Girls Camp 2010, Camp Moqui...Baby!

BE ALL YOU CAN BE, CAMP MOQUI
"BE STRONG and of GOOD COURAGE"

Girls camp was so much fun this year!! I was esp excited to have Nikole come with me!! She already knew some of the girls from staying with us last summer, so I think she really enjoyed getting to know them better too.


We were #1 after repelling down a cliff:)
I love the amphitheater area at camp! There are beautiful Aspen trees all around and it is absolutely magnificent!! Camp this year was a little later in the summer, so we ended up there for Monsoon season. Rain and some storming but we were also able to enjoy some beautiful Rainbows too!! A couple of times the rainbows came while we were amongst the aspens, it was moments like that that I could have sat there for hours just to marvel at the beautiful things in nature that the Lord has blessed us with!

We hiked to the lake where we swam, canoed, kayaked, did some 'cliff' jumping (large boulder jumping:) and just had a great time with our ward.



My third years and I made pizzas and a cool s'mores dessert over campfire. yum yum:)
Emma was a tough little cookie! She's the youngest in our yw, but she repelled down the cliff-side without even breaking a sweat!
...love Gayla! This is my comic relief buddy! She always makes me laugh:)

So my dear friend from another ward and I had a little 'friendly' (..or not so friendly..you see her holding me down with her foot! ..what a cheater:) push-up competition. I won, of coarse! I think I did 14 man push ups and the only reason I stopped was because the rocks were digging into my palms. I was cranking them puppies out so fast she didn't even know what ran over her.... and if you're reading this, Kindy, well, you know it's true:) Ok, so the real reason she's got her foot on me is because I did it to her first...and she was cranking them out too...but I still won:)
Repelling.....
fierce and mighty leaders!


I've repelled many times, but this was Nikole's first time. She was pretty nervous about the height but she really was brave! We had a really steep, crumbly climb up. It was hard, nevertheless, we made it! I told her that I saw the terror in her eyes as she was getting over the ledge. Once she got over and was on her way down, she was totally fine. Proud of you Nikole!!

Brooke turned 14 while we were at camp, so I brought "breakfast in bed" for her. Eclipse cup, plates and napkin...donuts, muffins and a wig to wear on her special day!
at the lake
We got to make lanyard pens. Brooke is seriously a pro at this stuff! I was feeling all good about myself because I know the ways of the lanyard..I used to make tons of things out of it 'back in the day'. Brooke can weave designs and practically spell words out in her stuff. She's hardcore and knows how to do way more than I even imagined! I highly recommend her to anyone who may be in need of anything involving lanyard!!
Sis Tubbs was going around french braiding every ones hair. I would have offered to help, but her braids looked so good that I didn't want anyone comparing, lol. Instead, I got her to braid my bangs so they'd be out of my face. Thanks Aubry!!
..most of the gang...
Our fourth years finally come into camp!!
I brought this swimming pool so we could pamper ourselves a little. We had a great time and just as we were getting ready to get our feet out, Bishop Weaver pulled up, so guess what he got? ..a pedicure of coarse!! The girls loved it and he was a great sport!

