Still here

It's been awhile since my last blog post and I really have a lot I could blog about... things like my new toe color. Last week when Mom and I went to get pedicures I chose a color called Nicole Alert. I'm not sure why I need to be on Nicole Alert, but I have several family members and friends named Nicole, so this one is for you gals! But today I really feel like I live THE BORING LIFE! I should be doing dishes but instead I'm playing on the computer and that's it! I don't do anything, I don't go anywhere, I work, eat when it's convenient and sleep way too much! I need a change. I need something new! I'm hoping the holidays bring the sparkle back into my life! Maybe I just "Need a little Christmas." I don't know. Maybe I need to save up and plan a fabulous trip. In the mean time enjoy my orange toes and I'll try to be more exciting next time!!

Santa Maybe

Today I devoured my friend Aubrey's new book Santa Maybe. I preordered it on Amazon.com weeks ago and it sat at the office of my apartment complex for a few days and then they left it on my doorstep this morning! I went to church anxiously anticipating coming home. I read it in a couple of hours and then it took me a few more to remember that I was not the main character. I don't know about you guys but I really like a book that makes me have to remember who I am. I love getting lost in fiction! Aubrey told me it's pretty hard to find this book right now, but if you can find it run out and buy it... but beware; you can't put it down and you may be wishing you were the main character in a fiction novel! Happy Reading!!

Girls Night Out

So a few months ago, my sister in law, Nicole, came to us with an idea to do girls night out. Todd finishes at BYU next spring and they will probably be moving so Nicole wanted to get her fill in before they go. We decided to get together with mom and sisters the third Tuesday of every month and just do something fun without kids. The first month we met at my house and ate dinner and talked and played Ticket to Ride. It was really fun just catching up. Last month we went to the Utah State Fair. It was kind of fun just to walk around the fair and see things. (Oh and I ate a footlong corndog that changed my life forever.) This month we decided it would be fun to celebrate Halloween, so we're planning to get together to watch a friendly Halloween movie and eat classic fall food: soup in pumpkin shaped bread bowls, caramel apples, caramel corn, and hot apple cider. It's been a fun tradition and maybe this month I'll remember to take a few pictures so we can have documentation of the photo style!!

A Renewing Strength

Today I struggled with going to church. I was up late last night, opened my fast at 1:00 am and woke up this morning so hungry and feeling a headache coming on. I told myself to have faith instead of breakfast, but gave up at 11:30 and ate. I'm not hugely sorry based on the fact that I didn't get that headache I thought was coming but I wish I had the strength of spirit over body. I need to prepare better and skipping dinner Saturday night is not preparation. Anyway after a morning of ideas to plan for Girls Night Out (more on that later), I hurriedly got dressed and went to church. I sat down and looked around at the people I love so much and noticed the opening and Sacrament hymns were two of my favorites. Then a woman in my ward greeted me and told me that I was so strong for coming to church all alone and that I was an example to people around me. I jokingly said, "what else would I do on a Sunday?" Then I said, "I need this!" It wasn't until I was singing, "I believe in Christ, so come what may, with Him I'll stand at that great day..." that the truth of my words came rushing back to me. I didn't go to church for socializing or because I have nothing better to do (come on I work 60 hours a week, with Sunday as my only day off... I can think of plenty of things to do). I need this. I need the renewal that comes from being in church. I need to bear testimony through song that "No creature is so lowly, no sinner no depraved, but feels his presence holy and through his love is saved." I'm so lowly and so depraved but the Atonement even covers me... I need this.

Thirty One Candles

Today is my birthday... I kind of didn't want to celebrate today. I feel like once you hit a certain age, it's better to just forget, but unfortunately Facebook is sure to tell all your friends that you've successfully made it another year and you would love to be reminded of that fact. Okay that sounds a little harsh and I actually am really happy about all the well wishes. I usually go through the moments of reflection around the first of the year... you know New Year's Resolutions and all that rot, but today I am sitting here and needed to take a moment to reflect and count blessings. Today I got a surprise email from an old friend. It's been a few years since I've heard from him and it was a pretty exciting moment to open the old inbox and see a name I haven't seen in awhile. It was that email that started this whole reflection/remembering thing and I just want to add to what Chantal wrote about friends on her blog. Every once in a while, God puts us in a place that maybe we'd have found without Him or maybe not. Since I don't believe in coincidence, it's hard to say at what point God is directing our lives and at what point we would have gotten there alone, but that said, I really believe we are led to people by a loving Heavenly Father who knows that these people will help us get back to Him. It amazes me how often I come upon a friend who for one reason or another I can't imagine my life without. Also it amazes me how often a person affects me in ways I don't see until many years later. That is the moment I am in now. A few years ago, when we all used to hang out together, I'm not sure we imagined still touching each others lives years later, but even though these are people I see once every few years, if that, my life in enriched daily by knowing them, whether we are communicating with one another or not. I believe that Heavenly Father put us on this earth to be enriched while enriching, but sometimes I feel like I am playing the selfish role of being the enriched, without doing much enriching. All of you who have touched my life in known and unknown ways, Thank You. Someday I hope to return the favor and maybe when my cake has thirty-two candles I can be a little less selfish. Here's to selflessness... that's my birthday resolution.

