It's Great To Be Missed

When Sierra and I arrived home from camp, we found this beautiful bouquet waiting for us on the counter. Thanks guys!

Camp LoMia...Bringing Back the Good Times

May 29-June 2 Sierra and I got to go to Girls Camp together. We were both soooo excited to go. I grew up going to camp at Camp LoMia and I loved it. I have wonderful memories of being up there with the friends that I grew up with in good ol' 25th ward. I remember writing "Catherine loves Todd" all over the walls. (back then you were allowed to graffiti on the inside walls of the cabins...but not anymore...it's all been painted over) Sierra was excited to make her own good times. I am usually with the older girls, but I got to stay with Sierra this time and be one of her Cabin Moms. I loved it. I had such a GREAT group of girls. They all got along. They are all such good girls. Sierra is lucky to have so many her age....12 girls in her year. And, one more just moved in:).

The girls had their "spiritual" classes where they were reminded that they were daughters of Heavenly Father. They truly are "Princesses". Oh, and note....the torch. The whole camp theme was based on the Survivor TV show. Each cabin had a torch that they had to protect from other tribes who would try to steal it. You could also win immunity by completing the challenge of the day first. We earned immunity the first day. Our color was purple - for the Young Women's Value of Integrity.

We decorated our cabin with flamingos galore. Gotta love it.

We sang all sorts of silly, obnoxious songs with some pretty crazy actions. I loved it. This was our girls first year to come so they had a lot of camp songs to learn.

The girls and I played games. Do you like our face paint? That was from our "rite of passage" that we earned for going on the hike.

Of course, they had lots of crafts up there for the girls to make. This is a book made out of the word "Believe" cause they are all Believers. Our Stake Theme is 1 Timothy 4:12 "Be thou an example of the believers...in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

In this book, there was a page to put camp memories, including one's camp nicknames. When we saw that, we knew that we all needed a camp nickname. Some girls used their nicknames from home while others made up new ones. l to r: Amber was Froggy girl due to her collection of frogs at home, Morgan was Finch, a name her sibling calls her, Sierra chose Dusk...opposite her middle name of Dawn, Alex became known as Ringlet since she let me curl her hair for the first time, Hayley was Bopper - nickname from home, Riley was Newby since she was the new girl in our bunch, Maddie was Bubbles - nickname from home, Jayne was Snickers due to the love of the candy bar, Cymrie was Ariel for her part in the skit, Abbey was known as Snipee for her part in the Snipe Hunt, Hannah was blondie for her very blonde hair, and Kadee was our Agent Squirrel after the many squirrels up there and since she is small and quiet like one. The leader in the far back became Sister Violeta since she was so great at wearing our camp color, purple, everyday. When coming up with one for me, I brought up my nicknames from home. Growing up, my Dad called my Punky Dunky...or just Punky. Then, I told the girls how Todd called me Spaz. I must have acted too much like a 12 year old up there, cause the girls quickly grabbed up that name and started calling me Sister Spaz. Gotta love it.

Don't ya just want one of those flamingo hats?! They were to go along with our skit.

Of course, we got all excited to see four deer out in the field one day.

Here's the lovely ladies that I served with. l to r: Me, Susan, Erynn (behind), Tammi, Arloa (behind) Celest, Wendi, and Kris (behind). I love these gals!

Here's our tribal leaders during one of our Makafeke ceremonies....where you write down a bad habit or something like that on a piece of paper and throw it into a fire to symbolize overcoming it.

yummmm. We made mini Smores made over a tealight one night after our devotional.

We really did have a great time. Fun classes. Good times. Girl Bonding. Testimony building.

Speaking of.....on Sunday, it was a whirlwind day of crying. First, a great lesson on eternal marriages in the Temple. Then, we watched "The Testament" ...one of my fav. church movies of all times ....and I cry every.time. at the end when Helam sees the Savior face to face. Then, we had a great fireside on the Atonement. Our Stake YW leader did pushups to buy the girls these HUGE cookies. But, it got to be LOTS of pushups and it was hard for her. Tears were shed. But she was willing to pay the price for them. Some girls said no to the cookie realizing what was going to happen. But, then, they were told that the price had to be paid whether they accepted the cookie or not. Yes, a tear-jerker of an object lesson representing the Savior and how He paid the price for us. WOW....talk about overwhelming. Then, to top it all off, we had testimony meeting at the end of the night. Boy, were my eyes tired of crying. But, I couldn't believe how strong the spirit was felt up there. I loved it. loved it. loved it. Can't wait to go back next year.

This was the morning we were going home. The very last day....getting up for the very last flag ceremony....if you can call that "getting up" when many were still in their pajamas. Do they look tired? :)

Nothing a snow cone can't fix.

The girls favorite activity to do during freetime was to walk the creek.

Aren't they all beautiful?! I was so glad that I got to go up there and be with Sierra and all of her friends. I made some more wonderful Camp LoMia memories.

Going home at last.

Certification for Camp

In order to go to Girls Camp, the girls have to spend a day beforehand going through certification classes on first aid, cooking outside, etc. Here, Sierra and her friend, Hayley give me a smile between classes.

