School - 24th of July - Fillmore

This Sunday Jared took the opportunity to give the three little monkies fathers blessings in preparation for the new school year. This was a wonderful "pinch" me moment. Honestly, I have three kids leaving the home, and going out there to stand on their own. So thankful for Jared to be willing to teach and use the Priesthood to bless our family.  I cried through them all. They were so sweet and the Spirit was strong. I am so thankful for these "pinch" me moments. We are living life, setting examples and I love my childrens acceptance and desire for them.

Benjamin trying out the car for the first time.

His cute little man face.

 Look at all that hair! He's honestly so adorable.

Caleb welcoming him to being a BIG boy and riding in his car! If you look closely you can see Calebs face, he's honestly so EXCITED Ben can play with his toys! I love Ben's face, like "Why are you screaming at me?"

First Annual 24th of July Fillmore Fun Family Reunion.

We did a lot of swimming...

 

Oh, how we love this happy face.

And this one too.

And this silly one.

And these too.

And these guys too.

This is the story of Alayna's life...nervousness and anxiety about everything! Oh, if she can learn to relax a little and enjoy life experiences! We tried to have her go off this small diving board...she would stand for it. So I showed her how to do it.

Looking nervous, but it was really a small one. But still fun.

Ahhh. I did it.

Here I am treading water in 11 feet water...a litter scary. I'm just waiting for Alayna to brave up and go.

Nope it required Aunt Shany to help toss her gently in.

Then there was Jake. Yes this is Jake. Diving into the pool with all the excitement life has to offer. He started off first by having me catch him. Then me on the side while he swam to me at the edge of the pool, to doing this...tricks all on his own. He is outstanding and so brave!

More fun to come...

Family Camping

Yeah, so the VERY same day I returned home from girls camp we headed up within the very same hour I returned home for some family hot dog roasting camp. 

Two cousin buddies. Caleb and Everett.

Olivia and Kierra

This picture is the before picture of Caleb literally falling into the fire.  Thanks to Ange putting her arm out and catching him. Oh, it was SCARY! Moments like this it makes me SO grateful we said a prayer before we left to go up there. Thank you our angels that watch over my children. Seriously, we are watched over.

Roasting lower to the ground now...no way for tipping in. 

 

Enjoying their creations. 

 

At a safer distance now. 

 

 

 

Sad little Ben. But he was positioned far away from fire, kids with roasting sticks, hot marshmallows, hot dogs, etc. I didn't need another accident to happen. Let's just say after about three hours of being up in the mountains I was ready to be home. Where bathrooms are clean. The floor isn't covered by dirt. But I did miss saying good bye to the mountains. It was so beautiful to be up in nature. I love it. I must say it was WAY more stressful being with little kids instead of young women though. I realized quickly that I was a mother of four kids again. :) 

Girls Camp 2012

Here's to year #2 as the camp director. This year was totally amazing and so different from last year! What beautiful women I got to camp with for four days! 

Here are all our girls and leaders showing off our new SHINE shirts! Seriously love them!!! We all agreed we SOOOO had the cutest shirts up at stake camp. 

Finally we are up at the Crescent Regional Camp.  It is a Stake Girls Camp this year.

 

 

 

Showing off our cute SHINING smiles.

Random picture...not sure how it made it in here. But here is Alayna saying good bye and showing off her darling new short hair to her little girly friends...Then I was off to take her to Fillmore to live with Krista for the week. :) 

Back to girls camp...craft time. The girls LOVED their necklaces.

A little archery is super fun...especially if cleaning the toilets is your motivation to make a bulls-eye!

Day two...we are still smiling. That's good.

A little crafting doesn't hurt anyone. Seriously, these were darling! Composition notebooks, scrapbook paper, embelishments, etc. Make any girl happy!

Shining! On our way to the zip line.

Yeah, these old lady leaders totally screamed louder on the zip line! So fun!!!

One for all, and all for one! Love these girls. 

Skit night. Ours was on dating! The girls did the do's and dont's of dating. (not sure that's a real word?) At the end the reminded other YW girls that Modesty Matters (M&M's) then they threw packages of M&M's out to the girls. It was honestly SO cute. I was proud because they did it all on their own.

Oh, we got a camp fire. With all the fires this summer we didn't think we would. But we lucked out. Do you notice those darling banners hanging in the back ground? Well, yours truly sewed them up and they were SO cute! Every year I will do that!!! Purple was our color this year.

Hiking down to the lake. 

Up. Pretty much these are awesome.

Oh, the clean water. Love it. (not)

 Thursday night. New clean fresh good smelling leaders arrived. We cleaned up the best we could after three days...we all dressed up in our favorite shirts and made sure we hugged them extra good so they could smell like us too!

 Cute girls getting ready for testimony meeting.

 Leaders and girls.

 

The bishopric and leaders came up together. We were all (especially me) super excited to see them. Jared was a good sport and showed off his girls camp spirit. Gotta love bishopric night. The girls adore these men. I have to be totally partial and say Jared is best. Testimony was wonderful. It's always so inspiring to hear the testimonies of these sweet girls, leaders and bishopric members. It was a great night for us all. The entire week was wonderful. We had many laughs, jokes, fun, spiritual, stories, etc. I loved every minute of it. I have to be totally honest, the day this calling changes a piece of my heart will always go missing. I love it! I love thinking about how life especially for these young girls is a ladder. Girls camp allows for them to take one step closer to Christ, strengthening their testimonies and becoming a beautiful virtuous committed daughter of God. I love everything I learn each year as I study, pray and prepare for them. Oh...love it! (tears, again.)