Denver Trip

The Friday I returned from Girl's Camp, we headed off to Denver. He has a brother who lives in that area and we haven't been able to visit him, yet. We finally had it planned to go in July, but realized it was when Colby was at Scout Camp. We both looked at schedules and finally his brother changed his work schedule to get off Friday (7th) and Monday (10th). He was supposed to have the following weekend off (14 & 17th), but three of our kids start school on the 17th. Even Steven and Jackie (Doug's son and his wife) were in town. She had been in the hospital with a kidney infection and is expecting a baby in October. So they stayed around until Monday night.

On Saturday, we went to the Denver zoo. Brigitte (Casey's sister-in-law) was surprised to see so many animals out and active. She said they rarely get to see certain animals. One of the baby giraffes was gallopping (if that's what giraffes do), kicking up his legs, and running around. The other baby giraffe was just watching him. It's a large zoo and has some interesting animals that I haven't really heard of. We were there about 4 hours and still didn't make it around the whole zoo. Maybe next time. That night, Doug and Casey took the kids to the swimming pool in their subdivision.

Sunday we went to their ward. It was interesting because two ladies in the Relief Society actually moved out of my old neighborhood only a few years ago. There were only 17 of us in Relief Society and 3 of us were visitors. That number included the presidency. It was a relaxing Sunday. We made s'mores in their little firepit that night.

Monday we split up. Doug and his kids, Steven, Casey, Colby, Chandler, and Shelby all went to Water World. They had a great time and would love to go next time we come. Brigitte, Jackie, Emma (Jackie's little girl), Shyann, and I went and bought some beads at Michael's and went to lunch at Olive Garden. Then we just hung out at the house. Brigitte didnt' think Shyann would enjoy Water World because she's more timid. Casey agreed after he got home, but said she would probably be up for it next year. They didn't get home from Water World until 6:00. After dinner, Steven and Jackie left for home. We stayed up until almost midnight visiting.

Tuesday morning, we took the kids to the Hammond's candy factory. Chad and Chelsea came with us. After the tour, we dropped off Chad & Chelsea, packed our gear and headed for home. We left around 1:00. On the way home we stopped at Rock Springs for Dinner and at Grand America (it has it's own exit) for ice cream and let the kids play on the playground. We didn't get home until 9:45 pm.

We had such a fun time! It was great to see them and are going to try and get over there again next summer, only this time we will spend a full week. On the way there, we hit a storm. We saw the thunder and lightning, but didnt' expect the hail. That's what hit us first. We ended up having to pause the kids movie because it was so loud and the kids couldn't hear their show. Doug said that area is usually worse for storms during the winter. They advised us not to drive to Denver from Sept. until May. Maybe we'll find cheap flights for sometime during the year.

Girl's Camp Day 4 & 5

On to Day 4. This was a more relaxing, play day for all. There was a bit of a chill on the air because of a storm that had hit during the night. It actually rained around 6:30 Wed. night, but only for a while. I ended up being woken up during the night because of some darn thunderstorms and showers. I'm too light of a sleeper (ARRGGH!).

We did a makeup game where one set of girls are blindfolded and they put make up on the girls who aren't, and then they swap. It ended up being a really great experience that I don't think us as leaders expected.

Here's a few photos of the beauties.

They did certifications this afternoon (and yesterday afternoon) so the leaders and the bishop all got to rest or nap, if they wanted. After certifications, Lisa had planned a few games. She actually had waterballoons filled on Tues. afternoon but we didn't have time or the weather didn't cooperate with us to play games until today. They did a waterballoon toss and a ball game. The ball game was a pattern... you throw it to the same person and catch from the same person. After a little while of playing with one or two balls, everyone gets a ball except two people.

Learning the game:

Once they got the hang of it, they were up for a challenge and played around the flag pole.

That evening I had put together a "fudge hike". This is where they walk along a trail and at each "station" they receive an ingredient that goes into their ziploc bag and a message about one of the YW values. As they walk station to station, they squish the ingredients together and at the end of the hike, they have made fudge. The girls really had fun doing this. Then we put together a campfire and settled in for our Testimony Meeting.

