We have a lot of belated birthday's this month that I have not even sent a card for. Yikes! I hope this somehow makes it up to Lisa, Bevan, Julie and Grammy.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Word of the year.

During Girls Camp I got to give a devotional presenting to the girls the concept of picking a word of the year. I called the devotional "Miracles" Then the next day they made a metal hammered necklace with their word. Seeing the words that the girls picked was a highlight of my week.

Last two of the cutest girls from camp came to my house to give me a gift.

The gave me this metal bucket that they made with about the greatest quote. (I knew I liked that Audrey Hepburn) I am not sure how I have gone my blog life without hearing about this quote.

. . . . . . .

I believe in Pink. I believe laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing; kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles."
{Audrey Hepburn}

. . . . . .

Then inside of the bucket was the most creative gift.
the top of a Pace picante sauce bottle. I am going to make it into a necklace.

Thanks girls for my sweet gift!

I have so many stories from camp and don't even know where to begin. I am still trying to gather all the 1500 photos that we took (I have 673 uploaded on smugmug) We are leaving for vacation for a week tomorrow and I feel girls camp going on the to do list to blog about along with Christmas, My birthday, Sally Jane's Birthday, and Spring Break - But this is one of my favorite stories about each of the girls picking a word.
This darling sweet girl got braces on just hours before she came up to camp. Now I have never had braces but watched Jeff get them last year and it was a month of raw lips, headaches and trying to figure out how to eat. She said that on Wednesday night she was in a lot of pain and her poor bottom lip was so raw that she decided to go home, then she looked down at her necklace and remembered she had picked the word "BRAVE" for her word of the year - and then she decided to stay.
I was so glad she did!

My Surprise Camp visitor

We had two surprise visitors at Girls Camp this week. One was the Secret Service for President Bush and the other was my cute freckle faced daughter Annie Kate.
It was the last night and everyone was at the fire circle starting Testimony Meeting. (Testimony Meeting is a chance for the girls to get up and share their personal testimony and feelings about their belief in the gospel principles of the church)
I was in the main lodge finishing up the slide show with another girl. A girl from my ward who came up just for the night said, I brought something for you about this tall and has cute freckles. I melted. I told the other slide show creator "I have to go" (keep in mind we had 1 hour to finish the slide show and we were adding photos from just a few hours before)
I ran up to the fire circle and was just crying with joy. I could not believe I missed my girls, but especially AK. I think it was because I kept imagining AK up here in just 3 years.
One of the hardest things about preparing for camp was when Annie Kate asked me when this girls camp was going to be and when she should start packing and then me explaining to her that all this that I was preparing for was only for girls ages 12-18. That was hard. She wanted to go so bad.

So when I ran to the fire circle she saw me and started running down. I could not stop hugging and kissing her. (Jeff said she had a really hard week with me gone) We sat in the back and just could not stop talking to each other. We stayed for a few testimonies and then I realized I needed to get back to help finish the slide show and AK needed to go to the bathroom. It was so much fun showing her my cabin (which was totally posh), where the girls slept, where we ate and then showing her the craft tables. One of the things I was in charge of this year was the crafts. She was so excited as she has watched me get everything ready for so many months.

She sat down and made one of the wooden necklaces. She wrote "preview of camp 2008" She also wrote a letter to all the girls from our downtown ward as she had noticed that their mailbox was empty. (oh I can't wait to talk about the camp mailbox)

It was just an awesome experience for her to be there with me. She stayed for the slide show but cried the whole way through knowing it was almost time for her to go. I gave her my camp hat to make her feel better and Jeff said she slept in it that night.

One of the blessings I never even imagined from serving at Girls Camp was how much I appreciated my girls while I was gone and how I feel such a strong responsibility to teach them as much as I can about Jesus Christ.

