Girls Camp

I got to attend girls camp this year. Since our ward had scheduled the Webelo's overnighter on Friday night, and girls camp didn't end until Sat., I had to come home early, so Matt could take Dillon. We left early on Wednesday morning, with several cars full of girls. The camp was about 4+ hours away, at a ranch of our girls camp director's grandparents. We stopped before getting to the ranch for lunch, and divided into groups to do various service projects.
The project our group did, was to help an elderly, widowed lady with her yard. She has a HUGE amount of land, which her son used to help her maintain. He broke his neck last year, and passed away. She did not want to let us help at first, but then warmed up to the idea, after a while. We hoed her huge garden, and also vacuumed and dusted her house. She told me in tears that she had been praying for the strength to do all she needed to do today, when we showed up. She said nobody has ever helped her like that before. I think all of the girls in our group loved helping her, and were so sweet to her. They even loved that her name is Madonna. :)

I have had a sore throat since Sunday, so I was thinking that it was just a cold. Unfortunately, I started getting achy and a fever- and realized it was most likely strep. The next day we had an all day hike planned. I woke up very dizzy, but still determined to go on this hike. We had a 2 hour drive ahead of us, and 26 miles on the most dusty, bumpy, pot holed road I've ever been on. One of the cars had a flat tire, and car sick girls, which made for an interesting start. We finally made it to the hiking spot.
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It starts out on top of a huge mountain, which you have to descend to get to the slot canyons we were going to hike. In order to get down, you have to traverse back and forth on narrow, steep narrow rocks to get to the bottom. After that, you hike through red sand, for quite some time, before reaching the canyons. The entire time I was worried, and wondering if Morgan's newly operated on legs, were going to be able to do this hike. We had been told this hike wasn't a big deal, and it wasn't too long, and we could hike one canyon- and decide not to do the other, if we didn't want to. Unfortunately, none of that was entirely true. It was long, difficult, and if you did the first slot canyon, you either had to go back the same way you had come, or hike over 1/2 mile in the sand to the next canyon, go through that, to get out. The first was really cool looking, but not so easy to do. There were huge boulders, and holes to climb up/down/ and through. I didn't take pictures, but got a couple of these from the internet. Once at the top, there is one tree, which all of the girls and leaders tried to sit under, to eat lunch, before the next hike. (Did I mention at the top it was 107 degrees?) We had not been adequately prepared with water, and having a fever and dizziness before we left, at this point I really started feeling it. After our rest, we left for the second hike, through the sand. We got to the second canyon called "spooky". It is named that for a reason. Holy cow! If you have claustrophobia, this is not the hike for you. The walls of the canyon are hard to describe. They are so close together, it is frightening. You have to drop down several feet in order to even get into the canyon, then the walls are so close together, that most of the time, you had to carry your backpack, in order to get through. Morgan was ahead of me at one point, and she says, "I don't think my head will even fit through here."
So I got a little panicked, and decided to crawl through that one, because the thought of my head getting stuck was too much. I was completely out of water by now, and not even sweating, although the temperature was over 100 degrees. I was so dizzy and seeing spots so it was hard to walk. We made it through all of the twists and turns, of the close walls, and came out into the open, hot and sandy valley. We walked for probably 3/4 a mile before we came to the big mountain that we have to climb up. I was not doing well at all by now, having had only 1 bottle of water in over 5 hours, with a fever, in the heat. I would walk a few steps, and literally could not see where I was walking, because of the spots in my eyes. Morgan was so sweet, she was encouraging me, and staying by my side, instead of going with her friends. She would say, lets just stop and rest right here, for a minute- you can get up when you're ready. I thought she was the one going to have the hard time, and yet, here she was being "the mom" to me. Two of the Priesthood leaders stayed with us, and decided to give me a blessing. It was so embarrassing, and humbling and incredibly sweet. I don't know how I could have made it up that mountain without it. It was still so difficult to even see, that I at one point, on the steep rocks, I had to hold onto the shoulder of someone, and just trust that they could get me through it. Finally we got to the top, and were ready to leave. Again, we had to travel down the 26 mile bumpy dirt road, and the car I was in got a flat- again. (Different car this time.) It took over an hour to change it, and the car fell off the jack at one point. The van that Morgan was in came up behind us, after we stopped, and literally swerved within inches of hitting our car. She slammed on her brakes and got out. The leader said she had fallen asleep, and woke at the last minute- when she saw our car on the side of the road. She said she falls asleep all the time, while driving. That would have been nice to know, before she had a van full of kids with her. (Needless to say, one of the other leaders took over the driving on the way back.) We made it back to camp eventually though. That night we had probably 10 girls sick from heat stroke/dehydration. It was not the best night. Although this hike was physical, what did everyone in was the heat/lack of water. I sure wish we had known, and been more prepared for this. I feel like we all probably learned a lot, and we pushed ourselves beyond what we normally would have. However- while this is good, it makes me sick to think that something more serious could have happened. I am so grateful for the Priesthood, and for my sweet daughter. I know I needed both on that hike. The 'fun' day of camp was suppossed to be on Friday, and Saturday- when I was gone. I will have to get the scoop from Morgan, when she gets back. I hope it was much less eventful than the days when I was there! :)