LDS General Conference

Today I arranged to work later so I could watch Conference. I did that in April too and ended up sleeping most of the day, so today I made sure I had the makings of a stay awake session. I went to bed at a decent time, woke up long before conference started and kept my crocheting close by to keep my hands occupied. It worked so far and what a great session! I was excited to hear President Monson announce five more new temples and though none of the announcements affect me directly, I was pleased to hear that temple building will continue, and that more members will have the blessing of a temple closer to them. The Brigham City one surprised and pleased me. It will be fun to have a temple on both ends of Sardine canyon. The talks given were inspired and inspiring and reminded me how lucky we are to have living apostles and prophets who by the spirit of the Holy Ghost let us know the will of the Lord here in our day and time. How blessed we are to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to have the words of our Prophet so readily available to us even when sitting in our living rooms in pajamas! Can't wait for the next 3 sessions!!

Welcome to Fall!

As a tribute to fall I decided to get some fun decorations. I found this wreath at Walmart for only $8. We hung it outside our apartment to bring cheer to our neighbors.

Inside, I bought some fun stuff to make a new centerpiece. When Mom bought my kitchen table for me, we went to Ikea to find something for a cute centerpiece. We ended up getting candles in five different sizes that matched my kitchen, then some potpourri and a silver plate to put it on. For Christmas I used the silver plate and then found some red and white striped candy cane candles and some small balls that I put on fake snow instead of potpourri. For my fall festivities I bought a leaf plate and put pumpkins, candles, and glass leaves on it. This is the result: This isn't a very good picture because I used flash, but you can see the detail on the plate better. One of my friends asked if I was decorating for Halloween and I told him I didn't like Halloween. Instead I decided I'd decorate a bit for the whole season and then I won't have to change it until Christmas!! Happy October!

One Crazy Weekend!

This weekend was relatively insane! Spencer (my youngest brother) and Katie had baby Karson on Thursday at 10:01 pm. He weighed in at seven pounds, nine ounces and was 20.5 inches long. They brought him home Saturday and Spencer emailed pictures later that night. I have a fairly rigorous schedule this week and I didn't know when I'd get a chance to go up. I had to teach my first Young Women's lesson (I was called as the Laurel Advisor three weeks ago) on Sunday and so I didn't think I'd make it up there, but after seeing the pictures Spencer sent, I didn't want to wait. Mom and Dad came and picked me up and we started up. Once we got into Sardine Canyon I said something about how we should have waited a week and the leaves would have been at their best. As we continued driving, I was forced to change my sentence. They were PERFECT!! It was a beautiful fall drive. It's important that I tell you I took these while the car was going 60 mph through the window, because they aren't great pictures. Anyway by the time we got to College Ward, I called Spencer and asked him to put a pot of water on the stove to boil so we could cook pasta to have dinner with them. We arrived at their house about 10 minutes later and Spencer and Katie were in the parking lot of their apartment complex, Katie with a towel on her head, holding Baby Karson. I made a comment about whether Katie always comes out to greet her guests with a towel on her head, and as we were parking we noticed smoke billowing out of a window in their apartment. We climbed out of the car and Spencer told us that there had been a fire in the kitchen and while he had gotten the fire out the smoke was too heavy for them to go back inside. Katie had been in the shower and Spencer had put the pot of water on the stove to boil. There was a pan of oil on the stove that they had used earlier and looking back later, Spencer concluded that he must have turned on the wrong burner and the oil had heated up to the point of catching itself on fire. When Spencer saw it he ran Karson into the bathroom where Katie was just getting out of the shower, so she put Karson on a towel on the floor and proceeded to quickly dress while Spencer ran to try to get the fire out. He searched for baking soda, but couldn't find it in the smoke, so he grabbed the pan off the stove, threw it in the sink and in a moment of sheer desperation turned the cold water on the pan. He knew that you're not supposed to put water on a grease fire, but he was desperate. The fire was out, but the house was full of smoke so he shouted to Katie to get the baby out of the apartment and Katie ran from the bathroom to the front door and out into the parking lot. Spencer followed her after opening a few windows, but had already inhaled quite a bit of smoke so he was coughing and wheezing when we pulled up. Katie took Karson and sat in Mom and Dad's car and I went to the front door to assess the damage. The house was filled with thick smoke and though several windows and the front door were open it wasn't doing much to get rid of it. I held my breath and went in to open some more windows. After a minute I came back outside and asked Spencer if they had a fan so we could blow it out. He said they only had ceiling fans so Dad and I went back in to turn on the ceiling fans in the living room and master bedroom. On my way back out, Spencer asked me to grab Karson's car seat which I did. The smoke was still heavy and Spencer wanted to get some stuff out so they could go home with us. Dad and I headed back in and went into Karson's room. The smoke was really bad there and as I went to the closet to try and find clothes for Karson, Dad opened the window. It was really bad and I couldn't tell which clothes were the right size before we couldn't breath anymore. We raced out of the house and I told Spencer they needed to call the fire department because it wasn't going away on its own. I called 911 and Dad talked to the dispatcher, telling her that the fire was out, but we needed someone to come and get rid of the smoke. Also there was a 3 day old baby and we didn't know if he was okay because Katie didn't know if he had inhaled the smoke or not. Within moments a policeman on a motorcycle pulled up and in his wake, 3 fire trucks, the fire chief, an ambulance and one more policeman in a car. The 12 or so fire fighters went in to assess the situation and then pulled out some fans and within about 10 minutes the smoke was gone, and there was only an odor which dissapated pretty quickly. A paramedic checked Katie and Karson and said that they were doing well, the baby hadn't gotten any smoke in his lungs and that he'd be just fine.