On my way home from girls camp yesterday I drove past this awesome garden center with the most gigantic hanging baskets I have ever seen. Even bigger than the ones that line the streets of Georgetown.
I didn't exit off the freeway and then half a mile down the road I thought I had to turn back. So I backtracked to check it out. I was a bit stinky and dirty but thought at a garden center I would fit right in.I was glad I did. The hanging baskets were only $15.00 and so incredible. I snatched a few.

If you live in the area it is worth a visit.

Mr. Natural's Country Market & Nursery

10318 Hansonville Road
Fredrick, Maryland

Back From Camp

Just walked in the door. I am slimey, dirty, stinky and tired. It could likely be one of the best weeks of my life. I can't believe I was so scared to go.

Fast list of highlights from my week before I jump in the shower:

• seeing myself in some of those girls and remembering being a kid
  
• seeing the baby deer by my cabin
• having a shower and toilet in my cabin (yea for she she camp)
• sharing my marathon story in a devotional
• the friendship bracelets being a big hit
• seeing the girls from downtown
• the incredible slide show of the week - me and another girl took over 1000 photos!
  
• the surprise freckled face girl that came up to surprise me the last night. (man I missed my girls)
• having all the girls pick a word of the year and seeing what words they picked
• not having to cook or prepare one meal for a whole week
  
• feeling the spirit
• seeing the girl who never smiles, smile!
  
• the wonderful perfect weather
• President Bush coming up to Camp David (2 miles from our camp) and the excitement and stories that came along with it
• everyone had left camp and standing with 6 of the most incredible women in circle and having a prayer together thanking our Heavenly Father for protecting us, our families and the girls. (chills!)

Off to shower, unpack and sleep!

off to camp

I feel like a teenager again. I sat at church today and just cried and cried in nervousness for girls camp. I am kind of a wreck. I am not sure why except that I feel like I am the only new girl (leader) and just may not know what to do. How crazy to admit all this?
But I am off to a week of fun, hard work, early mornings, crafts, bugs, heat and I hope some sleep.

See ya when I get back!

25 precious pages.

I am not sure if I can read these last 25 pages of These is my Words. For a few reasons..

1. I don't want the book to end.
2. I don't want to go to bed not reading about Sarah and her life, thinking that I would have enjoyed a life like that (I have often said I was born 100 years too late)
   
3. I read the sequel first so I know what what is coming and I don't want to read about it.
4. I keep finding the right time to get ready for a good cry which I know is inevitable. I think I may have to finish the book in public so I don't have a total breakdown.

I have loved this book more than I ever thought possible. These are my favorite kind of books. About homesteading women which make me appreciate my life, but also remind me of the responsibility I have to do so much good with so many advantages (running water) I have in my life.
I fear for the length of the upcoming post on how this book as touched me.
As for now I am just baby stepping my emotions to the end of the book.

Grab tissue and just read!

Water Blogged!

My blog is about to get water blogged. All we do is go to the pool and it is a blessed life for sure. I don't have many photos of much else these days (except my floor getting ready for girls camp next week) We go to swim practice twice a day and have two swim meets a week - so for the summer I think my blog may spill over with swim photos. I am trying to use all my tricks my brother taught me for outdoor photos and they seem to be working, for the first time I shot all my photos off of automatic - big step for me!
We actually left the pool for the afternoon to get the girls hair cut. Even though it was against my wishes, Annie Kate got a real hair style and it looks darling on her. These are two of her friends on the team who she also goes to church with and they are just top notch boys who also both know how to ride a unicycle - guess what AK now wants to learn how to do?

this is pretty much how Caroline felt about me with my camera tonight!

She is just so dang cute in her goggles and nylon (best choice ever) swim cap.

tonight was team photo night. They each got individual photos as well as a large team photo. the photographer will for sure wake up tomorrow with NO voice. She was one energetic woman who deserved a tip!. I likely will not buy the photo as it felt a little graduationish with the placed hands on the shoulders.
Caroline could not wait until the team photo to jump in and get swimming. She swam two lengths of the pool and looked like she was drowning the entire time. I kept saying are you ok?
Then when she would go under water she would do this each time...

oh my that girl just cracks me up. I seriously almost jumped in to save her because I didn't think she would make it across the pool.