The girls made some egg in a bread thing. Unfortunately, the pan was too hot and burned most of them.

Yum. Appetizing. not. I think the girls ended up throwing theirs away. Although, they also made this marshmellow-choc. chip filled banana in the fire also. Lucky for me, Sierra doesn't like bananas so I had to eat hers. Yummy. Right up there with Smores, baby.

Seeing More Spots

In May, Sierra had another POA show. She stuck with jumping and gaming. Pepper just keeps getting better at jumping.

I don't really have a trained eye to know what to look for, but another mom came up to me afterwards and commented on how well Pepper did. ...How he looked like a butterfly...just so easily flying over those jumps.

Hmmm. I'm not so sure, but is this what a butterfly looks like?:)

Well, Sierra loved it and she seems to be getting more and more into it.

She was very proud of her First Place for jumping (technically called Hunseat Equitation Over Fences 12 & Under). At her first couple of shows, she had started out just jumping simple cross rails (two in a row). But, now she does a pattern with multiple jumps in it. Way to go Sierra! She also earned a 2nd in Hunter Hack 12 & Under, but above in the photo you can tell she likes the blue one better:).

And, of course, at the end, she had a blast playing the games. She came home with a 2nd for Cloverleaf Barrels, a 2nd for Figure 6 Barrels, a 3rd in the Texas Roll back, and a 2nd in Scurry. WooHoo!

Play on, Sierra

Sierra did a great job playing the piano at her end of the year recital. She had her song fully memorized and played beautifully. We are proud of her!

Reading Buddies

Brothers for reading buddies even beats out those reading buddies you get at school. There's nothing like sharing a book right before bedtime with your brother.

End of the Year Awards

Zane's second grade had the traditional end of the year awards and singing program.

Yea, he looked a little out of it that day. Lack of sleep? Just no enthusiasm for singing? Where did his normal performing antics go??? who knows. I actually have a video clip of him, but it'll put you to sleep too:) I'm yawning just thinking of it. Well, we are proud of our Zane either way.

Found it!

the missing pic - the plants the boys grew from seed from the MAC field trip:)

Mother n Daughter Night

Since all our boys were off to the Father n Sons Campout, it only left Sierra and I at home. So, what are a couple of cowgirls to do when they have a free night together? Ride!

We invited another mother - daughter team to join us in the fun. Arloa and Cymrie came along.

We went out to the Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction. We had a great ride. Sorry, the pic is not in focus, but it was so cute to see the girls trotting along, chatting, and having fun as they went down the river wash.

Here are Sierra, Cymrie, and Arloa enjoying the view from on top of one of the hills we climbed.

After the ride, we headed over to the steakhouse at Goldfield and enjoyed some hamburgers. It was a fantastic night out....just the girls and our horses. Can't beat it.

Father N Sons Campout

In May, our ward held the annual Father n Sons Camping Trip. This was Weston's first year to go. The boys and Todd all had a great time. Wes talked about how he slept under the stars with Zane and Dad. (Lance hid out in the truck). Wes loved going on a hike with his Dad....probably cause he didn't come home with any bug bites even though his Dad did. :) It was a fun trip for our men. (sorry, no pics....they wouldn't let me come up and be the photographer...and you know Todd doesn't do that stuff very well)

Here's an "after" the campout shot. You see when Todd and Weston went on their little hike on the Father n Sons Campout, they picked Mom some flowers. How thoughtful! Love my guys!

the MAC

Way back in May:), Zane's second grade went on a field trip to the MAC. No, that's not where Big Macs are made, but it's the Maricopa Agricultural Center in Maricopa, AZ. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I followed behind the bus in my car so that I could bring Wes along with me.

In their first station, they planted seeds and talked about what seeds need in order to grow. We brought these home and they really did grow. In fact, I was sure to take a picture of their plants, but now I can't seem to find the picture on my computer. Where did it go?

Zane was such a good helper to his little brother, Wes. It was so cute to watch.

Next, the boys learned about conserving water.

And, so a relay game was played after the lesson. Each team tried to conserve water by not spilling and getting their trash bin filled up the quickest. Go Zane go.

After that, we learned about eating healthy vegetables and fruit. We were even served a healthy snack.

Then, it was time for lunch. ...Can't beat a yummy lunchable either. I think the boys were hungry.

When they were done eating, they could "play" on the equipment, go through a hay bale maze, pump some water, and just have fun!

After our lunch/plau break, we went to three more stations. The first one was a tractor ride out to the radish fields.

The boys were so excited. They got to dig up their own radishes!! They even got to keep their radishes!!! (we won't mention how gross they tasted when we got home though)

Both Wes and Zane said this was their favorite part. How cool is that?!

Do those radishes look appetizing to you? Well, if you think so, looks can be very decieving.

Then, we went inside and made a cool bracelet with beads that represented everything that a plant needs in order to grow.

Here's all of Zane's group showing off their cool bracelets. Last of all, was a movie station. The field trip was a great success. The kids loved it. I loved it how they had such a variety of activities...and so "hands on". I would highly recommend it.