Hiking the Y (Day 2)

Thursday morning came early for me, as I rolled over wide awake only to see the clock say 6:30!! That made NO sense since Utah time was an hour later. I should have been waking up at 8:30! I sat there contemplating putting on my work out clothes and hitting the gym. But then I was afraid I might wake everyone up. I'm glad I didn't work out, because the hike was a work out in itself!

We finally made it out of the hotel by 9:00. Breakfast was a stop at Jamba Juice and Great Harvest. We got our water supply at the BYU creamery on our way to the trail head. The kids were excited to see how high up we were, just at the parking lot. Sophia was the most excited, but of course she gets to ride on Ben's back all the way up. Ethan started complaining early on, and Aubrie complained because she had hurt her side in diving a few days before. It was a steep hike, and since we didn't get to the trail until around 10, it was also very warm. The switchbacks were short, but kids needed lots of breaks. Sophia on the other hand kept telling Ben not to stop. What a nice way to hike!

We finally got to the top around 11:00. The kids were so excited once they got to the top, and Ben and I were a little nervous as they were wanting to walk around the Y! We all sat down and had a snack and some water. We enjoyed the view for about 10 minutes, and then headed back down. Aubrie said it hurt her side even more going down. I felt bad for her, but half way down she forgot about it. It was a good time, despite the complaints. Believe it or not, that was my first time EVER hiking the Y! All the years I went there, and all the time I had friends foolishly hike it at midnight....I somehow never made it up there. It was great way to hike it for the first time...with my family!

This kid always like to pretend he his falling!

Dandelion anyone?

After the hike we went to the bookstore. The kids had fun picking out a few things. Actually, I don't think Boston got anything except a toothbrush that he forgot to pack!

After the bookstore, we walked around campus a bit. I dragged the family to the Widstoe building for a peek in the anatomy lab. What a rush of memories flooding back to me. I used to be an Anatomy TA, and the smell of that formaldehyde definitely brought back those memories of endless hours in the lab! I loved walking around campus, and realized how much I took for granted the beauty of it. It really is so beautiful there. I really hope my kids have the opportunity to attend BYU! What an amazing experience it is to go there.

After our walk on campus, we headed to Cafe Rio (YUM) for lunch! That place is ALWAYS a zoo, but it was worth it! We then went back to the hotel. I took off with the older three to the mall, while Ben stayed behind and napped with Sophia. The kids had fun at the mall. Boston tried to talk me into buying Ethan some skinny jeans that they found at the Gap, and Aubrie had fun finding all these cute clothes for Sophia. She loves picking out clothes for her. I nixed the skinny jeans, and got Sophia a great stash for school. Yep...school! Hard to believe she will be starting preschool this fall. Anyway, Boston kept bugging me to buy Ethan the jeans the whole time. Ethan didn't really care too much about them, which was funny. Boston even offered to pay for some of them. Gotta say that was pretty generous of him to want to spend his own money to help his brother dress "cool"! lol We did find Ben an awesome Boston Red Sox tie during our shopping expedition. After about an hour or so at the mall, Ben called and was ready for us to come back. We picked them up and grabbed dinner at Jersey Mikes and caught a movie with Amber and her husband. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that we saw Eclipse. Not because there is anything wrong with Eclipse, but because we took all the kids. The older 3 have seen the first two. They are way into the series. Boston was so excited for it to come out. I just figured Sophia would fall asleep during the movie, but she never did. And then there were some kissing scenes I didn't expect. Usually we screen ALL PG 13 movies before we let our kids watch them. I figured this one would be like the rest. Guess I learned my lesson, as I sat there thinking that the people around us were wondering why we would have our 6 and wide awake 3 year old with us! Oh well! Lesson learned, but for the record it was MUCH better than the first two! After the movie Ben took the kids swimming, minus Aubrie. She wanted to stay behind. I think she was hoping for a round of Yatzee, but seemed disappointed when all I did was crawl into bed. That 6:30 wake up and hike to Y, tuckered this old Mom out and I had another day of hiking ahead of me!!

