Girls Camp 2008

This was the first time that I had been to camp since before I was married and I had forgotten how fun it can be. Our theme was Once Upon a Princess. It was the perfect message for these girls to remember who they really are and that they are all unique and important. Ben and the kids forgave me for being gone so long-although Thomas was mad at me and refused to let go of my mom to come to me. Thanks to friends and family who supported me by helping take care of my family while I was gone. It was a sacrifice to go but worth it!

Loading up on Tuesday morning
During a devotional outside our cabin. Aren't these beautiful princesses?

I love these ladies! We all work so well together and I am so glad I had the opportunity to work with them in behalf of the girls in our ward.

My favorite memories of camp:

the food

the tears and hugs

spending time with my beehives

laughing harder than I have in a long time

missing my own bed

the girls' great attitudes

the YCL's enthusiam

the knife throwing

Darla's awesome devotional

being glad for every jewel in my crown

wishing I could be up there with Camille

the Hike:

learning I can push my body to do the seeming impossible

the resulting pain

almost performing by myself on stage

seeing the girls talking/laughing in a circle after testimony mtg

realizing I would do just about anything for these girls

Father's Day Weekend

For Father's Day Ben wanted to go out on the lake. On Saturday my parents were kind enough to take us out to Saguaro Lake. We went early in the morning, it was beautiful and not too hot. The kids hate the life jackets, but love to swim races around the boat.

Uncle Scott is the family's pro wakeboarder! He can even take my kids out and let them ride with him-they loved it! Thanks Scott!

Ben and I haven't mastered wakeboarding yet- but Ben got up and even tried to cross the wake! I got up but crashed every time, I am refusing to go back to skiing though. Maybe when my body stops aching I will try again!
Father's Day was such a nice day! We played a game of Cities and Knights with Jarom, Ben helped me make enchiladas for dinner at Skinner's, and got to see lots of family. I don't believe in being too cheesy on my blog, but I love all the Fathers in my life!

Hope Ben enjoyed his weekend because this week I leave to girls camp!! Thanks for being so supportive Ben!

Don't try this at home!

As you can see, the stairs in our house are a great source of entertainment and fun. It is also one of the biggest stresses for me. I have been known to fall down stairs if I am not concentrating and having crawling babies going up/down them scares me to death-hence the baby gate at the top and bottom! Evan and Mickey were getting too brave going step by step higher to jump-I can't stand to watch them. So- we have decided that this activity, while fun, is not going to happen anymore, but I couldn't resist snaping a few pictures!

Keeping up with Thomas

With a toddler in the house you find yourself either keeping them within 5 feet of you, or you gage how long it will take them to get into trouble when you can't see them. Upstairs with the bathroom doors locked and the baby gates closed he can be up there up to 10 minutes or so with the other kids playing. Downstairs I can only let him out of my site for a minute or two and if it is too quiet, I know he is into something! Thomas is my most active kid and as my mom says- he laughs in the face of danger!!

Pack Meeting

Jarom was honored at the most recent pack meeting when he completed Bears and moved into Webelos. Ben is cub master now and is getting more comfortable conducting.

Jarom succeeded in fighting the bear!The boys loved the activity Ben planned-they got to plant a tree at the church. Hopefully we can all watch it grow!

Happy 10th Birthday Jarom!!

Jarom's favorite treat to take to school for his birthday is Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Even in Vegas for kindergarten we took KKs to his class- now it is a tradition. This morning was the grand reopening of the Krispy Kreme by us. It opened today just for him! I went at 6am and was in the drive in line for 50 minutes this morning so he could enjoy his doughtnuts today!

My favorite things about Jarom are:
How willing he is to help out with his younger siblings-he especially loves Thomas (and other babies) and has to say goodbye to him every morning, he is my other set of eyes on Thomas and I appreciate his help with him. Jarom loves books-books are extremely important to him-sending him to his bed is not a punishment, he just picks up a book. He reads at least twice as fast as I do. He is a very loyal friend and enjoys being with friends and cousins. He loves to play games-his favorite game when he was 4 was Spiderman, now he loves playing Cities and Knights of Cataan with us. Jarom can be sneaky-a while ago he hid a old alarm clock in our room and set the time to 3am. The first night I wondered around the room trying to figure out what the noise was until it turned itself off. The second night I figured it out. I tried to be mad at him but couldn't- we all had a good laugh!

I love you Jarom! Happy Birthday!

Black River Trip

Last weekend Ben and his brothers took their older boys on a fishing trip to Black River. Fishing there used to be a tradition that would happen several times a season, but doesn't happen as often now as they would like. Hopefully in the future schedules will work out to go more.

Wyatt, Riley and Jarom crashed!

He didn't catch any fish but got good at casting!

Thanks for the great trip!