DAY 5

This is the morning we got up, packed, ate, and left. That is almost as quick as we did it, too. We had to be checked out by 11. One of my leaders that drove took home 5 others with her, she had to leave at 9. I was with her....let's get it done and clear out. The camp hosts had to do an inspection. I couldn't get a camp host to our place until 9:15 and then because one cabin was not quite finished with mopping, she returned at 9:40. We left at 9:50 and it took us an hour and half to get home. After unpacking food and vehicles, I got home at 12:30.

By 2:30 Casey, the kids, and I were on the road to Denver. We went to visit his brother and this was the only weekend that had worked for us to get there.

Girls Camp Day 3

Another great day! The girls were dreading this one a little. It was the "hike" day. The girls all have to pass it off for certification and I think the longest hike for a certification level was only 3 miles. Easy, nothing to it! I put Bishop Nicholls in charge of determining the route for our hike. He asked if 4 miles would be too much. I said, "let's do it!" I had signed us up for the "All Things Bright and Beautiful" lecture. A sister missionary came over and discussed the different plants and animals in the area. Again, this is something the girls needed for certification. What better way to do it then have the lecture and then go on the hike to see what they can remember. However, no one seemed the least bit interested in looking at the plants except trying to stay away from the stinging nettle. The trail was a bit steep in one or two places. Even I stated that the first of Adams Canyon wasn't as bad as that one hill. It was a wonderful hike! At the top of the mountain it was called "Lookout Point" and we could see almost the whole camp and Legacy Lake plus 3 other small lakes. It was a beautiful spot. We ate lunch in the shade and headed back to camp.

The group just before reaching the top!

Me & My Camp Assistants - Carol, Me, Heidi, Lisa

Looking down at the camp (not sure which site is closest).

After the hike, we surprised the girls with pedicure supplies. The girls washed their own feet because I told Heidi some of the girls would not wash other people's feet (me being one of them). So each girl washed and lotioned their feet. Then a couple of YCLs painted their toenails and I did nail stamping after. They had a great time and were so excited about the nail stamps.

A few of the girls soaking their feet.

Me"nail stamping" their toes.

This night was the Skits. A couple of the YCLs and I chose the skit and how it was to be performed. The picks were: "Old McDonald" rap style, "Little Red Riding Hood" as an Opera, "Wizard of Oz" as a Ballet, and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" Kung Fu style. They ended up being a riot. Everyone had 30 minutes to practice with their props (Carol, Heidi, Lisa and I brought the props from home).

I was in the "old mcdonald" skit. I asked Madison (one of the YCLs) to do the rapping because the rest of us had no idea how to rap. Unfortunately, she could not remember the song whatsoever. We were laughing so hard. Here are some photos from our skit. Our Farm had a "boxer" dog by Lauren (prop: sm crate), a snapping turtle by Jodie (prop: large decor clothespin), a lion by Mikayla (prop: sunflower cutout), a rattlesnake by Annesia (prop: maracas), and a mummy by Jennifer (prop: toilet paper roll).

It started out really well.

Then it became worse..... Madison completely forgot the words.

As Jennifer, the mummy, came out, the rest of us ended up just singing the song. Poor Madison. I didn't realize Old McDonald was an easy to forget song. We ended up having to sing it for her.

We all lost it when Jennifer did her mummy moan.

At the end of the night, Bishop Nicholls performed a flag burning ceremony. He had brought a flag that his bank needed to retire. I thought it would be a great experience for the girls, I'd only seen one other flag burning ceremony. Each of us went over the flag and cut the stripes, all of us took a half of a stripe. Then we stood in a circle and took turns saying what the flag represented or meant for each of us. When Bro. Argyle set the square of stars in the pit, we were all crying pretty good. It ended up being such a spiritual evening for all of us. It was an amazing experience and many girls commented that it was something that they wouldn't forget.

Girl's Camp Day 2

This day we were able to go to Legacy Lake. Heidi decided that the S.O.S. (Source of Strength)for today was the Atonement. So the YCL's took off on a boat with all the girls paddles. The other girls had to get into their canoes and use other items to paddle to the YCLs to get their oars. They used a collander, spatula, wooden spoon, etc. They had a great experience. Somehow, I became the official "unofficial camp photographer". I got all the girls cameras when they were doing activities. Amazingly enough, I could remember whose camera was whose. (Maybe I'm not as old as I sometimes seem to be).