This picture is through the screen in their living room window. There are about 4 firefighters there trying to get the fans situated right. As soon as the firefighters had left, Katie was trying to find a neighbor home so she could take Karson away from smell and at that moment their landlady came home. Katie went over to explain what had happened and Elaine let her in and she took Karson in and stayed there. The rest of us went in to assess the damage to the kitchen and to get their stuff. I walked over to Elaine's, where Katie was trying to feed Karson and after a few minutes, Katie left Karson with me so she could go over and get the stuff she needed to leave home for a few days. I put a towel over my shirt, since I smelled like the smoke and just rocked Karson for an hour or so while they packed up the cars with their clothes and bedding and stuff so they could bring it to Mom and Dad's to wash it all. Katie was pretty shaken up and tried to feed Karson before we left, but she was tense and Karson was screaming, so Spencer gave him a blessing and I went in and told Katie that maybe we should just put him in the carseat and head out, and if he needed to eat on the way home, we could just pull off somewhere. She agreed and I don't know if it was the blessing or the fact that Karson belongs to Spencer,(Spencer always fell asleep in the car) but he slept all the way home. Katie asked me to sit in the back seat with her, because if he cried she wasn't sure she could handle it. I told her I would and she tried to sleep. Around Ogden she asked if he was still breathing and I told her he was and then asked if she was. She said she was almost back to normal again and went back to sleep. We stopped in Farmington where Mom and Dad had left Kaity and Malerie at Kris's and I got my car and headed home, and they headed home. I called Spencer on Monday and he said things were as normal as they could be and Katie got some time with her family so they were doing okay. They were supposed to go back to Logan Wednesday and I'll have to see what happened since Monday, but it wasn't exactly how we'd planned to spend the weekend. It was a good thing we were there to offer moral support though and I got a lot of face time with Karson so that was good. Katie told him I'd be his favorite aunt and I told her that was pretty cool, because Katie has a lot of sisters. Anyway it could have been much worse and I'm just glad everyone is okay.

Call for Help!

I don't know how other people feel about themselves, but I feel icky! You know that moment in your life when you decide that something needs to change, but you just lack the power to change it? What is that? When did I lose control of me? Today I am venting about waking up in the morning. I am a horrible waker. I have to be at work at 8. 7:30 would be better, but I have to be there at 8. I live about 2 minutes from work. My morning routine goes something like this: Cell phone alarm rings at 5:45. I turn it off. The second cell phone alarm (playing a different tune) at 5:50. I turn that one off too. The third cell phone alarm (playing a completely annoying tune) goes off at 6. This is the cell phone alarm that you can snooze, so I try to get my fingers to open the phone and turn it off, which is successful about 20% of the time. Usually I just hit the button on the side and I get the completely annoying tune again in 4 minutes. The alarm clock goes off at 6:01. I push snooze. The moral of the story is that my alarm (all four of them) end up as part of a really strange dream and I drag myself out of bed at 7:42, put my contacts in sleepy eyes, pee, put clothes on and drag myself off to work. I generally get there between 7:56 and 8:02 depending on the effectiveness of my body movement (8:02 if my fingers were asleep and I couldn't get my contacts in my eyes) and whether or not I can find my shoes. I don't eat breakfast. I barely comb my hair and I keep deodorant and a tooth brush at work. It takes me another 30 minutes to wake up at work which means that something that should take me less than 5 minutes to do actually takes 15. 15 minutes adds up quickly when you have 2 hours worth of work to fit into 2 hours. If I could do those 5 minutes tasks in 5 minutes I would save a lot of time. So here I sit, searching on the computer for tips to waking up in the morning... you know, when the alarm goes off. I've read some good ones. One guy suggested doing the morning routine in the middle of the day so you are training your conscious mind instead of your subconscious one. You recreate your morning (you know, darken the room, put your pajamas on) then you set your alarm for 3 minutes from now, get into bed and practice getting up when the alarm goes off. Then you reset the alarm for 3 minutes from then and do it again until you've trained your brain. Not a bad idea. Maybe? Another guy suggests having a reason for getting up. You know telling yourself that you are going to eat a great breakfast, exercise for 30 minutes, have "me" time. Also not a bad idea. Maybe? Anyone out there have any other tips, because my goal really is just to be awake before I hit work, maybe with something in my belly and some mascara on my eyelashes. Sometimes a shower would be a good idea (I have a really gross job, I usually shower at night), actually doing my hair. Morning prayer! That often gets pushed back because I don't "have time". I'm open to trying anything! How do I get the snooze bar out of my vocabulary! One person said write down why you are getting up and read it before you go to bed. I'm trying that one tonight. All you perky morning people: Help!!!