Utah here we come! (Day 1)

So after discovering how awesome it was to spend the 4th of July in Utah, last year, we decided to try and make it a yearly tradition. We headed out for Utah on Wednesday of last week. The trip was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing around here. The kids enjoyed a day of being able to use ipods, play DS's and watch movies without having to use a ticket. ( Did I ever mention that this summer they have to earn tickets to do those things? They earn them by playing board games, reading, getting chores done without being asked, working on church stuff, doing flash cards, playing outdoors, etc. It's worked great! Boston knows his times tables, Ethan can read like a champ, and it keeps them from endless TV and computer time!) Anyway, we left home around 9:00 and got to Utah about 6:30. Our first stop was the Ellermeiers. They are old friends from North Carolina. We had a BBQ and the kids had fun playing with theirs, while we caught up. It was great seeing them and seeing how big their kids have gotten. We haven't seem them since I was pregnant with Sophia. (And I'm so mad that we didn't take any pictures! boo hoo) Time went fast visiting, and we realized, even though it was daylight outside, that is was 9:00 and they still had school the next day. We quickly left, and headed to OUR hotel. I say its ours because we have stayed there ever since I can remember. We always stay at the Courtyard by the BYU stadium. Its perfect! Maybe we like it because it's so close to Raintree (the apartments Ben and I lived in where we meet and got engaged. ha ha) It definitely is the best place to stay if you want to go to or at least see the fireworks that the Stadium of Fire puts on!

When we got to the hotel, the kids couldn't stay away from the pool. The boys had to stay behind for some reason (probably fighting) but the weren't too disappointed when I pulled out the Yatzee. That is their favorite game this summer. It's definitely great for their math skills! After the girls and Ben got back from the pool, Aubrie almost seemed disappointed that we were playing Yatzee while she was swimming! We tried to settle down to go to sleep. We had a big day ahead of us, which was going to start with a morning hike up to the Y! After a lot of talking and giggling, we finally fell asleep around midnight!

Circus Time

The morning after I got home from camp wasn't a day of rest either. The kids had their piano recital. The theme was show tunes. Boston played the Imperial March from Star Wars, and the Spongebob theme. Aubrie had Hedwig's theme from Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast. They both did great. The piano they played on sticks a bit, and that makes it hard for them, but they did really well for what they had to play with.

For some reason, their piano recitals always fall on a day that we have something, and so they have to go first and we leave right after. Last time it was the same day as Boston's baptism. This time we had bought tickets to the Barnum and Bailey circus that was to start an hour later. I'm sure the other students and their parents are probably thinking we are so rude to do ours first and not stay for theirs.

This time the kids didn't know that they were going to go first, because the Circus was a surprise. When we got there the kids saw the program and said, "Why do we always go first." I just commented how weird that was, and when they were done we pulled them out. They started complaining that they wanted to hear the rest of the songs and wanted to know why we were leaving. We made up some excuse about Ben having an appointment, but Aubrie is way to nosey and persistant. When I wouldn't give up details, she just kept complaining that it was dumb they couldn't stay. When we finally showed up to the circus they were so excited, and I said to Aubrie, "How do you feel about complaining that we left early now?" She got a big grin on her face and got the point!

The Circus was AMAZING! We had great seats- center aisle (important for those potty breaks) 5th row from the floor. There were so many acrobatic acts that kept us in awe the whole time. The kids enjoyed the show and all the food items, that I swear added up to be almost as much as the tickets! Really, how can they feel good about themselves selling cotton candy for 12 bucks?!!? The experience was all worth it. I was so excited when I first thought of the idea. I looked it up last year and found out they were coming. I booked tickets the day they were available and looked forward to a fun family experience. It's all about the memories for me! I knew this was the perfect time to take them, because if we waited much longer they wouldn't be excited for it like they were now. Of course, Ben and I were loving it, so who knows??!!!

Aubrie enjoying her 9 dollar snow cone and Ethan his 12 cotton candy, that came with that awesome hat! LOL

Tuckered Out!

FAKER!!! This boy NEVER sleeps in the car! Even when we go to Utah!

Dive Meet 2

Mom didn't have much time to recoup from girls camp. Luckily my girls didn't keep us up late, and I wasn't exhausted. (I just always get stressed out when I come home and have to get things back in order, and get back in the routine of things. ) Once I felt like things were in order, I geared up for the kids dive meet that night! Unfortunately, for some reason, I put the meet time on the calendar, instead of the warm up time, so when we got there they had just started and the kids didn't get a chance to warm up. That threw them off, and Boston did a flip when he was supposed to to a gainer. He was really upset about it, and the judges were nice enough to let him do one at the end of the meet, since everyone was anxiously waiting to see it. He didn't care that he placed second. He just wanted to show everyone what he could do. Aubrie placed first, though she nearly gave me a heart attack as her head came inches from the board on her flip. Ethan placed first. On the way to the car Ethan said. Now next time I need to get second and they need to get first so we all will have two firsts and one second. Nice of him to be so willing to take on for the team so they could all have the same ribbons, huh? Gotta love how that kid thinks! After the dive meet we headed to Cafe Rumba for some of my favorite grub. The kids actually tolerate it and don't complain, which makes it even better!

