?" I said no, she is just happy in there. He said it is too much pressure to try to get the door open with kids screaming and crying inside. So with 4 officers working on the doors, I knew one of them must be able to open the door. Just when I was thinking to have them break open a window, one opened up the passenger side door and and I could get K out. I was more panicked about the situation than she was. She never cried the entire time. I looked at my watch and it was one hour since I had pulled in to drop the kids off at pre school. I guess that it was a bonus that we had spent so much time driving a couple of weeks ago to California so K was used to being in her car seat for a long period of time. I was grateful that it was raining and not hot, then the medics didn't have to be called to check K for heat stroke or something. Thank you Sheriff's department!

The Wedding Trip

So, we just got back from a family member's wedding in Oakland, California. Since Spalding's family was with us, (it was his cousin's daughter who got married) we rented a big huge 15 passenger van and made a trip of it. Our first stop was Zion's National Park. May is a great time to visit the park. There was not a lot of people, and the weather was fantastic. We explored the park and then headed back into the big van.

Next stop, Las Vegas. We stayed at Circus Circus. No gambling for us, just the Adventure Dome in the hotel. We went on Roller coasters and 3-D rides, and played laser tag. L and K loved the kids rides and K rode on one ride 6 times. The kids played a few carnival type games and all won something. Thanks to his strong throwing arm, N won a guitar and now wants to learn to play it. Spalding and I drove his family down the Las Vegas strip and decided that we like smaller cities with less traffic, people, and lights. Mario, Linda, Lisebie, and Desire (Spalding's family) enjoyed the sights.

Last Stop, Oakland California. This is where the wedding would be held. We got there a few days before the wedding and exployed San Francisco a little. The first day, we went to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful day. We also went to the Exploritorium. And what do you know, it was a free day! Lucky us, no admission fee. The kids loved all the hands on science experiments. The next day we went back to San Fran and went to Pier 39, and Fisherman's wharf. We ate some great fresh seafood for lunch, then went to ride on the Cable cars into town. I bought some flip flops for K at the Disney store, and then somewhere on the way back to the van, she took off her shoe, tossed it aside and tried to put on the flip flops. So, somewhere in SF is her white tennis shoe.

The next two days were filled with Wedding fun. Sara and Caleb got married, and our girls were little flower girls. They looked so cute! At the reception, everything looked great. The decor, the food, the cake. It was a beautiful evening, and the reception was held outside.

Finally time to head back home. Unfortunately, we also parted ways with Lisebie (Spalding's cousin) and Desire (Spalding's uncle). They headed to England and France to visit more family. It was fun to have them visit and spend time with us. Mario and Linda (Spalding's cousins) came to spend another week with us, then they were on their way to visit their daughter Sara and new son-in-law Caleb.

The drive back, was very long. We made it in one day, but it was a very long day. It also happened to be Mother's day. So lucky me, I didn't have to cook any meals on Mother's day. It is never uneventful though. We missed a turnoff, (I was the co-pilot and happened to be taking a nap) and had to try to take a little highway to find the freeway again. On the map, it looked like about 20 miles. Well, it happened to be 30 miles of winding highway. If you have ever travelled in a big van, you know the movements of the van seem exagerated. Bumps make you jump up, curves seem really sharp. Anyway, everyone in the back started to feel a little bit car sick, so we had to stop for a while and have some fresh air. The little detour added a little more than an hour to out trip. We finally arrived back home late at night. The kids were happy to be in their own beds. But, early the next morning, back to it-school and guess what else. SNOW! yep, May 12, and an inch of snow. We left sunny CA and returned home to snow. Nonetheless, we were happy to be home.

Follow this link if you would like to see more picts from our trip. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaOWTNszZMWLCaA