Go For the Gold-Girls Camp 2012

Where to start? I LOVE Girls Camp!! Our church has a program called Young Women, it's for girls 12-18.  We have a theme that we recite every Sunday, and in that theme-there are eight values that we strive to recognize within ourselves and live by: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountablilty, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. They all have a different color. This year's theme was the Olympics and Going for the Gold (Virtue is represented by the color gold). When I joined the church I was 16 years old, because I graduated when I was 17-I only really had a year in the program, but since then, I have been asked over the years to serve with the Young Women in various callings/responsibilities. I currently am over the 12 and 13 year old girls. I adore them. I mean it-don't get me wrong, sometimes with all of the energy they posess, just looking at them makes me tired-but they are each, individually a-mazing girls and it is an absolute priviledge to work with them.

That being said, I was asked this year to go to Girls Camp for 4 days and be with the.......wait for it....12 and 13 year olds!! I got to be partners with a dear friend of mine and I was asked to give a Destiny Class-which is a 30 minute devotional type thing-not really sure how to describe it other than a class?? My topic was "Get Up and Finish the Race". I almost cried when I heard the topic, I felt like I could really relate to it in all aspects of my life. So we loaded up early Tueday morning and headed out. I wasn't feeling well, but I kind of blowed it off due to the lack of sleep (Kris had been sick, Reese was sick, both kids had pink eye all the week before). Later that day I started to feel bad and-I lost my voice-not like, it was a little scratchy-like, I had to whisper, write notes, and play charades. This has never happened to me for that long of a period of time (it ended up being A WEEK!!!). And I am a bit of a "talker" so it was very annoying and humbling to say the least. I was feeling bad, you know-the kind when you have to keep moving and smile, or you will just start bawling?

There is something about being away from everywhere, surrounded by women who have the same faith that you have, and who are really trying to do the best that they can. I felt so supported, and humbled for the way that I was helped. People (especially my partner Desi) went above and beyond for me. I have a hard time asking for help, but the service was overflowing. The sweet girls I worked with would get quiet when I spoke, or play charades with me-I was worried about my class and I had friends who were standing by in case I needed them to speak for me. I felt so sick that I got a blessing while I was there from two of the priesthood holders. It was amazing, and I wasn't able to talk before my class, or after-but I was during with the help of a microphone. I started to feel better and was able to do what I needed to do.

I sat back and thought of all of the blessings I had-by not being able to talk, (which I really did have a hard time with) I was able to listen-for things that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. I was so nervous about the class I was doing, and sometimes when I get nervous I tend to ramble, but because I had no voice-there wasn't allowance for rambling, only for what needed to be said. It was a very special experience. It was a long week full of drama, hyperness, spiritual strengthening, friendships made, coming outside comfort zones, gnats, and mosquitoes-but I loved it. I may have even volunteered to go back next year!

Ijams

We headed to Ijams today for some much needed "Family Time" today. It's weird, because Kris is out of school for the Summer so you'd think we'd have a lot more time together-but it seems our weekends and weekdays are constantly packed. Sometimes this becomes overwhelming and it effects everyone. In fact, today I was supposed to go to Nashville, but I have amazing friends that helped out so I could get a break. I will being going to Girls Camp in a week and a half for 4 days (longest I have been away from my boys e-ver, not sure how I'll do) so we decided today we would be just us.

We loaded up in the car....

and headed out on the trail. Even before we got on the trail we saw some "wildlife".

Stopped and had a little snack and some water...

  

Tried to take a timed family picture that needed a lot of cropping......(Reese was a lot happier than he looks)

Did some singing......

Don't get me wrong, there was a meltdown or two-but overall, pretty much the best day ever.