On the last night, there were extra girls in our tent, so Shel and I stayed in my tent that we put up as a 'changing room' for anyone who wanted to use it. Vikki brought some of her yummy homemade salsa and chips so we let her sleep over with us:) We had a great time. Laughing and snorting and talking!!
~~~Ghosts of Girls Camp~~~who could they be?.....

My big brother and beautiful niece

Blake & Nikole!!! My brother and niece came to visit in June. Blake stayed for about a week and Nikole stayed for almost 6 weeks!! It has been such a fun fun summer being able to see Blake and have Nikole stay with us for so long!! She said she had an amazing summer going to girls camp with me and she got closer to alot of the kids in our ward that she knew from last summer....she really "enJoeyed" her summer stay with us, that's for sure! LOL! I so appreciated having her here and helping me out so much, esp with all the swim lessons I was doing!
Here are a few pictures we took while Blake was here. He and Marty were off golfing most of the time and they really seemed to love it, regardless of the 115 degree, blazing sunny weather!

We had fun Cheering Brant on at one of his games...

He's played catcher most of this summer season, but Marty has pulled him in to pitch a few times. It was fun to see him so switch it up during the game .

Nikole and Aunt Tiff:)
Jacob was not happy about being in the heat, but he did ok as long as he had his drawing pad and pen!
Marissa was a little bored,lol! I think it was more like, a little tired, because she fell asleep like this!
Great game guys!!!

After the game we went to Lo-Lo's to eat chicken & waffles! Yum-yum!!

There was one day, while Blake was still here, that two of my swim lesson kids came and as they were walking around to the pool they found this baby birdie on the path that leads around the side of our house. His wing was broken and he couldn't get around very well so we picked him up and tried to care for it. It was love at first sight as far as Marissa was concerned! Stephanie (who just happens to be an amazing photographer!!) didn't have her fancy camera, but she used mine and took some cool photos while I worked with her kids in the pool!

Photo Shoot by Jenn VanAllen

I'm so seriously behind on my blogging that it's really not funny!! Just before heading to Girls Camp (Go LaLoma!!), my friend, Jenn, took a bunch of shots of my kids playing in the pool. It was a great opportunity to get some candid photos of my kids. Jenn had them edited and on a disk super fast! As I sat here working on some stuff for Yw's tonight, I realized that I put the disk on my desk, left for camp and never even got a good look at them! So I'm so excited to blog a bunch of them now! I'm a little bias, but I think they turned out pretty awesome! Thanks Jenn!

~~Marissa Treading Water~~

Last week I spent some time teaching Marissa to tread water so she could swim longer distances. Now that she is able to tread, she can easily pull her head up to take breaths as she swims. I'm so proud of her!!!

Back to my roots...

Last Month I had the opportunity to take a trip...all by myself(!)...back home to SC. As much as I love and adore my wonderful kids and hot, AWESOME husband, it was a blessing for me to be able to go and spend some good, solid, one-on-one time with my parents, grandparents, brothers and their families. I came home feeling renewed, excited to be back home with Marty and the kids and ready to start a fun summer with them! Here are a few highlights of my trip:

The #1 reason I went home was so that I could update all of my certifications to teach swim lessons. My brother Heath was the one teaching and certifying me, so he's the one I spent most of my time with....in the pool:) I so appreciate him!! I learned so much from him during the week and just really treasure the time spent with him. Thanks Heathie!

I was able to go the the Southern Strutt concert! My Aunt is the owner and she has never just put on a little "end of the year dance recital"! She puts on a three hour, full blown, theme and all, production show at the downtown theatre! Mom and Uncle Bobby are always in it as actors. I was really inspired by the show (I will post about it in more detail at a later date)! Aw, here's mom and I in the dressing room after the show.


My Girls! We always make it a point to get together every chance we can!! Don't ask what we were doing here, cuz it's kinda ridiculous! ...well, ok you talked me into it, I'll tell ya: We were goofing off with the camera...this was our "Botox look"!...wait, or is this our "hot mama" look? Looking at it, I'd say that Stacey is definitely doing 'Hot Mama', I'm just kissing the air and Kim?....well, maybe that's her "I think I'm gonna barf" look...? (LOL Kim!!!)

Denise didn't get to go out with Stacey, Kim & I but I did get to see her while I was at Heath's.
I made Denise do a few poses of her own...The Thinker. Denise, you look wise beyond your years!

Blake, Me, Heath & John!!! I seriously have the BEST brothers ever!!! I love them each so much and was so grateful that we could all spend some time together!! We took the kids out on Lake Murray and had a blast!! I really missed Marty and the kids this day! It would've been so much fun for them to be there.
Nikole
Nikole & Dallin
Me & Blake! Blake made sure he got a date with me while I was home! The thing about it is that I was all the way across town at Heath's. After getting off work one night, Blake drove probably an hour from work to where I was, picked me up and took me out for dinner! That really meant a lot to me!!

John-John drove from NC to come see me!! He'll never know how much I appreciated that! I loved getting to spend time with all of his kids too! We were all impressed with his knee boarding skills!

Tanner
Bryson, Luke & Kasidy

This is for you, Laurie!!!