SJ seems fine just hanging in the shallow end and what a shocker that she always finds the yellow noodle! Oh ya and I bought some special shampoo today because her hair is turning a little green --- ooops!
This swim team is just amazing! You can only be on the team if you live in the neighborhood and so there is a real sense of community amongst all the neighbors. Why would we ever think of moving from this place?
Our life guards this summer are also amazing and I am currently working on making them a large gumball jar to keep in their swim office.
We had a team pizza party - pep rally for tomorrow's meet. The theme tomorrow is Mission Impossible so AK has her trench coat and glasses ready for warm ups. She gets to swim Freestyle and Breast Stroke tomorrow.
This photo of Caroline just sums up how she feels when she is at the pool! (except for when she is screaming because she is freezing, got the wrong color of Popsicle, someone took her diving stick, she can't get a pink noodle, she wants a pretzel from the snack bar, her goggles are too tight, she can't find her crocs, i won't let her take a warm shower ever 2 minutes, she wants to be carried to the car, her toe is bleeding from scraping on the bottom of the pool - but other than that she always looks like this--- hee hee!)

Hi Ho Cherrio!

The weather this week has been something out of a story book. Sunny, breezy and NOT miserably hot. Yesterday was the perfect day to take the kids to the farm and pick some fruit. We put the little gator in the back of the truck and headed out. I had to take this photo of AK who always has her hands busy making something. She is currently making bracelets for all the swim coaches in her swim team colors.Going out here to the farm seems to give us the best of both worlds, the suburban and city life with a little bit of country. The girls loved driving the gator out and around. We probably should have asked for permission first - but the resident farmer did not seem to mind.

The strawberry patch was pretty picked over and I feared this was all we would find

but we got a fair amount to make some jam

and for Sally Jane to sample in the field
We then drove out to the Cherry trees. It seems like everyone that I admire around here picks tart cherries in the summer and freezes the for a Thanksgiving pie. So I thought this year I would do the same.The best ones were at top.

And even Caroline climbed the ladder to get some.We got enough for two Thanksgiving piesmanaged a family photo - notice Sally Jane's kung fu pose, this kid is cracking me up!
Jeff again wins most prepared dad and had water on his back to share with the thirsty littles
I even remembered to take a photo of me at the cherry trees.

little family photo with the Apples on the farm

This winter they added all the names of the animals on the front of their homes. It was so simple and cool at the same time.

This is Elmo the new cow that the kids love to feed

There were three little pigs to watch run around, one of them was named Kermit, but I am not sure which one.

And we even heard a great Cockadoodledoo from this part of the farm.

I told Jeff this is probably what it is like hanging in Dave and Mindy's back yard. Life seems to just slow down when we are out there and it was a great day for a day on the farm!

Have you ever made a tart cherry pie?
Have you ever thought 5 months in advance about what you are going to make for Thanksgiving?

We drove (not flew) to a family wedding!

It's a miracle I think for the first time since we have been married Jeff and I drove to a family wedding - no airplane involved.


Jeff's cousin's daughter got married in California but married someone 7 miles from our house. So we got to drive to the open house. Annie Kate was so excited to see the bride and the little girls just wanted to touch her dress.

It is always great to see Michelle

and I have no idea how she was smiling and so calm when she was in charge of her girls camp back home in 7 days!
The gave out these cute M&M look alike bags that were for Brittany and Brandon, with all the detail information on the back. Nifty idea! They looked so real!
And on the way home I just had to take a photo of again the rising price in gas - yowza!

photo above*We gave the bride and groom a gift certificate from Crate and Barrel but I had them give the biggest box they had for me to put it in. They had to fly all their gifts home and I am sure opened a lot of envelopes instead of boxes - but I just couldn't resist giving a big box with a little gift certificate inside - and I wanted to use some big ribbon too.