2011 Year in Review: July

One of my good friends from back in the day got married.

Pullin up the skirt to go in the jay johnSquare dancingyes I dance crazy all the time!

One of my fams



I was called to be on the Activities committee for our stake Trek again and thought it would be a blast. Then I went on the Trek and realized I had forgotten all the parts that were dreadful from the first time I went. And to top it off, this time it was freezing! The first morning we woke up, I literally told the girls-I just want to die. On the first trek, yeah it wasn’t fun sleeping on the ground, but this time since it was cold it was easily 500 times worse! Plus we didn’t even have a fire till the last night! Which was probably a good thing, cause no one would have ever wanted to leave the fire to go to bed. Oh and this time we didn’t get into our first camping spot until after dark, which makes setting things so much more difficult. The second day was better, we did the women’s pull and that’s always a cool experience. It wasn’t the same as doing it myself like I did last year, but it still was so moving to see the boys reactions and see the girls really go beyond what they thought they could do.

This year I wasn’t an Aunt assigned to a family, more like a traveler, which I kind of liked cause I got to go visit with everyone. Because I didn’t have an actual family, my stuff went wherever and it ended up that the second night my sleeping bag and jacket were missing. Of course I stayed close to the Ma and Pa of my home ward who took good care of me. But I also spent a fair amount of time with a family that had a lot of my recent 4^th years. The food was not quite like I remembered it from the first time, things didn’t seem as delicious to me for some reason. The last day we didn’t even really get to spend a lot of time doing the fun and games part. But regardless we were still happy to head home, even if the bus was hot and sweaty!

Highlights from the trek include-hanging with old 4^th years, meeting the boys they like and watching them interact. Everyone thinking I was 14. Hearing the boys cheer for the girl on the women’s pull. Parts of Testimony meeting. Talking with Jen about the dirty cussing hater I wanted. Dancing with all the little boys to get them to dance with girls. Bus ride home.

In the middle of the Trek I was pulled away and told that someone called to say I didn’t show up for work. Apparently I was suppose to come in on a weds, to start my new job at Wells Fargo, but little did they know I was on a Trek. So I actually didn’t start until the following weds, due to my boss’ wife wanting me to come to Sedona.

Again Julia had a hook up with another relative and had us come up for an overnighter at a cabin/house right on the creek. The first we walked down and the kids played on one of the slides. It was pretty hot, but the water was freezing. On the way back, it started to rain which was so cold, but thankfully we all jumped in the hot tub to get warm! We took a nap, or tried to in the afternoon but mostly we talked. We had dinner followed by a talent show and leg wrestling followed by a dance off. I thought that I would win coming back from the Trek where I learned a secret tactic. But Julia took home the victory. The next day we played a little baseball, went on another hike and found a rope swing. One of the highlights of the small trip was Uncle Jazz who actually played with the kids and would scare them!

Rope Swing

After the rainy hike, the hot tub was amazing!

football

Julia is trying to get us with her muddy feet

After the talent show, of course we had a dance party

The YSA had their Water/lake activity and I took a few of the jet skis. Of course one of them didn’t work. So we used it to keep the stereo afloat while we chilled out on a little shallow sand bar redneck style blasting out my favorite song at the time, My baby likes to Fish. Some of my friends were also in a wing competition that was pretty fun to watch-Will dominated.

August

2011 Year in Review: June

June was another busy month. Julia came through with another major hook up to the science center and body world exhibit. We even got to ride a bike that was suspended and would not tip over.

June was also the month I went on the 4^th year hike campout for the 4^th time since being home from college (that’s 9 times total). The girls were super fun and I didn’t have to yell at one of them! This time I came prepared with an extra pair of shoes, just in case something happened on the hike and sure enough one of the girls shoes bottom’s came right off. The hike was awesome as always and all the girls made it.

One of my friends got married and I happened to be watching my other friends kids at the same time. The kids were super well behaved, granted I did use Dunkin Donuts as a motivator and it worked like a charm.

Just as soon as the 4^th year hike was over it seemed like I was up at Girls Camp again! Every year I tweak my classes a bit, and this year it really got tweaked. I’ve used the same poison Ivey picture for a few years and literally the night before we left I couldn’t find it anywhere. Not having a printer to recreate it, I ended up loading pictures onto my ipad and it actually turned out pretty cool! I had no idea poison ivy could be so gross and disgusting! Since I had the ipad, I decided to load 2 of my favorite Mormon messages. Before we started certification we would watch a clip and then go around and tell one thing that we learned or found interesting. These girls were legit, I didn’t get Sunday school answers at all. Of course I ended by using my favorite story of all time and telling them how certification for camp is important- it could be handy to know what poison ivy looks like and how to treat it or how to react in severe weather but what’s most important is listening to the spirit and following his promptings.

