Girls Camp

I got to attend girls camp this year, as the camp director.  Let me just say, it has been quite the event in the making --I spent so much time thinking, planning, worrying, preparing, shopping etc. for camp that I thought the actual day for camp would never come :)
We had camp with the stake, held at our own little camp Ho-Nok, it's nice to have it only about 30 mins. away.  The theme was 'WOW' Women Of Worth and our ward was assigned the 50's with the color Pink!  I got the girls canvas shoes and dyed them Pink - they turned out super cute!  We also accessorized our hair with pink scarves.  Camp went perfectly, the girls had a great time with no drama & for the first time in several years (I've been told) we had perfect weather!  I'm not a big camper myself, and froze the first night --probably mostly due to being so worried about everyone/thing else that I forgot to pack properly for myself --luckily I was rescued by my awesome hubby who sent plenty of warm items up for the rest of my stay!

The girls had a blast crafting, cooking, hiking, doing skits, certifying. listening to amazing guest speakers, sharing testimonies and staying up way too late around the camp fire!

I loved the focus on being a Woman of Worth, it's nice to be reminded that our worth isn't judged by our outward appearance!

I made each girl a cute pillow case that said 'don't forget your PJ'S - Prayer, journal, Scriptures' and we talked about how these items help shape us into women of worth --I gave each girl a miniature BOM & they made prayer rocks & journals to take home too.

The last night when all the bishoprics and young woman presidencies came up we had a dutch oven Dessert cook-off with the whole stake and our girls were so excited to be the WINNERS!! (pretty good considering I had NEVER cooked in a dutch oven before!)  We made Cheesecake and it turned out great!

It was a great time & I think after three days of lots of rest I'm finally feeling back to normal :)  It's a big relief to have it over but all the hard work was worth it!

The last year in my 20's

On June 11th I had a Birthday, and it hit me that I am officially celebrating the last year in my 20's --all of a sudden 30 seems SO OLD!
LeGrand spoiled me like always! A few days before my B-day we had a yummy dinner of Lobster Roll's complete with fresh Lobster straight from Maine and it was FABULOUS!  It was nice to have a yummy dinner at home, just the two of us. 
For my Birthday I got myself a bike :)  LeGrand did an awesome job of 'pimping' it out for me, I LOVE IT!  and look forward to biking a lot!

Out of the mouths of babes!

I know I've mentioned this before but these two LOVE each other!

Laexin takes his role as 'Big Brother' really seriously and is always helping, watching out for, and taking care of his little sister - it makes me so proud!  Even at his T-ball practice in front of all his buddies he let his sister join in & was so proud to brag about his 'sissy'! 
The other day I looked out to find this scene:

Laex teaching his Sis how to DRIVE the gator (while hauling her bike, ha ha)! Good thing there's plenty of open space & not much to run into ;)
I'm so happy they are such good friends!

They are both growing up, and I'm realizing that time does go faster when they get older and busier! 

Anyway, lately they've booth been saying some things that I just don't want to forget --
Loa is drama, with a capital 'D'!  Man, some days I really think she is going to 'drive me to drink'--she will throw an hour fit over the fact that she didn't get to pick out her own spoon for breakfast.  And let me tell you, if she doesn't get her sleep or fed just when she needs it, she is TWICE the drama (ummm, it's possible she gets this from me ;) I just keep telling myself that she's getting it all out now so she'll be an 'angel teenager' :)
One day I had locked myself in the bathroom ;) and she kept banging on the door saying, 'mommy open, mommy open' of course I was ignoring her.  Finally, I guess she had had it, she mustered up the meanest voice she could and very sternly shouted, "Naughty"! --I tried so hard not to laugh :)
Then on a different occasion she wanted me to put her socks on, I was rushing around trying to get everything we needed to leave the house therefor I wasn't able to put her socks on 'right now', after following me around for a bit she said, "Mommy, Trouble Maker"!
 What.A.Girl!!

Laex is a quick learner & remembers everything, sometimes I really appreciate this as was the case today!
I asked him to get dressed and he was supposed to put on a polo type shirt that had three buttons at the top --he wanted me to undo the buttons for him to get the shirt over his head, I refused - first, because I know he can do it because he's done it before, next, because he needs to know that I'm not going to do everything for him :)  So, he got frustrated, went in his bedroom & shut the door.  I told him when he had gotten his shirt on he could come out.  It only took a couple of minutes before he came out with his shirt on.  I said, "Good job buddy, I knew you could do it!", he responded with, "you wanna know why I could do it?", I said, "why?" He said, "Cause I prayed to Heavenly Father to help me, then I was able to do it!"  I said, "I'm so glad you thought to pray!" He said, "Yep, cause that's what they taught us in Primary."

Memorial Day

We were lucky enough to have the Holley's visit us over Memorial Day weekend.  The kids had a blast playing and we did plenty of chatting and hanging out!  We decided to visit the little town of Chesterfield close by us, it has some old original pioneer homes and every year they kick off their tourist season with a memorial day celebration.

 {Not really sure, but I'm guessing LeGrand is throwing up his 'C' for Chesterfield? (although it's backward) wouldn't be LeGrand without a bit of craziness in every photo! And...getting Laexin to pay attention is a whole other issue :)}

We joined in on the lunch of Hamburgers & Hot Dogs, enjoyed us a scone, had some yummy treats from the bake sale, visited the old log store for some penny candies & each of us had a horseshoe nail ring built!

There were lots of fun things happening, handkerchief dolls, butter making, kite flying, an auction & lots of tours of the old buildings.

 The kids even spotted some baby prairie dogs that we caught and held - like many animals, they're pretty cute...when they are little! :)

 {This was right before she started squeezing a bit too tight & that little guy squeaked then bit her good!}

It was a fun day & we loved having the company of our good friends!