Memories

Today is my friend Chantals birthday. We met in 2002 when we ended up in the same ward and she was dating the guy I wanted to date. I remember one of the first times I ever talked to her, she told me the shirt I was wearing made my eyes a really pretty blue, and all I could think was "I really don't like you." The months wore on and I kept not really liking this girl, because she was dating the guy I wanted to date, but all the time there was nothing to not like about her. Have you ever heard the country song "I'll think of a reason later"? That was Chantal. I used to call her creme brulee because of the part in My Best Friends Wedding where Julia Robert's character Julianne compares Cameron Diaz's character to creme brulee. She absolutely adores the girl, but hates her because she got the guy that Julianne was in love with (coincidence that we have the same name? I think not!!) Anyway the relationship between Chantal and Chad went on again, off again. . . Chad and I had some fantastic moments being just friends and at the end of the day we all became great friends. One day the truth came out. I told Chantal all about my problem with her and we kind of laughed about it. Several years later Chad married someone else, Chantal moved away to go to Law School and today we still keep in touch through blogging and the occasional phone call. When I think back on the last seven years knowing Chantal, I thank my Heavenly Father that I was able to get past my feelings of not liking her and really move on to the relationship we have today. To be perfectly honest, I can't imagine my life without Chantal. She'll probably be really mad that I make her sound so good, but there are few people in my life that make me feel as good about myself as Chantal does. She never judged me, even in my moments of jealousy. She is ever patient and so considerate of other peoples feelings. If I remember it right, she was even sorry for the way Chad treated me when they were dating, because at the time, she knew how much I wanted to be more than friends with Chad. She is the epitome of righteousness. She talks the talk, then walks the walk. Today on her birthday, I just want to thank Heavenly Father for aligning my life with Chantal's. I can't imagine being the person I am today without her influence. So Chantal, Happy Birthday and don't hate me for posting this!! I love you girl!!

Sabbath Day

Now that my camp blog is done, I just wanted to write. Someday I'll blog all that other stuff I'm supposed to. :)

Today was a good day. I woke up early and started my fast Sunday. I'm not usually one to fast. It makes me sick. I got so tired of the headache that accompanied fast Sunday that I gave it up for awhile, but right now I'm on a kick. I decided last Sunday that my spiritual life needed a boost and so I set up a study schedule and made myself a deal that I would be home at 9:00 every night and that would be study time. I started last Sunday and went strong this week and it amazed me how much I've learned in seven short days. I've been reading "A New Witness to the Articles of Faith" by Bruce R. McConkie. It's pretty heavy reading; I have to keep a dictionary close by, and most nights I walk away positively brain damaged, but the things I've learned are exciting! Lately my study has been about faith and I've learned some pretty cool things. It's a bit much to get into here, but if your interested I'll share more personally. Anyway, because of the spiritual high of studying and some topics it has caused to bring forward in my mind, I decided to give fasting another try. I prayed last night that God would bless my efforts and help me not to feel the ill effects of fasting. I mean I understand the stomach growling hunger pangs, but is the headache necessary? It was about half way through Relief Society today (which is about 3:30) that I realized I didn't have a headache and wasn't feeling uncomfortable in any way. Yay small miracles!! Anyway my spirit was honed in today and I learned and felt some amazing things during my meetings. It's amazing how when we are obedient and live the gospel, the Lord blesses us. Funny huh? No not funny! Totally exactly what he promised! It's nice to know that I have a merciful loving Father, who can help me to not feel discomfort while fasting and then bless me by letting me have an enormously fantastic Sabbath Day. The closing song in Relief Society was Sing We Now at Parting. The second verse says "Praise Him for His mercy, praise Him for His love, for unnumbered blessings, praise the Lord above. Let our happy voices still the notes prolong, One alone is worthy of our sweetest song." I feel blessed to be able to Praise the Lord for all those unnumbered blessings. How grateful I am to be in his debt.

Camp!

So it's been a month since camp and I've been a real blogging slacker. Lets see if I can remember it enough to jot a bit about the calling that blindsided me!
Our stake was in charge of camp this year and as the theme was DOTS (Depend on the Savior), they took the polka dot theme all the way! We started at the church at 8 in the morning where we loaded the cars and gave our girls muffins and yogurt for the trip. We drove the hour up Weber Canyon to Zarahemla in Morgan. I'd never known this place existed but in Davis county apparently that's where everything camping style happens. We were assigned to our "cabin" #2. I put cabin in quotes because it's like a small shed with shelves for bunks and not much else. Our seven month pregnant Beehive advisor, Abby, and I had decided we were going to sleep in a tent, so as the girls and other leaders claimed their bunks and set out decorating the cabin with crepe paper and dots we set up the tent. The thing at the side of the door, is a picture of Jesus on a dot, surrounded by dots with everyones names on them. It turned out really cute!

Once finished, we blew up our respective mattresses and Abby looked longingly at my queen sized double deep mattress. I told her, "If I'm required to camp, it must be done comfortably." She called me Queen Julianne for the rest of our time there. We headed up to the amphitheatre for our first devotional and welcome to camp. Each ward was asked to write a cheer that would introduce their girls. We decided to be the DOT to DOTS and our cheer was, " We are the Dot to Dots. Sisters, sisters in the mixture. When connected to the Savior, we complete the picture." The stake leaders introduced the theme with the Stonecreek Stake version of Deal or No Deal.

