Girl's Camp 2012

All of us working hard on putting our tents and shade together…The girls were amazing and did all their tents on their own!

This was our camp flag. We were Camp Abish. Her story is found in Alma chapter 17. Our flag was definitely the best flag of all. One of our young women did this. She is an amazing artist! The next picture is the zip line. It was ton of fun and I am waiting to get some pictures of me doing it from the other leaders. Fun times!

This is our girls waiting patiently for the zip line. The next one is our dish washing line. The girl’s were great about helping out!

 
These are some of our girls! Aren’t they cute?!

 
Do you see that big pole in the distance on that mountain? That is where the second year girls took their 5 mile hike. It was a steep hike and very draining, but it was so pretty at the top. The hardest part was when we got up to this flat part after climbing a mountain that was basically us climbing straight up and I thought we made it all the way until they said we still had to go up a little ways more, which was another 5 minutes. It was a great adventure, but I definitely liked the walk down more than the walk up.

 
These are the “obstacles” that we had to do. They were team building things and the girls did great with them!:)

 
One of our girls Mary hurt her ankle after our obstacle challenge. The other girls were so cute and helpful and carried her back to our tent. The other picture is our girls when they were in charge of flag ceremony on night.

 
Bishop Gerber was an amazing fire builder…and loved to make them as big as possible!:) It kept us very warm.

 
Enjoying some yummy food!:)

 
More eating and cleaning

 

Kate, Idamae, Deserae, Jen, Alice-Anne

 
Us leaders did a great performance of “Popcorn Popping” Deserae, Alice-Anne and I were the singers and Kate, Idamae, and Brother Corrigan were the back up dancers. It was fun for us…I don’t know if anyone else enjoyed it. This other picture is a picture of the camp grounds. The building is the bathrooms and down that big hill is where our camps were.

We had Girl’s Camp this year and it was awesome!:) We had a ton of fun. After months and months of planning and preparing, we made it and could do no more to prepare. None of us leaders had ever been to this camp before…and most of us had never been to Girl’s Camp as a leader. We were walking into this blind. Another hard thing about this camp was that we did not have an official camp director. We had submitted multiple names, but none of them ever worked out. So we as a presidency just decided to take it all and divide it up between us. It was such a fun camp. We grew so much closer to the girls and got to know them in a different way. We had a ton of laughs and very little drama. In total the whole week we had 5 leaders coming and going and 2 priesthood holders, Brother Corrigan and Bishop Gerber. They were great and without them I don’t think we would have had fire, at least not nearly as big of fire. We had some great experiences. The 5 mile hike with the second year girls was hard, but amazing at the same time. When we got to the top and had lunch and looked at the amazing view it was great! We also did what was called the Iron Rod. The camp had tied a rope around trees and we were all blind folded and led by someone else that would tell us where to go and whether there was anything ahead of us to watch out for. I was one of the first ones to finish and was able to watch the other girls try to make it and hold tight to the rod. It was an amazing experience and such great symbolism of this life we are living. Our testimony meeting was also amazing and you could definitely feel the spirit so strong. Our girls have such strong testimonies of the gospel. We had so many good experiences. I am so grateful to have gone. Most nights the girls had to tell us leaders to be quiet and go to bed. We just all have such a good time together and laughed until we cried a lot. We learned a lot about each other, like those who like to talk in their sleep worrying about the trailer, or those who wanted to snuggle in their sleep thinking they were with their husbands….and then those who deflated my air mattress “on accident.” There were also the “Friends” quotes and the number “Seven” from “Little Rascals.” And so many sleep deprived things that we would say and not know how that came out of our mouths. We had tons of yummy food an luckily enough water for everyone (the camp had informed us 3 days before camp that we would need to bring all of our own water, because the water supply was not working and even if it did work it would be limited supply.) So we packed a ton of water and then some. On the first day driving up the huge mountain to get to the camp we had some car troubles. The truck that was bringing the trailer with all the food lost a transmission fluid and had quite the time getting up on it’s own. So we had to have someone else bring the trailer up for us. It was something!:) But we all made it somehow. I know that I am forgetting so much, which is why I am so glad that Alice-Anne blogs too, so that between the 2 of us we should be able to get it all…this has taken me about 3 days to get this post done. Our ward also has a reputation for being the first one to leave camp and we were sure to keep that one in tact. We packed as much as we could on Friday night and then we were up by 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning to get everything packed up and cleaned up before breakfast. Did I mention that there was absolutely no electricity out there and each ward was responsible for their own food too. This was foreign to me. I was used to having a cafeteria and having cabins with air conditioning in Arkansas, so this was really roughing it for me. It turns out I really do like camping, it’s just to bad David absolutely hates it. I loved being away from the world. We did have one place you could make calls from, it was called Cell Phone hill…I only made it up there once. It was quite the hike to get there. Such a great time and yet so glad we have a full year until the next one. We should be a lot more prepared and know a little more than we did this year. Let’s hope at least!:)

