The Rest Of The Story

Here's an update from Girls Camp to current. What it is about summer that makes it so hard to stay updated on the ol' blog?!

This past weekend we went to Silver Lake for a picnic and to have a nice walk around the lake. If you haven't been here before, you should totally check it out. It's gorgeous AND kid friendly....well for most kids it's friendly...

There is a boardwalk that goes around the lake and we almost always see a moose while there. So fun!

I took this picture after our picnic. The world was their oyster. I seriously don't know what the heck that means. Let's just say the future was bright!


Here is Sam. He's gettin' back to his roots. G.I. Joe on the West Side? Awwww yeah!


Just after I took that picture of Sam, we rounded the corner to the beginning of the boardwalk experience. At this point we are standing above all this marshy land. The water is standing still, it's about waist deep, and it's pretty black and gross. Usually Cameron is in a stroller but we let him walk it this time.

All of a sudden, Cameron caught his shoe on the edge of the boardwalk, spun around so his back was facing the water and his face was looking right at the sun. Then everything went super slow-mo as he started falling towards the black water below. His feet were spread eagle, his arms were spread eagle, and he had a crazy horrified look on his face. I started to yell for Sam to save him, but Sam was already on his knees reaching out for Cameron. ***SPLASH, GLURG, SCREEEEAAAAAMMMMMMMM!***

Sam grabbed him, but not before the nasty water had engulged over Cameron. He pulled him back to the boardwalk and I snapped a sad picture.


Shortest Silver Lake trip evah. We rushed back to the car, stripped Cameron down to his skivvies and drove home. He wasn't too happy with us. Live and learn.....

Onto happier things.

I've been on a mission lately to teach my boys the value of hard work. I don't want them growing up to be teenagers who do nothing but sit around. Sam decided to make the ghetto play house in our backyard into a cool fort for the boys. He bought a bunch of wood and we put them to work! I think Carson is more accepting of hard work than Parker is!


More pictures on that as they make further progress. Now they only have weekends to work on it because....

My kids are back in school. I know it's only July, but that's the way we roll with year round school. This year is drastically different from last year....this year I do NOT have to do the blasted Kindergarten run! No more heading to the school in the middle of the day. SCORE!!! Now I have 2 kids in school all day. It's pretty strange. Cameron and I kick it together all day. I had forgotten what it was like to have just a toddler at home. He's actually happier because he gets my full attention. Let's hope it lasts.... Although yesterday he was whining for Parker. Too bad, so sad! Awww, poor buddy.

After Parker's first day of school he came home with a bag that was titled "letter detective". Basically, Parker is supposed to spy on people who read and write it down in a journal. In the kit came a magnifying glass and some funny glasses/nose/mustache disguise.

Parker put it on and said: "Now nobody will recognize me! They will just think I'm a SIR!"


Not to be left out, Cameron was freaking out because I wanted to try on the glasses. He put them on and then proudly looked at me and said "CHEESE!!!!"


Here are Carson and Parker on their first day of school. OH man, Parker looks a little freaked out. Get used to it buddy, this starts a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG school career for ya!


I'll admit, I had butterflies in my stomach for him on his first day. But, I'll never fess up to it because I'm not a sissy like that!

Girls Camp 2010

Last week was the 4th year in a row that Sam and I were able to attend Girls Camp for their Thursday night meeting.

Here is last year's post, which also links to the previous two years experiences.

Every year has been a blast, and this year was no exception!

The theme for our ward was "Good Works", which is associated with the color yellow. In the past, our ward has used the color to come up with a Disney mascot. The first year we were blue (Cinderella), the second year red (Mulan), third year orange (Tigger from Winnie the Pooh). This year, our Young Women leaders and the camp director decided to change things up a bit. For their mascot, they chose to be the Yellow M&M!


It worked out great! If you go to the M&M website, you can design your own M&M character. We all designed our character months ago. The camp director used these characters to decorate camp with and even made necklaces with our character on them. It was awesome!

Sam, I'm dressed like an M&M, I don't actually taste like one!