Fathers Day 2010

I never quite know how to celebrate Matt on Father's Day. It seems I couldn't do enough to even begin to show how grateful I am for him, and the father that he is. I truly am so blessed to be able to be married to him, and the kids to have him as their dad. At church, the dads got to eat ice cream for the last 10 minutes of priesthood. After church, we gave Matt his gifts. The kids had all picked something they could do with Matt for their gift. Morgan wanted to go to a movie with him, Dillon- golfing, Logan- mini. golfing, and Camden- to Del Taco. I asked each of them, what they want to do with him, and they each chose what to do. We also gave him some books, a crepe maker, and a wheelbarrow. We enjoyed a quiet dinner together, too. Since my Dad is in Guatemala, and we celebrated with Matt's dad already, we had a quiet day at home. We love Matt so much! We are so thankful for all that he does for our family. He works so hard, and then comes home and does so much here. He is such a great example to us. Happy Father's Day Matt!

Cruise

Matt and I decided to take a last minute, short 4 day cruise together. We left the kids with his cousin Kristen, and left from LA. Our first stop was to Catalina Island. On Catalina, we rented a golf cart, and drove around the Island. We walked around some, and then got back on the boat. (Not too much to do there- but it was pretty!) The next day we went to Ensenada, Mexico. We wanted to go to the beach, so we paid a taxi driver to drive us to the beach they deemed was good for tourists. We got dropped off in a mobile home park, and had to walk a while to find the "beach." This beach didn't have sand, but huge rocks. Fishermen were standing on them and fishing, and it was so stinky! There was no where to sit, and no tourists in sight. We had to bribe another guy to take us back to the boat- and that was our whole beach experience in Mexico. So disappointing! We shopped in some stores around the boat, and then got back on. The next day, was a day at sea. We got great chairs on the deck in the morning, and the only time we moved from the until dinner, was to eat lunch, or visit the bathroom. :) We read, talked and enjoyed the nice weather, and the sea the whole day. I don't think I have been that relaxed in a LONG time. We had a great time on this short little trip, and are grateful we got the chance to spend some alone time together.

Sadly- these are the only pictures of our whole cruise.

Grandmother Graham

Matt's sweet grandma passed away this week at the age of 88. Her and Granddaddy have been married for 70 years. They loved each other so much. He called her "Sugar babe" every time she came into a room. They are so cute together! She asked to see her kids, grand kids and great grand kids last Friday night. She said she was getting tired and it was time to go home to "see Jesus." She passed away peacefully on Tuesday. She knew this was coming, and begged Granddaddy to come home with her. At her funeral, he was distraught when he told me, "For some reason it isn't my time. She begged me to come home with her, but I'm still here." The funeral service was nice, and there were a lot of great memories of her. It was touching to see Morgan, Dillon and Logan so sad about her leaving. They were crying and have great memories of her. Morgan was born on Grandmothers birthday, so she always called her "my birthday baby" every time she saw her. They remember times of going to their campground, or visiting them at their house. They never left her house without a bag of candy, or a roll of nickels. We will miss her so much!

Lacrosse, Soccer and Baseball

We've been busy with this:

And this:

And this:

Soon- we will have a nice, relaxing summer.....or not. :)

Riding with Grandpa

How cute is this picture? Camden riding with his Grandpa. Well- kind of. He is always so excited to see Granddad's bike, and always says he wants a ride. Granddad gave him a helmet, turned on the bike, and he was so excited. He started to move (maybe an inch or two) and Camden freaked out. He ended up riding about 10 feet, to the mailbox, and demanded to he get off the bike. Maybe someday they will make it around the corner.

Craftiness

I've been busy doing all kinds of crafty things lately. Making necklaces for the kids teachers, sewing blankets, etc. I love having a sewing machine. I am not very good, but it sure feels good to create things. Morgan even has the bug. She decided to make a quilt/wall hanging for her friend. It is so fun to do these things together.

Butterflies

We bought Camden a butterfly garden for his birthday. It actually came with caterpillars, and then we saw them through the stages until they became butterflies. He has loved this! He helps feed them nectar in the mornings, and talks to them, and carries them around. It is so cute. We released them, and I thought he would be really upset. He thought it was awesome though. He wants more caterpillars now though. It's a pretty easy "pet", so we may oblige!

Schools out

Logan at the zoo

I went with Logan and the rest of the second graders to the zoo, for their last field trip of the year. Then, today school ended for the summer. I don't know if this year seems to have gone so fast because we've been busy, or because it's been such a cold spring. It really is hard to believe it has come and gone so fast. We are all excited for summer. Especially Camden. He *loves* having his brothers and sister home. So here's to the fun activities that summer brings! Hopefully I will be able to keep up with blogging, while having all the kids home. Wish us luck! :)