Maggie's Dance Recital

Maggie is 3rd from the left

Katie the Kangaroo costume

Maggie had her dance recital on Saturday and she did GREAT!!!  It was so dang cute! I have videos, but they won't download to the blog.:( Sad...but the pictures are pretty cute! She did a tap dance to "The Good Ship Lollipop" and a ballet to "Katie the Kangaroo." She sang her heart out and remembered most of the dance too.  We had some good smiles and laughs watching all those cute little girls showing us their moves.  I absolutely love KC Dance Studio, where she does dance.  They do their practices in the basement out of one of their homes and it is about a half a mile from our home, which is awesome!! The cost cannot be beat and after doing a little math in our head we figured they do not make much from this and obviously do it because they love dance and teaching.  They are amazing.  They are very easy going too about things and don't have a set outfit that they have to wear for their practices, which is nice.  I am so excited to get her in again next year! Anyways we were so grateful to have such a big audience for Maggie this year. We had Trish and Gabby, Meme, Great Grandma Turnbull, Kevin, Giselle and of course our little family! Maggie even got a trophy at the end and couldn't be happier about it.  Daddy went and got her some flowers that she could plant, because he knows she has been wanting to plant some in our front yard.  Too cute! The recital started a little later than they had said, apparently there was another show before ours, so we got a late start, but it only went until a little after 9:00, which isn't bad.  They know that people are ready to get out of there quick.  I will keep trying to get those videos on, but for now these pictures should be good!:)

Arkansas Part 2

Bubbles at Deedah's of course!

Parker and Uncle Gabe

Parker really couldn't choose who he wanted more

Block building

Parker going after Ellie

Parker at the pool...he loved it and had no fear

He was confused by Gabe without his shirt on it was pretty funny

Averi thought it would be funny to pour water on Gabe.

Parker and Ellie

Parker, Ellie, Maddy, and Livy

Me and Ellie

Parker and Pam

Parke and Gabe

Arkansas Part 1

Gabby, Trish and Parker waiting for the red eye flight!:)

Eric and Parker

Tara and Oscar

Such a cute family!:)