Can you see the colander (white object) in one of their hands?

Me with 9 cameras!

After a quick lunch, we walked over to the Challenge course. This was so much fun! The girls had some great activities that they had to work on together. They learned about team work and how things in life and in these challenges can relate to the gospel and how we can help each other. Also, don't be too shocked, but even I did the zipline --- 30 ft off the ground.

Going through the "spider web"

Bishop Nicholls doing the "rope walk"

Proof that I was 30 ft. off the ground! (Walking over to the zip line)

That evening, we received a surprise visit from Sis. Cook, 1st counselor of the General YW Presidency. The Park City stake came over to invite us to listen to her speak. It was a very neat experience and she was wonderful to listen to.

Us and Sis. Cook

After we listened to Sis. Cook, we continued on with our evening to the Lip Syncs. My group (camp dir., asst. camp direct., YCL leader, and YW sec) did the Lip Sync to "I like to move it" and my asst. "choreographed" it for us. The YCLs lip synced "White and Nerdy" by Weird Al, it was hilarious. No good pictures came out though, blurry from all the moving, darn it!

Our Lip Sync group

Heidi, Lisa, Me, and Carol

(I'm introducing the program)

Girl's Camp Day 1

Girls Camp was August 3-7.
What an amazing experience this week was. I stressed about and contemplated this week for many months. But when it finally came down to it, everything completely worked out and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity of being camp director.

So I was just going to make this an overview of the entire week, but realized I would have way too many photos I would want to post. So I will do a day by day or maybe 2 days at a time. I'll try not to make this too boring. Our camp was at the Heber Valley Girls Camp. We stayed in the Hinckley campsite where we were surrounded by a Stake camp. We had two cabins, our own pavillion, and shared showers and restrooms. Yes, running water!

Waiting in line to go through the Welcome Center.

Our train of 5 vehicles. (Can you believe we fit our group of 25 into these vehicles?)

After having our camp meeting with the camp hosts, the leaders had to go to a challenge course training (more info on this tomorrow). So we played with the girls. The YCL leader (Heidi) and the YCL's put an obstacle course together and blindfolded the other girls. The YCL's had to help guide the girls through the obstacle course, mostly by only talking to them.

After the obstacle course, we went back to camp where they had a couple of crafts to do. They decorated flip flops and did metal stamping into washers to wear as necklaces. They stamped the YW values into the washers. They turned out really cute.

After some rest and crafts, my asst. camp director, put together a game of Human Foosball. It was a lot of fun.

Day 1 down. This was a fun day and I was very excited to have camp start.

Lagoon

What a hectic week this was for me. I only had 2 open days to buy camp groceries and prep for camp. So on top of the open house, we had Stake lagoon day. This is usually the only day we take the kids to Lagoon. Otherwise, it's pretty pricey. We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed spending the day with them.

My family loves the spinning rides; they make me dizzy so I sit them out. We met up with a friend (Tammy) of ours from the ward. She was still waiting for her husband to show up. So we took her son; he is good friends with Colby. It worked out when I had to sit out on those rides that make me sick. We met up with Brad and Tammy later on. We enjoyed eating and going on rides with them. Brad didn't ride very many rides either.

Waiting to go inside.

On one of the spinning rides. (I'm happy to take the photos. :))

After Rattlesnake Rapids with our friends.

Shyann finally decided this year that she would try a few new rides. We went on Spider and Wicked. Unfortunately, I can't say that I loved either of these rides. Probably won't catch me on them again. Yep, I'm a wimp!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

As if my week before camp wasn't busy enough, I made us reservations to go the Temple Open House in West Jordan. I wanted the kids to see the temple before it was dedicated. It was a great experience and a beautiful temple. It will be dedicated on Aug. 23.

Waiting to go inside. This fountain is right before you go inside.

After the open house, we drove to the front.

After visiting the Oquirrh Temple, we stopped at the Jordan River Temple where Casey and I were married. We only had time to take a couple of quick photos. The kids were excited to see where we were married.

I love finding opportunities to take the kids to the temple and teach them the importance of eternal families.