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

It was a very busy weekend for Memorial Day. I was going whitewater rafting with the youth from church and three days before the trip my cousins called to say, "Surprise! We are coming down!!" I hated to miss a full day with them, but the rafting trip was hilariously awesome. I went on the same river over ten years ago. It was a different season and the water was super flat, until the end there are some rapids that'll tip your boat if you don't go in just right. Or someone (me) falls out and the adrenaline is so intense my friend almost immediately jerked me back in. The boat I was in mostly contained 12 year old girls and 2 other leaders. I kept on about how the last time I was there the water was so flat it was kinda boring and we had to make our own fun by stealing people from other boats (that were with us, not random people) and spinning our boat just to keep it interesting. However upon entering the inlet, I saw the water-and boring was NOT going to be the case that day. Some situations were a little intense (self guided) and there was a lot of 12 year old squealing, and a lot of reminding to paddle-however, the girls did amazing. And although we got stuck 3 times and it was a little scary-we persevered and had a great time. Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures because-well, we were in a boat, and we got really wet-so you know. After I got back I met up with my family who had been at the lake all day, we had a great weekend including a trip back to the Circle G Ranch on Memorial Day.

Some of you will recall the last time I went, it was kind of like an episode of 'When Animals Attack'. this time-due to it being Summer, there were A LOT more people and the animals were a lot less "intense". We still had a great time though. We piled into my van and Kris's Explorer.

There were a couple of cars in front of us, so we had to wait-whether the bigger animals were approaching or not, we had to wait. We all agreed that my cousin Susan could be in a horror movie, and voted her "Best Scream". But we'll get to that later-you know the arguement about "fight or flight"? That was tested twice at the ranch. While waiting for the cars in front of us my sister said, "I'm okay as long as the cow with the horns stays on your side of the car." It was as if the cow (bull, bison, water buffalo-whatever) heard her say that. Right that very moment he crossed the road and started coming on her side. She had Reese standing in between her legs. The cow came up and she and Reese fed it.

The cow got excited and went for the bucket of food! Natalie was screaming "GO BETH GO!!" but I couldn't because another cow was blocking my way. Natalie was screaming and so was Reese, I looked back to see this (on a side note this picture cracks me up-look at Natalie and Reese's faces and the eyeballs of that cow!!)

and saw a huge black tongue lick Reese's shorts and up the front of his shirt!!! This is when "flight" entered. Natalie screamed and took the bucket of food and threw all the food at the cow. I finally was able to pull forward and Natalie closed the door. She just kept saying, "I'm so sorry about the food, that was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me!" It was hysterical.

Then we heard screaming coming from the car behind us (Kris's car)

It was Susan.

We went through the rest of the trail where Kris had been trying to feed a deer on the other side of the car, a camel had other plans for him. Kris said the camel had his elbow in its' mouth. I didn't believe him until I saw this picture

Pretty disgusting. Afterwards we went to the petting zoo area. I was feeding the camels when one grabbed a hold of my bucket "fight" entered. I grabbed the bucket with both hands and tried to pull it back (really tried). Who knew camels are freakishly strong? And as if it wasn't enough he took it, he flipped his head up and shook it so that he could get all of the dust too, just to rub it in my face.

I can't begin to say how much I LOVE when they visit. I wish I would have gotten more pictures. Our kids are all the same ages with the youngest 4 being exactly 4 months apart (weird and unplanned-unless you count when we planned that when we were little).

Mother's Day 2012

The Wednesday before Mother's Day, there was a "Mother's Day Tea" at his preschool. Sadly, I was the only mother to show up unarmed with a camera, or an iphone. Abram and his friends sang some songs, said a scripture, and had made treats for us. It was really sweet. Abram didn't sing very loud-when I asked him about it-he said the music was his voice. I love that kid. The tag on my bag looked like this:

On Mother's Day I woke up to breakfast in bed-actually I woke up to boys squealing with excitement ready to go make breakfast-which ended up being undercooked biscuits and jelly. Then I got to open presents, that the boys picked out themselves. Abram got me the bracelet "Mom, you like sparkly things and it's sparkly!" Reese picked out the necklace, "Mama, you like owls." and during church he was wrapping the necklace around the owl's head and saying, "Look it's a girl!"

We went to church and Abram made this

I'm not going to lie, on both "Mom questionaires" I may have teared up a little.

I got to take a long nap, and Kris made an awesome dinner.

I have always wanted to be a Mom, always. I have always wanted my own family. I don't know what I did to deserve this,

but I am so grateful. Even in the crazy of it all-I feel honored and humbled that Heavenly Father would trust me enough to be their Mother.