So last Thursday Trish, Gabby, Parker and I took a red eye flight to Little Rock for Oscar and Tara's wedding! We left at 12:55 a.m and got into Arkansas at 8:40 Thursday morning.  It was quite the flight.  Parker and Gabby did amazing and slept most of the time.  Thank goodness for Melatonin!!:) Sherrie picked Parker and me up at the airport and we headed over to Genevieve's house to meet little Eric my newest nephew! He is just too cute and such a good little baby.  I spent the morning and some of the afternoon with them and then after many phone calls asking when I was going to see my own family, I went over to Marji's house.  There I met Ellie! She too is just too cute and the best baby...between her and Eric I was very jealous and worried about my little bundle of joy Parker. In case some of you forgot, he was what some may call a high maintenance baby and very demanding and short tempered until about 10 months old.  So being around all these well behaved babies was weird for me. Seeing Pam and Genevieve just put the babies down and they would be content not having full attention all day long...anyways back to the trip :)  Thursday night we had a sisters night out with Trish, Marji, Pam, me and J.P. of course our adopted sister:)  We went to a sushi bar in Little Rock and it was pretty good. Then we did some shopping.  Then I headed back to Genevieve's and spent the night there to be with Parker on his first night in a new place.  The next day everyone in my family was dying to see Parker, so we went and hung out with everyone and Parker had a blast. He especially loved seeing Winston (Pam and Micha's dog) Parker was really missing Biscuit.  He entertained everyone pretty well as usual.  Then Parker spent the rest of Friday and all day Saturday until about 8:00 p.m with Sherrie. She was sweet enough to volunteer to keep Parker for me so I could have a break. It was AWESOME!!!! I love my kids, but I love not having boogers, snot, food and who knows what else all over my clothes and never having a full moment to just do what I want to do. It was just soooo nice to have some me time! Thank goodness for Meme~Then Saturday morning I rode with the Baileys to Memphis for the wedding. It was such an amazing temple sealing and we are just so glad to have Tara in our family officially and couldn't be happier with our new sister-in-law. She is a great fit for Oscar and fits in great with us too! I am so glad I could share their special day with them!! Then we had a yummy barbeque lunch afterwards at the church and then headed back home. I went and got Parker from Sherrie, who informed me that Parker did not cry once and was a joy to have the whole time. This is one thing I love about Parker, he just loves anyone and everyone. He has never met a stranger.  Then Saturday and Sunday we spent the night with Mom and Dad.  The whole family came down Sunday for leftover barbeque at mom's house on Sunday afternoon and we of course played Settlers of Catan and had lots of laughs.  Monday we headed back up to Bryant  and went swimming (for about 30 minutes before the lightning started) I love Arkansas thunderstorms!:)  Oh how I have missed them. So we went and hung out at Marji's and watched the amazing storm and of course laughed a lot more at all of our crazy kids.  Then that night Parker and I spent the night at Pam's and I enjoyed a pedicure, massage and make over from Madison and Gabby. It was a great time for everyone!:) Then Tuesday morning Marji was sweet enough to take some pictures of Parker for me. They turned out sooooo dang cute and I can't wait to get them! Marji really is an amazing photographer.  Then we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, which I had been putting off because I didn't want to remember how dang good real southern Mexican food really is.  It was amazing and Trish and I had a hard time not eating all the cheese dip and soaking it all in.  Then we hung out for a little while longer and packed up our things and headed back to the airport to head out west again.  Gabe was our shofer the whole weekend and we greatly appreciated it.  We had so many laughs as usual whether it was all the kids picking on Gabe, having Gabe say "Seven" in his special voice, hearing Olivia get mad at Thomas and Matthew in her special voice or just good old saying from Mom and Dad. I always come back with a ton of great memories to tide me over until the next trip!

Marji, Trish, J.P., me and Pam eating Sushi

Marji, Trish, Pam, Ellie, Parker and me eating Mexican

On the flight home Parker was very cranky. Sadly we were on a jet and I had to sit next to some 20 something girl who did not have any patience with a one year old.  She was very frustrated with Parker and just kept putting her fingers in her ears and had an annoyed look on her face.  Parker would not calm down for me at all so Trish traded places with me and held him. After about 10 minutes he fell asleep. She told the girl sitting next to her that she was sorry that Parker was so loud at first. The girl did not respond and just kept looking at her kindle.  Trish was then just kind of looking at her kindle a little and the girl then proceeded to cover it so that Trish could not see it....awkward.  I think that Parker sensed her tension and that is why he had such a hard time, because on the flight after that he didn't make a sound and slept the whole way...don't get me wrong I probably wouldn't be too thrilled about sitting next to a one year old on a 40 minutes flight, but I am confident I would not have been so rude and immature about it all. Oh well!:)  Good memories! We got home that night and David was waiting for us at the airport with David and Maggie and Dr. Peppers, Sonic burgers, and chicken strips for our dinner! What a sweet husband. It was great to go to Arkansas, but it is always so nice to come home.  I keep telling David we just need to get a vacation home in Arkansas and every year go out for one full month...for some reason he just won't go for it...weird!:)

Where does the time go??