Fun with the camera while waiting for our food!

Girls Camp 2010

As usual, I wasn't overly excited for girls camp as is was quickly approaching. I feel like this every time. It's not that I don't like girls camp. I LOVE it! It's the anxiety of preparing and leaving my kids, that I don't like. But every year, after its over, I LOVE the experience, and am ready to volunteer for the next year, knowing it's all worth it.

This year, to my surprise, I got all but 2 of the same girls I had last year. I was so excited for that. My girls were AWESOME. When I mean awesome, I mean so respectful, kind to one another, and fun. My fellow Cabin Mom seemed so great from the first time I met her, and so I had absolutely no anxiety about my cabin. I was wishing that I had the same cabin as last year, but I was happy with my girls and cabin Mom so there definitely was no room for complaints!

After the cabin assignments were made, the Camp director sent some emails out about cabin changes. Each time I checked my list of girls and was happy to see that there were no changes. As I was waiting for my ride the first morning of camp, I went to double check where my cabin was and when I looked down at the last revised list, I noticed that the location of my cabin had been changed to the cabin that I had last year. I was so excited! Ben couldn't understand how something like that could get me so excited. Well the location of the cabin is right in front of the kitchen and the Ramada, where most everything goes on. It really is a great spot. It was also great, because it felt like a true reunion for me and my girls, being in the same spot! I believe that the Lord does give us some of our most simple desires!!

Girls camp was amazing this year. The camp seemed much more peaceful, and there were no problems with girls being mean, etc. I attribute that to a Stake decision to put 2 YCL's in each cabin, instead of giving them their own cabin. They provided a peer example for the girls the entire time, and it also helped the YCL's become more responsible. It was a great experience.

This year there was also a new group of ladies, that I really enjoyed getting to know better. But honestly, most of my time was spent with my girls. I spent more time with them, and my fellow cabin Mom than anything else. I also spent time helping out in the kitchen, which gave me an even greater appreciation for what they do!

One thing different this year about my own personal experience, was that I missed Aubrie more than ever. I kept seeing the little first years, and kept thinking about her and how she would be there in two more more summers. With each experience, I pictured her there and how she would respond to each activity, etc. I couldn't stop thinking about her, and I missed her so much! I really can't believe how fast she has grown, and it really hit me how much growing up she will do in just a few years!

Some of my greater highlights of camp included; my cabins talent show. They did an awesome job and it got a lot of laughs. They did this beauty pageant, and all of them had quirky characteristics!

I also loved working on the rope of virtue. Girls walked this rope blindfolded and the people working the rope would stop them, and whisper something to them. I spoke to them about the importance of studying the Gospel, and how it would help them now and with their future family. It was amazing to see the reaction on their faces. I especially loved when they recognized my voice, and started to cry. I loved putting my arm around each girl and speaking to them. It was so personal, and spiritual! Another highlight was when Kayleen Brazelton, one of my graduated YW from the old ward, came up to camp as I was working the rope. She came through the rope course. She is like a younger sister to me, and I was so excited as she approached me on the rope course. When she heard my voice, we both hugged each other tightly. It made me think of what it will be like when we are reunited with loved ones on the other side. Great tears and hugs will be shared, I'm sure!!

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Brazleton's (specifically the Dad) played a joke on me. Last year, with the nudging of some other ladies at camp (names will be withheld) , I replaced his sports pillow case with a YW pillow case. This year he retaliated by buying me a princess crown and requiring that I wear it to every meal, in order to get my food. I thought I could get away without wearing it, but my girls would tell him if I didn't and he would not give me my meal. (He and his wife worked in the kitchen) I tried every meal to get my food without it, but was ratted out each time. Luckily I had the cabin close by, so I didn't have far to get it. I have to give them credit for a funny idea, that wasn't malicious! My girls had a fun time getting in on it, too! It was a bit embarrassing though, as I saw people looking at me with the look of , "why does she have that silly crown on".

As the last day approached, I was sad to say goodbye, and hope that I am lucky enough to serve at YW camp next year. My chances aren't as likely unless I'm called to the Stake. Again, simple desires....right?;)

West Wing

1st years (Aubrie in 2 years!)

Second Years

Third Years

Fourth Years

YCL's

Cabin Moms

(Shannon Baugh, Terri Moore, Carla Hansen, Diane Sheats, Melissa Stocking, & me)