The first suitcase opened was eternal life, and then the contestant (one of the stake camp leaders) had to open the other cases, to see if she would trade eternal life for one of them. Faithfully at her side, were her angel and devil, played by the Stake Young Women counselors. Each had to try to get her to take the right deal. Michelle Ferrall played the devil part so convincingly you'd never have guessed that her husband is in the stake presidency. Too funny! The options were: A date with Edward Cullen, a new porsche (complete with gas and insurance for life), and the starring role in High School Musical 4 (remember these girls are 12 and 13). Once the High School Musical case was opened the deal got sweeter. If she chose that prize, she'd also get the guy (forever, not just one date), the car (with a promised new one every year), the role, and a million dollars every year on her birthday. You should have heard the beehives agreeing with the devil for her to take the deal. At the end, she chose Eternal Life and was rewarded with boos from the crowd. Apparently our beehives have a lot to learn about the glory of Eternal Life! With that though they were taught that through Depending on the Savior, we all can gain Eternal Life. The stake had T shirts made up with the camp theme. This is not a great picture but you get the idea. Following the devotional we set off for the lodge for a lunch of taco salad in a bag and mingling with the other wards. Following lunch, we met together and made DOTS bracelets: then split into two groups. The first group stayed at the lodge and made camp journals, the second went to the pavilion and did a service project: Fleece blankets for the care center in our stake. After awhile, the groups switched places. Following that it was time for dinner which was hot dogs etc. Abby knowing that hot dogs would not be a good idea for her, mentioned that there was a Subway in Morgan, and I mentioned that I had a free footlong, so we snuck away from camp and headed to Morgan to get dinner. We came back and the girls were chowing down on dinner. We had 10 girls and 6 leaders at camp. The stake had given us 8 packages of hot dogs and buns, a giant bag of chips, a whole container of lemonade to add to water, and 3 watermelons. I think they expected the girls to be much hungrier than they actually were. We ate the watermelon for the rest of the week and I think one got thrown away. After dinner, there was the threat of rain, so with the help of some stake leaders, Abby and I got the rain cover on the tent, and we headed for the lodge to do skits. They decided to do skit in a bag and so each group was given a bag of props and they were required to do a skit that somehow showed how they would Depend on the Savior. Our girls decided to do a Confessions of a Shopoholic skit, where the main character, "Napoleanna Dynamyte" went in search of that one thing that would complete her life. She went from shop to shop encountering all different sales people, trying to get her to buy their product. After a long and exhausting try, she left the last shop empty handed and went to sit down on a nearby bench to think about what it was she was looking for. On the bench sat a girl reading the Book of Mormon. Napoleanna asked what it was and was told it was the Book of Mormon. The skit ended with Napoleanna declaring that it was just the thing she had been looking for that would complete her life and thus it was given to her and she walked away joyfully Depending on the Savior. After the skits were completed we wandered back to camp to get our pajamas on and met back at the lodge for PJS. Prayer, Journals, and Scriptures. We sat on the floor in the lodge and sang a bunch of hymns and primary songs and then wrote in our journals, read our scriptures and then had camp prayer. Thursday we woke up and headed down for devotional. After devotional, we packed our lunches and got ready for the hike. Now those of you who are faithful blog readers will remember when I got this calling and I talked about how hiking is one of the things I really don't like. I wasn't going to go, then decided it would be fun to go so I could take pictures. This is all I got:
This is very near the top of the hike. As you can see I was still in the middle of the group at this point. Until we stopped for lunch, I was at the back, just in front of the two priesthood brethren whose instructions were to stay at the back and not let anyone be behind them. We hiked down Big Mountain which is part of the Mormon Trail, only the pioneers went up. I don't know if down was easier. There were so many rocks and I was so afraid I would roll an ankle and require the girls to have some real life practical first aid experience, so I walked pretty slowly. I tried really hard to have a good attitude about it but I was hot and tired and my feet hurt somewhere in the middle of the second mile. It was rough and my calves hurt for like a week after. Not my favorite part of camp. I was pretty sure I would never walk again. When we got back to camp they set up a slip and slide, and while I recovered from the hike on my air mattress, Bobbie (the young women's counselor in our ward) went over with my camera and got some good pictures for me. After the water slide it was time to get dinner going because the bishop and his wife and the YW presidency were coming up for testimony meeting and faith walk. Dinner was to be dutch oven lasagna and apple crisp, but it took forever to cook and we were fairly sure it would be leftover hot dogs. While we waited for dinner to cook we made magnet boards and magnets to go with them.
Dinner still wasn't done so we played a game called Ride that Pony. It's a fairly hilarious game that requires you to trot around the circle while everyone sings a song about riding a pony and then when the song gets near the end you stand in front of someone and you dance in front of them then turn and do it to each others backs, then to the side, and then you do si do and that person becomes the pony. It was hilarious to watch and then the Bishop got picked and I've not been able to look at him the same since. (Side note: I taught this game to my family and my niece Kaity now constantly wants to play it.) Finally just before it was time to leave for the faith walk, dinner was done and we snarfed it!For the evening devotional before the faith walk we went down to the amphitheatre and they thanked the stake presidency for the support and gave the counselors who were there dot ties to remind them of our theme. Another funny thing was whenever something was lost at camp they made the girls (or leaders)win it back by doing a dance in front of everyone, while singing "Gray squirrel gray squirrel shake your bushy tail aha! repeated twice. Our girls thought it was so funny they were purposely putting each others stuff in so they'd get to do it. The woman on the right is part of the stake camp team, the girl on the far left is from another ward. The other three are our girls.