Girls Camp highlights include sneaking up on cabins, making Julianne and Julia fall trying to sneak up on me, snipe hunting, Cindy getting groped by Aaron John and mayonnaise, bringing chicken of the sea and thinking it actually was chicken, ride the pony-dance party.

2011 Year in Review: May

Is it just me or do people get married, have babies and you never see them again? Well, maybe sometimes, but other times you make special trips to Oreganos to see the babies and hang with old buddies.I headed up to Vegas to help watch my niece while my aunt went out of town. But of course I had to go visit my friends. I took the little girls to the temple for baptisms and it could def be classified as the most interesting trip to the temple ever. It’s not every day that the guy that baptizes you gets your number. If you haven’t heard the story, it’s crazy and literally out of control. But what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

2011 Year in Review: April

Due to still not having a job, it made it easy to make trips to Vegas! Design Team had a special St. George project and while the kids were out on spring break we loaded them all into Katie’s Van and took them to Sin City. The drive up was not bad at all, I think the kids were excited about the trip so we reviewed (made up) rules and we went over them again and again. Rule number 1-no whining Rule number 2-Listen to Adults Rule number 3-Use your Manners Rule number 4-Hands to yourself Rule number 5-Inside Voices. The first day we were in Vegas we drove a few more hours to visit St. George, I would say for pizza factory, but really it was to go shopping @ Tiapan and the Downeast home outlet. Not any huge purchases for me, just the typical cheap mirror that both Katie and Julia told me not to buy, but it was cheap and I wanted it. The next day was filled with more shopping but we promised the kids we would take them to a special surprise. The whole time we were there we threatened them with “the special surprise”. First we went to the Bellagio Gardens, which they actually loved, especially the jumping water, where every kid got to try and catch it. Then we headed down to the water show…they had no idea what was coming, and to be honest even knowing what was going to happen, it scared me when it first started!(see video below) After the show we walked down to Serendipity 2 and had frozen hot chocolate and of course sweet potato French Fries. Then it was back to the Bellagio for one last night water show. The funniest part about having the kids in Vegas was that we had kids in Vegas. Taking 6 kids around on the street and through the casinos made us look like a circus act. Apparently Vegas isn’t that kid friendly?

Trip high and low lights-The drive back home-kids were grumpy, hungry and tired and the adults were the same-it’s never fun coming back from a trip. Almost running out of gas. Julia stepping on my cheap mirror. Pizza factory breadsticks. Not seeing Cody Brown from sister wives even once! Julia telling Hadyn to use my hairbrush on the dog! Seeing Holly Madison, walk right by us. Sugar pancakes.

Since being unemployed I decided to paint my Mom’s house and get things ready for a new wood floor. Which meant taking everything off the walls!

And my new go to costume, made an appearance at Girls Camp Kickoff. That night I also happened to wear that outfit to Chili’s where I used the megaphone to say hello to some friends who actually were on a date. Not a few minutes later did I actually knock the megaphone on the ground which switched the siren on. I guess people in the restaurant actually ducked when it went off! Opps.

Giving the kids the rules once again

At Serendipity 2

Holly Madison walking by

When you buy so much at Pier 1 that you have to drive like this home...you know your on design team

Giving the kids the rules before we left

2011 Year in Review: March

In March I got a tattoo. Ok, so maybe it was just a fake tramp stamp but BYU was in the sweet 16 so it called for drastic measures. Once again I thought that letting my weeds get big would make them easier to take out. That was a mistake, I had to use a saw to cut those branches and then my brilliant idea to burn them in the garbage can didn’t work out so well either. Lessons in owning a home number 1 and 2-don’t let weeds grow bigger than you, don’t burn things in a garbage can-the smell never leaves! The Relief Society had another shoot out and despite my gun malfunctioning I was still able to hit a few clays.

Practice shot

Hate when I have the safety on! Scream!

Can you tell I hate when I miss...more screams

I think I was trying to get three in a row...and settled for shooting two at the same time...though Im not sure I really got it...but whoever was watching seems to think I did.

I think I shoot in boots a lot!