The overall theme for Girls Camp this year was "Virtue". 4 months before Girls Camp the Stake YW presidency challenged all of the young women in the Stake to read the Book of Mormon before they went to camp. This challenge was extended to the bishoprics. Our camp director extended that challenge to the bishopric wives as well. So we had the great experience of reading the Book of Mormon before we went up on Thursday night. In true Sam fashion, Sam finished Thursday morning. :)

The Thursday night fireside was based around reading the Book of Mormon and Virtue. It was very well put together and lots of people were touched by the messages being delivered. Our Stake Presidency shared a message with the group....via a rap. I gotta tell you, these fellows aren't known for being big goof offs....but they rapped a song that was so catchy I still can't get the tune out of my head! Of course, the girls were screaming like crazy because they couldn't believe their Stake Presidency would do such a thing. One of the Young Women advisors of our ward, who is new to the area, said "I don't know our Stake Presidency that well, but judging by everybody's reaction, this was something out of character for them to do. That is such a testimony of what these men will do to reach out to our young women, and help them understand how important virtue really is." I couldn't have said it better!





Here's most of our girls...a few had run to stand in line at the bathrooms. :)


Our fearless leaders! I'm telling you, our ward always gets the cream of the crop to be our young women leaders. It's just the way it should be!
Left to right: Mindy, Jamie, Natalie, Heather, and Holly


Jazz hands!


Here's Sam's M&M character. Everybody thought it looked JUST LIKE SAM!


Our ward always does a great job at making the bishopric feel welcome for Thursday night. It's something I sincerely look forward to attending each year! Testimony meeting was great, the food was delicious, and the laughter was boisterous! Another successful Girls Camp is behind us. What's next? Let's see.....oh yeah, Cameron fell off a boardwalk into Silver Lake the other day....more on that later!

Say "AHHHHH"

Carson, Parker, and I had an appointment with the dentist this morning for our 6 month check-up. Cameron kept begging for a toothbrush so we put him in the chair so the dentist could count his teeth and look in his mouth. He did so good, we decided that he should get his teeth cleaned as well! So here is Cameron in all his glory, experiencing his first intimate view of our dentist!



Just don't bring the spit-sucker-up thing near him, he goes into the fetal position. It was a little bizarre. Live and learn!

All four of us are cavity free! Being the toothbrush nazi mom really comes in handy at those 6 months appointments!

Dog Days Of Summer

We hung out with my brother-in-law James the other day. He has a fun house with a field behind his back yard. He even has an electrical fence. When I grew up (debatable) in Idaho, we had an electrical fence in our back yard. I can STILL remember the way I felt when the jolts ran through my arm. Oddly enough, I don't ever remember my parents telling us NOT to touch that fence. I think they thought it was funny. I guess that's why I laughed when Carson touched the fence the other night! Aaaaaannnnnndddd, we come full circle. I guess that's what they mean when they say "the circle of life".... What? You don't agree wiht me? Whatebs.

Parker and Cameron grew matching goatee's for the summer. They will definitely need to shave before school starts.


James has a cow in the field behind his house. Well, I call it a cow. My mom laughs at me because apparently it's a bull. However, since I did not grow up on a farm, if it "moo's" it's a cow. Capiche?

Anyway, this cow acts like a dog. It was so funny! He walks right behind you and shoves you in the rear with his head, just to be playful. James even went out to the field and pushed the cow around and wrestled a bit with him. That crazy cow would jump around and go back for more, just like a dog!! Country life can be full of surprises I guess. I thought cows were uber-afraid of people.


I think Carson just grabbed the electrical fence....hmmmm, does being electrified make you have to go to the bathroom? Just wonderin'.... It sure looks to be the case here!


This picture is a bit blurry, but I love how both Nick and Carson are laughing. I have countless memories from my childhood where my cousins and I would laugh our guts out. I LOVE seeing these boys laughing together. I hope they never forget how fun family is!!


This morning we dropped Carson off at his scout leaders house so he could go to Cub Scout Camp. We then realized that we should go do something really fun while he was gone so he would feel ripped off. Just kidding. We realized that since we were up at 7:30am on a Saturday, we should go do something really fun.

We went downtown to watch the Youth Parade. It was awesome. Fern has been in charge of building her Stake's float since last year. She did a great job and their float won an Award from the parade committee. Good job Fern!


Here is Cindy holding up the award! Precious!


Parker got to ride on the back of the four-wheeler with Russ during the parade. We thought Cameron would like that spot but he violently disagreed. I can't wait for the day that I understand that child better...



There were lots of kids, it was fun...and hot. Oh, and see that butterfly balloon? That dang thing is in my house right now. Dang butterfly balloons!



Here's my nephew Dallin. He just got his mission call to the California LA mission, speaking Korean. Sweeeeeeet!


In other news, I took Carson and Parker to see "Despicable Me" tonight. Oh man, that is a funny movie! I heard several bust-a-gut laughs out of each of my boys. They couldn't stop talking about it the whole way home. Now they will quote it for the next few weeks. Funny now, not so funny a few days from now. It's a crazy cycle!