We will usually find Parker in his stroller. He loves sitting and relaxing in it. Usually with a snack!

Maggie's favorite swing

Parker loves the swings too

My little climber

Parker loves crawling across this fun toy!

Seriously, it has been too long since I put any pictures up.  A third child will do that to you I believe.  We have had a great month and very busy.  We had Gabe and Molly out here at the beginning of the month. Then we had a couple of projects around the house that we did. I had the huge task of weeding the rose area in the front of our house.  We have about 11 rose bushes and I love every May looking forward to having fresh flowers in my house, but I do not look forward to the weeds that come with it...so I pulled up the old ground cover that has been there since before we moved in 3 years ago.  So then I had the huge task of not just cutting the weeds, but actually digging out most of the roots along with it.  I was out there doing this for a good 5 hours. Then we put new weed preventive cover over and put some new mulch over that to hopefully make my summer a little easier!  Then David installed a new swamp cooler. Ours was I don't know how old and rusted and not doing its job. We decided it was well worth the investment for a new one. We cut our bill in half, when we use the swamp cooler.  So that was quite the job for David.  He also finished the kids swing set and actually added the swings to it! The kids have absolutely loved their swings!! Parker especially loves to swing in our backyard!

Loving the swings!!

The old swamp cooler with  bird nest and everything inside it!!

The new swamp cooler that David installed with very little help from me, except to hold the ladder still!

Mother's Day

The amazing dinner that David made for Mother's Day!! It was delicious!

The heart cake David also made

All my gifts! New scriptures, a scripture case, necklaces from church from David and Little David and a wooden card that David made me so that I can not lose this one.  He said this way he can add Roman numerals to it each year and never have to get me another card! He is so creative and resourceful!!

Mother's Day was a great day this year! One of my top favorites for sure! It started with the kids coming downstairs and giving me my presents! They were very sneaky this year.  David took all the kids on Thursday night on a mysterious outing.  They came back after about an hour and little David informed me that the got me a cake for Mother's day and THAT is all.  I kept testing them for the next couple of days saying things like, "So you got me a cake and what else did you say you got me for Mother's Day?" They would just laugh and say " Mom we didn't get you anything else, just a cake!"  Apparently little David came up with the cake story on the way home...we have taught them well how to keep a secret. They did a great job keeping this secret.  Then Saturday I was out at Seagull bookstore picking something up and I had Maggie with me.  We went to the back of the store and as we were walking Maggie said kind of under her breath, "Oh ya, I was hear with Daddy." I looked at her and asked her what she said and she just looked away and said, "Oh nothing!" She truly did not mean to say anything, but was just remembering that her and Daddy came her and accidentally said it out loud and then she realized what she did! It was very hard not to laugh.  Anyways so they came down and gave me my new scriptures, a scripture case and my home-made never lose card from Daddy! The kids picked out the scripture case for me! I have been needing some new scriptures for the past couple of months. I left mine on  the couch and then the next morning the front cover was all torn up. Biscuit had chewed them up...it was a sad day.  I do love new scriptures and starting from scratch on feeling them and marking all my favorite scriptures, but I love having a good broken in pair with all of  my notes and thoughts written in it.  David had given them to me, when we were dating and I really loved them. But David was happy to have an easy present for Mother's Day to give me that he knew I would like and needed.  :)  Then we went to church and David was busy as the Elder's Quorum President helping with the Primary and nursery and making sure all the ladies in the ward had a day off...that is all except his wife!:) Parker had a little blow out at church and I had forgotten something at home, so I told David I would take him with me and change his clothes and then he could have Parker...the only problem was that he didn't tell me where he was going to be, so that didn't work out too well.  I ended up having the sweet little energetic and nonstop Parker all during church.  David got some jokes for taking care of all the other mothers in the ward except the mother of his own children!:) Then we went and visited David's Grandma Torgerson to give her some flowers that Maggie picked out and wish her a happy mother's day! It was fun to surprise her! Then we got home and the kids were all informed by David that they were not to bug Mommy today and if they needed something they were to tell Daddy! So I went into my room with no disturbance and had the best nap I have had in a while and then I woke up and thought that I needed to get up to make dinner or help with the kids, until I remembered that it was my one day a year to be lazy! So that is just what I did! I just laid there and bed and listened to David up in the kitchen getting dinner ready! He went all out! We had foil wrapped dinners with chicken, potatoes, fresh green beans, carrots and onions. We also had a fresh salad and he got drinks for everyone the night before!  Dr. Pepper for me, Sprite for the kids, Diet Coke for Molly and Dr. Pepper 10 for Trish! He thought of everything!! We even used our wedding china and the fancy glasses! (WHich David hates to do!) It was amazing. He also made a cake for dessert.  He kept the kitchen cleaned and the food coming!
I asked David how it was taking care of the kids and getting dinner ready with no help and trying to time everything right.  He said he was exhausted and was glad he didn't have to do this everyday! That made me feel great to have him see a little bit of what I go through everyday!! It was an amazing day and we were glad to spend it with the kids, Gabe and Molly, and Trish and Gabby.  I was sad to see my day off end, but glad that it was such a relaxing and peaceful day!! Thanks Baby for the great Mother's Day!!