For the faith walk, they had the Bishop stand at one end of a mass of chairs and each girl in turn stand at the other end. The goal was to get to the Bishop who would be quietly directing each blindfolded girl around anything that might get in her way, while the other girls and leaders would try to make it so she couldn't hear him or just generally lead the girls astray. My favorite one was Rachel, whose mom Holly, is the Young Womens President. Holly was trying to get Rachel to go the wrong way, and in an exasperated tone said, "Rachel, I am your mother! Would I ever lead you wrong?" Rachel stopped in her tracks, turned toward Holly's voice, and said emphatically, "YES!" We all laughed and Rachel got safely to the Bishop. The girls got pretty cruel at the end, laying across chairs, sticking out body parts so girls would trip, etc. but Bishop Burgoyne was able to lead them safely through the danger. After the faith walk, we met around a big bonfire for testimony meeting. It was a huge group and the wind was blowing really hard and it was incredibly hard to hear and I was pretty frustrated. We had wanted to do a ward testimony meeting and were defeated by the stake who thought that a stake one was a good idea. Maybe next time they'll bring a microphone. We went back to camp to roast marshmallows and ended up having a small testimony meeting because none of the leaders had a chance in the big group and then we taught the girls some camp songs and had a lot of fun. After the bishop and YW presidency left, the leaders sat around enjoying the fire and the girls went Snipe hunting.

Friday morning (after a long and extremely cold night) we went down for the devotional which our ward was in charge of. We did the devotional and each ward did their cheer for a final time. One of the wards changed the cheer for this particular morning and I don't remember everything about what they said but somehow they likened dots to water balloons and threw them at everyone. We then had breakfast and took down camp. We were supposed to meet back at 11:30 for closing ceremonies but there was one matter of unfinished business in our camp. We had combined with another ward because they only had 3 girls and their camp director had been in the calling for 4 years. They had a tradition that every girl had talked about and it must go on! We agreed that it would be fun and so Haley (the 22nd ward camp director) had snuck out of camp Thursday to buy ice cream. I brought chocolate, caramel, and whipped cream from work and we created ice cream sundaes in these long bowlish plate things. We doused the ice cream in toppings and whipping cream and sat the girls down two or three to a plate and without spoons, encouraged them to go at it. Haley did her part to make sure each girl got in the ice cream (by pushing their heads in) and all in all it was a messy and fun tradition and we were glad to be a part of it. Tie your hair back gals, it's going to be a long ride!Just getting into it!Alex, Morgan, and Tara were pretty enthusiastic about this idea!Mikayla and Rachel. Rachel hates whipped cream and would never actually put her face in the stuff. I asked her to put her head close to it so I could get a picture and Haley shoved her head in. She doesn't seem too mad at us. Makenzie and Carley. Doesn't Carley just look like she's dying to know why we're taking pictures of her in this state!Amber and Megan get into the fun!Emily is diabetic and so we got her sugar free ice cream and put the chocolate on her nose so she'd look like she got into it. She came out better than all the others.

Makenzie got pretty excited about this activity. Even her glasses got in on it while Carley watched in surprise!

Megan (from the 22nd ward) laid on the grass and let us attack her with a can of whipping cream!After they all got cleaned up we headed down to the amphitheatre where we had closing ceremonies. Then we packed up the cars and headed home. Here's a few last pictures:Leaders: L-R Brittany, Heidi, Bobbie, Julianne, Abby, and Haley. I told everyone I needed to be Juliannie because I didn't fit the e sounding theme we had going on.

Girls: L-R top Emily and Amber

2nd row Megan, Morgan, Makenzie, Tara, Carley

3rd row Alex, Rachel, Mikayla

Melancholy Blues

So I know I promised to blog about camp and as soon as I get all those pictures downloaded and some real time to blog I will definitely do it. Then there's Katie's baby shower, umpteen birthdays, temple dedications, etc etc etc. You know how life keeps going even when you don't find time to blog? Sad!!
Tonight I was just sitting here catching up on reading blogs, listening to super depressing music and feeling sorry for myself. It's nothing but crazy girlie hormones, but today I just feel like crying! I sit here reading other people's (who are my age) blogs about kids and husbands and all that and I just feel more sorry. I find it a bit peculiar that I'm 30 plus and of all the dreams I had as a teen, only a few have been realized. I wonder about life as a whole and a part of me just wants to throw my hands in the air, look toward heaven and beg Heavenly Father to give me a glimpse of what he sees for me. Clearly that isn't how it works or certainly a merciful Father would have done it already, but sometimes the discouraged me wonders what good dreams are if not for the part about them coming true. It's hard to stand back and wait for all of Heavenly Fathers plans to come about in my life. I don't mean to whine. I have so many wonderful blessings and I look at so many of my friends who are also 30 plus and single and just think how important it is that we stick together and hang in there, because we've been promised some pretty great things if we just keep the commandments no matter what! So I'm just going to sit here and listen to Come What May from Moulin Rouge and wish someone was loving me and smile because at the end of the day, it's going to be okay.