Oh man, bedtime.... ZzZzZzZzzzzzzzzzz

Summer Update Because I'm Slacking!

I've been slacking big time the last few weeks. This summer is flying by at light speed so I better blog about what I've been up to before my blog posts include stuff like "back to school" pictures. Seriously, my kids go back to school in 14 days! Yikes!!!

4th of July:
We had a pretty relaxing 4th of July weekend. Sam had hernia repair surgery on the 2nd so we did a lot of chillin'. We did manage to do some fireworks, which is a must! Parker fell asleep during the fireworks, which is what happens every year. That child is just NOT a night owl!! Come to think of it, he's not a very chipper morning person either. Hmmmmm, teenage years are going to be painful for him. Poor buddy!




The new family member:
Several months ago I bought a piano from my friend. I knew when I bought the piano that I wouldn't be able to have it in my home right away because we were just starting our remodel project. My friend was gracious enough to keep the piano at her house until we were ready for it. We finally moved it here last week. I'm in heaven! I've wanted a piano since I got married. It's so fun to sit down and play Primary Songs with my kids. All three of them LOVE it! I keep finding Cameron sitting on the piano bench, "playing" the piano, and singing at the top of his lungs. Hysterical! A huge thanks to Amy for letting me give your piano a good home! I will forever be grateful to you!


Sweet Family Campout:
This year the annual Sweet campout was at a campground by Fish Lake. The name of the campground was Frying Pan. It was awesome! A huge group site with a capacity of 100 people. It was gorgeous, lots of room to spread out, and the temperature never got above 70 I bet. For anyone who knows anything about me, I dread the heat. Last year the campout was at Zions in southern Utah. Now that was hot. So hot I think I freaked out a few times. :) No freaking out this year.

It was a trade off though....cool days turned into FREEZING nights!! After the first night of no sleep due to the cold temperatures (the van said 33 degrees when Sam took a ride at 5:30am to warm his feet), we got smart. Sam turned into a boy scout and threw a few big rocks into the fire. Just before bed we wrapped the rocks in foil and a towel, and put them in the bottom of our sleeping bags. Oh, that was heaven! I slept like somebody who just ate too much for Thanksgiving dinner that night!

As always, I get a little grumpy preparing for a big campout, but the work is totally worth it. We made lots of memories (nobody let Sam lift anything heavier than 15 pounds; lots of mosquitoes; habanero cheetos; water fights; soaking my feet in a Peppermint Spa treatment with Fern, Cindy, Shauna, and Fontella; playing "I'm going across the plains...."; Canoe rides, Liz and Dallin totaling their van; Minute to Win It, Carson slept in his own tent; EXCELLENT late night by the fire with Sam, James, Dallin, Scot, Audrey, and Jeremy; Scot and Melissa announced their engagement; Cooking meals with Jeff/Cindy, Fern, and James; all the grandkids made breakfast for the adults on Saturday morning; the cows...oh my gosh, the cows!; taking down camp in the pouring rain) which is exactly what it's all about!

Just before we left to go camping, Carson started getting all these crazy cold sores in his mouth. By the time the first day was over, Carson was hurting so bad he seriously never talked the rest of the time! It was so weird. I'm usually telling Carson to be quiet because my ears are tired! I'll admit, I hated the fact that he wouldn't talk. It was almost like getting a glimpse into the teenage years with him. Shudder!

I have to explain the cow situation. There were hundreds and hundreds of cows all around the area of our campground. It was an open grazing land for them. Every morning around 5am all the cows would head down the road to another field and they were LOUD!!! It was so bizarre. Nobody was leading them down the road, that's just what they do. I've never heard so much chaos before in my life. Then every afternoon around 4pm they would all come back the other direction, making just as much noise. We had to watch our step because there were lots of cow pies everywhere. Sam told the boys that the cows were good for "moo'in and poo'in"!

Fun pictures:





The wind kicked up at one point and started blowing our table cloths away. We hollered for everybody to hold them in place while we taped them down. Cameron was helping as well. Once everything was secured and everybody went back to their activities, we noticed Cameron was still frozen in place. Ha Ha, he is so bizarre!













My nephew Cory was making a hot dog for lunch... instead of a bun, he used whipped cream. Whatever floats your boat when camping!







I'm in charge of the Sweet family campout for next year. If anybody has any favorite Group Sites let me know!!!