Hey Burrito!!

 

View from our campsite. Super shady (not that we needed it
during the sorta cold week) and look at that water!

No, now you say. Hey Burrito. And I say, 'hey, hey, hey, burrito.' Then you repeat. Where is this going you may ask? Why to Girls Camp of course! But wait a sec you might be saying, didn't you get released from YWs? Yup, but don't tell the stake that:)
This year I went as the Youth Camp Leader-Leader, which basically meant I was in charge of helping the 17 and 18 year old girls from the whole stake plan and then lead at camp. We were in charge of a slew of stuff--like a tournament, lunch and dinner prep and cleaning, songs, skits, devotionals, etc. I ended up with just over 30 girls coming from our 12 wards and they were FANTASTIC!!

We had our own camp in Ensign ranch called Lockamora and the YCLs had their own site. This year we used the A Frames which are a bit on the sketchy side but the girls made the best of it.

I had a wonderful co-leader up there named Telly (yes, Telly and Kelli, the girls loved that) and she was my constant companion. She's in Moxee ward too so it was fun to get to know her better and she is a real camper so no complaining on her end. Of course, that doesn't mean we slept in the creepy A frames. No sir.

We took our Eddie Bauer tent up. The poor tent had to deal with pretty wicked winds and not one but two fly by night toilet-paperings but it survived relatively unscathed.

 Most of our days were spent herding the girls from one activity to the next. I had a giant bulletin board with announcements and laminated schedules which made the week pretty hectic but manageable.

Some of my favorite highlights were:
-eating breakfast and evening smores with the hilarious ladies from Moxee...psst...the water is hot in Moxee.
-trekking up and down on long hikes with Telly. She LOVES to hike. Seriously.
-watching Emma and Taylor (my old TH girls) take the reigns and put together the most amazing glow-in-the-dark capture the flag course I have ever seen. It didn't go off quite like they wanted but they learned a lot about leadership.
-racing Telly up the rock wall. She beat me but only by thaaaaat much.
-the Friday night program. They had a husband/wife motivational speaker type talk which really touched the girls and was pretty hilarious.

Overall, the whole experience was great. Yes, I got bit by every mosquito alive and it was pretty cold at nights (one night I slept with two hot hands packs in my socks and one on my tummy) but it was amazing to be with the girls and watch them develop their testimonies and their leadership skills. They truly are the future of the church and the world and I was pleased to see they handled the pressure and challenges with style and class.

Below are just a few pics of our fun times.

Our theme this year was "Once upon a time in Campalot" so the background was a giant castle and dragon. One of my YCLs did it and it was amazing.





Our Tournament had five stations. This was the 'Cannonballs' and my YCLS are dominating





Most of my YCLs plus me and Telly in the middle. Thanks for an amazing experience ladies 



The Woodbury's Are Coming! The Woodbury's Are Coming!

And what a weekend it was. Hot. Loud. Fun. Here's what we did:

THURSDAY the 4th of JULY:
We woke up and took off for Bishop Byer's house and the Moxee/Terrace Heights ward breakfast. They had a great program and the raising of the flag, plus delicious pancakes. The afternoon was something I like to call a battle of the naps. Sarah won:) While the boys slept we chatted and caught up. Miles was the first sibling awake (and if his hair was any indication it was a great nap) so he got to go outside with Dana and play golf. We teach them young in our family!
After the rest of the crew woke up, we headed to two parties at the Grow's and the Hartman's. One had a really cool waterslide, the other had so many kids it was almost hilarious. One highlight was Dana saving the day (and Telly's floor) when he singlehandedly caught an out of control pop can as it exploded.


On our walk to the Grow's we noticed our neighbor down the street setting up a large cabana and a...wait is that a port-a-potty? Yes, yes it is. He had two of them and several live bands playing throughout the day. Wild! Later that evening, we gathered at our house for what we'd been promised would blow our minds. 4th of July in Moxee is supposedly crazy because fireworks are not outlawed so people go all out.



 And it begins! At first, it was just a few roman candles. Some sparklers. But then...

 BOOM!

 Our neighbor, Mitchael, had some serious fireworks. I think his driveway is still scorched.

Sarah's kids (except Isla who slept through it all) were in heaven. They kept racing from the front yard to the back yard to see all the fireworks. 

The pictures couldn't do it justice, but just use your imagination:)

FRIDAY
After a late night, we took it easy in the morning, starting off the day with whole wheat waffles, which Ethan declared not so great--sorry bud:) Dana and Taylor took off for a day of golf while Sarah and I chilled until about noon when we headed up to Suncadia for their festival. It was pretty tame but they had watermelon eating contests, face painting, a bouncy house, and a basketball bouncy thing which the boys could have stayed at all day. No joke.

Then we went on a walk. Or a run, if you are Sarah's kids.

 It turned out to be a very, very windy walk. At one point the boys were playing on some big rocks and we hollered for them to come back. Poor Miles came running with only one shoe on--that mean wind had taken it clean off.

Along the way Sarah and the boys helped me out by driving into Ellensburg to pick up girls camp t-shirts and then delivering them to our camp director. Thanks guys! We finished the day with pizza for the kiddos and really delicious Costco ribs for the adults--which I cooked. I want that to be known:)

SATURDAY
The highlight of Saturday was blueberry picking. This was a big hit last year so we visited the same blueberry patch and came away with quite the haul. Ethan, Isaac, and Miles helped Uncle Dana while Sarah tried to convince Isla to try a blueberry. Once she did it was a mad fight to feed her hunger.

I told them all to smile. Thanks Miles:)


 

We left the kiddos with Emma and headed out for an adult night of dinner at Outback and a movie - World War Z in 3D. Dana especially loved the parts where zombies jumped out and startled him:)

Sadly, the Woodbury's packed up the next day and headed home to Utah. We had a blast and can't wait to see them again. Thanks for the visit guys!!



Pictures of ROCK!

It finally happened. Kinda. With our wack-a-doodle weather in June our giant pile of dirt on the side of the house never quite dried but finally, FINALLY we got a hot week and it was close enough. So we ordered rock.

 And we spent the morning putting down a weed barrier around the house. Which we ran out of but oh well.

Then the rock. Our new wheelbarrow held up with only a few issues and pretty soon it was looking awesome. Dana picked out the rock from Morton & Sons. Isn't it pretty?

And then the side. Well, what did you expect. The rock was being delivered at 10AM so we figured we'd get up at 8 and put down the weed barrier before it got too hot. So why did I wake up at 7:30 to the whoosh of raindrops on my roof? Oh that's right: the universe thinks its hilarious. Yes, all our dry dirt on the side of the house got soaked again in about ten minutes of hard rain. Sheesh.

 The good news is we got the other two sides dry enough to finish and the next week (you remember, that 105 degree week?) we sweated out the evenings finishing it up. No pictures yet because we still have a small section at the back but trust me when I say it looks fantastic!