Camp Update

So I posted about camp 50 days ago and now we're down to 3. On Thursday last week we got together with our sister ward to get ready. It's a stake beehive camp, but some of the wards have very few girls so the stake decided to combine wards with a fair amount with wards with a few so we combined our seven girls with a ward that has three. It works pretty well, because now we have 2 camp directors and 4 other leaders going up; takes a lot of stress off! We decided to have matching bandanas to set us apart so Haley, the 22nd ward camp director found pink Camo bandanas and we gave the girls sharpie markers and let them go to town. We also (in keeping with the theme) had some circular postit notes that we put on white paper and had everyone make a DOT name tag. Then we got some paper and cut out a big circle, put a picture of the Savior in the center (since the theme is Depend On The Savior) and then each girl and leader wrote her name on a dot and we put it around the picture. (I'll post pictures of our cabin when I get back so you can see it all!) We also had to write a cheer to introduce ourselves and I was really excited when Alex, one of my girls who isn't sure that she fits in, took over the writing. She came up with a pretty good idea and then we tweaked it a little and came up with: "We are the Dot to Dots, sisters, sisters, in the mixture. When connected to the Savior, we complete the picture!" It keeps with the theme and keeps with the corny atmosphere that camp generally is! Haley was also telling us (leaders) about a tradition that their ward has and we decided we could join in also. She brings up ice cream and toppings to make sundaes and then they make them in these trough like things. Then three girls per trough, and without spoons they eat their sundaes! The girls in her ward look forward to it every year and the new beehives know about it from sisters and older young women, so if it's not a part of camp they get really disappointed. I told her that would be a great thing to do! Sounds like fun to me and maybe I'll get my head in there! Anyhow lots of things coming together! I'll be sure to post all the pictures I get there. I'm praying that all goes well and all the girls have a spectacular experience, since for most of them it's the first time going to camp. Wish me luck!

The Rest of the Vacation

So I started blogging that last entry and ended five days later! As much as I want to share the whole trip with all of you, I don't have that much time to blog! I decided for this part, I'm going to write what happened and then I'll put a slide show up of some of my favorite pictures and for those of you who like reading blogs, you can read about the trip and for those of you who like viewing blogs can appreciate my pictures and I will be able to start and finish this blog right now!

Tuesday was Beach day. Now the last time I was at the beach was four years ago in Oregon. The water in San Diego is much different than the water in Oregon. About 40 degrees different! We agreed the night before that we'd head north to Kellogg Park in La Jolla for our family beach outing. What an amazing place! It was so beautiful. The sand was fine, the water was warm, and the waves were huge! It was good for the surfers, the boogie boarders, the swimmers, and the waders! I was concerned about losing my contacts and Todd suggested goggles, so I went to Walgreens and bought the kind that have the nose piece too. It turned out they were great for keeping my contacts in place and helped when I just couldn't jump one more wave. Just close your mouth and let that wave wash right over. It was probably the best wave jumping of my life. If it hadn't been for the horrific sunburn I got at the beach, I would have been up for going back day after day after day. Not everyone survived the beach as enthusiastically as me. My sister, Carolee, went into the ocean wearing her glasses and I told her she should take them off. 9 years ago our sister Kristina lost her glasses to the ocean in Mexico. Carolee told me she wanted to be able to see. About five minutes later, I looked over and there was Carolee with a crestfallen look on her face and nothing on her eyes. I told her I hoped that seeing for five minutes was worth it since now she wouldn't be able to see until we could get her glasses replaced. It turned out to be $225 and 24 hours later. Word to the wise: glasses and oceans DO NOT MIX!!! After a fantastic day at the beach it was family at the temple night, but I was too sore and too tired to go, so Mom, Dad, and I decided to go the next morning. We stayed back at the hotel and just hung out. Todd and Nicole were able to get the kids in bed on time and it was a good way to recover. Wednesday we headed out early to pick up the 9:00 session at the San Diego temple. What an amazing experience! The San Diego temple is a cut above. It is a temple with beauty and godliness in mind (not that the other temples fail to achieve this, this one just does it better)! We did the session and entered the Celestial room and my jaw dropped! It is gorgeous! When we came out, we ran into the missionaries that were in charge of the "Visitor's Center." I'll put this picture in right here or it won't make sense.