It was a great day.

Father/Son Campout 2012

Every year our ward does a Father/Son campout, this year was no exception. Kris was really excited about it, and the boys were even more excited.  I was really impressed with his bravery taking them both (Reese had never been camping before). The boys loaded up on Friday when Kris got home from work and headed out for the 2 hour drive to the campsite at Big South Fork. As I have mentioned before on the blog, Kris isn't really the picture taking type-and I'm sure it may have been a little tricky trying to put up a tent, keep up with two over excited boys-but thankfully he did get a couple. Kris has talked about taking the boys camping since they were infants-how awesome it would be, etc. Abram said his favorite part of camping was the smores and playing with his friend Kaitlyn (who was able to go with her Dad, even though she didn't fit the "son" part :) ). Reese's favorite part was throwing things in the fire. Kris said his favorite part was Friday night. He took the boys a little ways from the campsite and layed on a blanket looking at the stars. They talked about how Heavenly Father created the stars, and about flashlights, and bugs. They could see their breath because it got chilly and they pretended they were dragons blowing their breath across the light of the flashlight.

The next morning they ate breakfast with everyone and played for a bit before heading out earlier than the rest to do some Mother's Day shopping. Kris said the boys did awesome. Reese was a little sad that night and missed me, but other than that, they did great. In fact, Kris is taking Abram camping again this weekend with the scouts.

These were taking early in the morning on Saturday...

I think it's safe to say this will be on going tradition.

Strawberries For the Pickin'

Two things come to mind when I see strawberries. When I was little, my Mom worked at a farm market. One of the things she made was strawberry pies-they were a-ma-zing. There is an old family story about me and my cousin being little and eating a whole pie for ourselves. I don't remember it, but I'd believe it.

The other memory is of my Grandma. She had a big green tupperware bowl, I have so many memories of that bowl. There was a large silver bowl for stringing beans from the garden or wilted lettuce and the big green bowl held potato salad, or in this memory-strawberries. I always thought it was magic-the way the juice was made. I never knew how she could get it with just the perfect amount of sweetness. She would slice them with a pear knife into the bowl, and one day I asked her. She told me all she did was add the sugar and the strawberries did the rest. I felt as if I had just been clued into the most amazing secret. I think about these things everytime I bite into one. It makes me wonder if I love strawberries for the sweet taste, or for the fond memories they give me.

I took the boys strawberry picking this year. I loaded them up with a plastic Easter baskets and myself a large bucket and off we went. The boys share my enthusiasm for strawberries, so they were more than obliged to learn what kind of strawberries were ripe for the pickin, and what needed to be left on the plant.

I would drop a few in Reese's bucket and he would say, "Mama, you're the best girl in the world." It was super sweet-he didn't feel that way when we had to leave and he was ready for a nap, but I'll take what I can get.

As you can see there was a bit of "taste testing" going on. Unfortunately, Reese would taste a bite, and the put it back in the bucket. I kept hearing, "Ma-ma! This is a squishy one, guess I better eat it! Ma-ma! This has dirt on it, guess I better eat it! Ma-ma! I dropped this one! Guess I better eat it!" I started to get a little suspicious, and then turned around to see this.....

"What are you looking at me like that Mama?" he said.

We may or may not have bought the weight of a small child in strawberries that day.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I wanted to go strrawbeery picking this morning. We loaded up, the kids were SOOO excited, drove 40 minutes, and the place isn't open on Tuesdays. I had a couple of sad muffins in the car.  So I told them today was as good of a day as any to plant our "garden". I'm not so sure how well it will grow this Summer-because I had a lot of......."help" while planting.  And some "help" on picking out what to plant. Poor cilantro needs a container, because the boys decided we needed cucumbers. There was a lot of....... "care" given to the plants. I'm not sure of the survival rate. Nothing a little Miracle Grow can't fix, right?

The picture above makes me laugh because the parsley leaf fits perfectly over Reese's mouth!

It started raining...

And apparently, we are back to the fake smile for pictures, (sigh).