What a Week

I haven't been blogging much lately. There has been a lot going on just not much picture taking going on! The picture above is Parker's favorite thing to do these days. He LOVES to climb into his stroller and just sit there.  He gets very frustrated, if I put the stroller away.  He is a goofball. David went to Arkansas last week. He left Friday at 11:00 a.m. and didn't get back until Tuesday night at 10:00p.m. It was a long 5 days.  David claims he only got a 3 day vacation and won't let me count the Friday and Tuesday as vacation for him, because he was at the airport on those days. He was gone for 5 full dinners, he didn't have to change a diaper for 5 days, he didn't have snot on his shirt for 5 days, he didn't have to break up one fight for 5 days, and he didn't have anyone climbing all over him for 5 days....try to fight with that reasoning.  I told him I would take 2 peaceful days in an airport and no one bugging me.  The time he was gone wasn't TOO bad.  Thank goodness for melatonin!:) I only resorted to that a couple of times while David was gone, just so I could be sure that 2 certain kids wouldn't be coming downstairs every few minutes. I had my 13 hours with them each day and I felt like that was enough time for my sanity at least...David was actually supposed to get in at 3:00 on Tuesday, but the plane he was supposed to go on was broken, so he got home at 10:00 instead. Thank goodness for my sweet neighbor, Lynda Desmond, who came over and stayed at the house while the kids were sleeping so that I didn't have to keep them awake that late.  I stayed pretty busy while he was gone. I broke down and finally bought a carpet shampooer.  It was on clearance and an amazing price and our couch was in desperate need for a deep cleaning.  So that is what I did for most of the weekend, cleaned the couch and all the carpets in the house.  So fun!;)  Then Saturday we went to my good friend Ashlee's son's baptism. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a good time seeing some other kids! Then Sunday we had church, which was...something. Parker started crying during the sacrament and I had to take him out and trust the other 2 kids to be okay getting their own water and not making a big scene...I think they did good.  Then that night 2 of my girls in my beehive class were having a piano concert and I wanted to go to that to see their amazing talents! So I packed up the 3 kids again and went back to the church. It was a great show and I was very lucky to have Brother Minson watch Parker for pretty much the whole time.  He insisted and I didn't have the energy to tell him no! So he was out in the hall while either pushing Parker in his favorite stroller or watching him run around.  I was so grateful to have a helping hand with crazy Parker.  I am very lucky to have such a great ward to help me out!  I hate asking for help, which I never have to because they all offer before I can ask. :)  I am looking forward to this weekend and having David here to watch the kids all day Saturday...I haven't told him this yet!;) Oh life with kids! It is amazing and yet sooooo draining.  But that's life and at least they are entertaining kids most of the time!!