Yep, that's the San Diego temple visitor's center. In all fairness, they may lack a building, but they are knowledgeable and make you feel really important! They were very helpful and even took a picture of us! After the temple, Dad and Carolee went to the eye doctor and Mom and the kids and I met Todd and Nicole at Mission Bay state park, where they had gone to meet their friends Danny and Nici. Danny was a missionary in Todd's mission and they have a son named Jake that is a little older than Andrew. They had a lot of fun playing together while the parents got reacquainted; and what a beautiful setting. It's a really nice park. After eating lunch there and playing for a bit, we came back to the hotel and then met some of the cousins in Old Town, while Todd and Nicole let their kids nap. Old Town is a pretty cool place, but it was super hot, and I was super sunburned and super tired so we didn't spend too much time there. We did get some fudge at the candy shop; Caramel Apple Pie and some kind of pralines something or other. Really good! After Old Town we found gas and headed back up to La Jolla for the family dinner. Mom's cousin Shauna and her family were staying in a hotel in La Jolla and the hotel had agreed to let us use the breakfast room on the fifth floor overlooking the ocean across from the beach where we were the day before. It was a pretty nice place. We got food from Rubios and it was really good. After dinner and picture taking (sunset and family) we had the family meeting where I was voted President, in charge of the 2011 reunion. Luckily it's a Salt Lake reunion, so it won't take too much out of me... hopefully. We decided after the family dinner to go back to the temple to take night pictures and to let the kids see it. After Mom got us lost, we ended up coming at it from the north instead of the south, but it was pretty cool to see it from the freeway. Coming from south you don't see it until you're almost to it but from the north it's a pretty grand view. We took some night pictures and the kids were impressed. Thursday Todd and Nicole and Dad went with some of the cousins to do baptisms for the dead since Todd and Nicole hadn't been able to go with us to do endowments. We watched the kids while they went and Rory slept while Andrew and I swam with Malerie and Kaity. When they got back from the temple, we decided to take advantage of our second day of Sea World. We were excited when we got there because one of the rides had been closed Monday when we were there and it was open Thursday so we did that first. It's a roller coaster, water ride, with an elevator. Pretty cool! Kaity and I sat in the front and we got drenched. Everyone else sat behind us and they got sprinkled on. After that we did the Wild Arctic ride (motion ride that helicopters you in to the Arctic) and saw Beluga whales, polar bears, and walruses. After that we saw penguins and puffins twice. The second time we came out, there was a girl feeding the penguins. We spent a lot of time and pictures on that. We went then and saw manatees and sharks again, then caught dinner at a BBQ place. BBQ brisket, ribs, and chicken with corn and rolls. It was really good. After dinner, we decided to take in the Sea Lions Tonite show. It's a show that spoofs all the other sea world shows. It was pretty comical. After that we went to the sky tower again since Kaity had missed it before and then got in line for Shamu Rocks: the night Shamu show. It was packed but we had some fairly decent seats out of the soak zone. Andrew loved it! After Shamu Rocks, they had a short firework show. It was a great way to end the day. We then got souvenirs for everyone. I got Sea World playing cards, a Sea World Calendar, and a cool seashell hangy thing. Friday morning we woke up and got packed up and headed off in 3 different directions. Todd and Nicole headed to Arizona for 3 weeks with Nicole's mom and sister; Carolee and Dad and the kids headed to Santa Maria to visit Dennis in prison; and Mom and I headed toward Vegas. After driving for what seemed like forever we got to Las Vegas and checked into our hotel. We drove around for more forever to find somewhere off the strip to eat dinner and then went to the Bellagio to see the fountains, both chocolate and water. They have a Patisserie that features a 27 foot chocolate fountain that pumps white, dark, and milk chocolate at the same time. It's pretty cool! We saw the conservatory, which is decorated seasonally. I've been there a few times and have never seen the same decorations. This time it was a summer paradise, complete with a Ferris wheel, watering cans, and lots of flowers. They also had a lady bug, a frog, and a snail made from flowers, and a greenhouse with birds in it. After seeing all that we headed out to catch a few shows from the Bellagio fountains: my favorite part of Las Vegas! The two shows that are my favorite are Singing in the Rain and Luck Be a Lady. That night we saw My Heart Will Go On, from Titanic; something operatic, and Luck Be a Lady. I took a video of Luck Be a Lady, so now I can see it whenever I want on my computer. After the three shows Mom asked if I wanted to see another one, but it was 10:30 at night and 114 degrees. I was dripping with sweat and so tired from driving. I told her I'd rather just go back to the hotel. We went back to the hotel only to be greeted by a parking attendant that was ridiculous and no place to park. We ended up parking illegally against a wall and went to bed praying that the car would still be there in the morning and not be wrecked. We woke up at 9, and showered and got ready. We got in the car, which was both where we'd left it and undamaged, and headed for Mesquite, where we stopped at a hole in the wall place for breakfast and then continued on to St. George where we stopped to do a session at the St. George Temple. Neither of us had ever been there for a session before and while I can appreciate the fact that the temple was built in the 1870's, it was almost disappointing after San Diego. It's just really plain. All in all it was a good experience, and when we were done, we took a few pictures outside and then got gas. Mom wanted an Icee or something, and I spotted an A&W across from the gas station so we went there and got large rootbeer freezes. Those got us to Cedar City and then we decided to continue on to Beaver to eat dinner. We stopped at Dairy Queen in Beaver, then made the long haul home, arriving around 9. We unloaded the car and then took a quick inventory and went shopping. Sunday we slept in, watched Music and the Spoken Word and then 6 hours of Game Show Network. We made yummy bbq'd salmon, yummy pasta, and extra yummy stir fried veggies for dinner and enjoyed it on the patio.

That pretty much sums it up! What a great way to spend a week!! Pictures will be here soon!