Girls Camp....here I come!

I am the Young Women Girls Camp Director this year for my church calling. It is on Monday! Yikes~

I haven't been to camp since I was like 16, back in the day when YCL's didn't even exist (Youth camp leader). I have fond memories of "Big Bootie," bawling at the fire devotionals at night, eating dutch oven food, reading an emotional letter my mom would always send, and of course setting up tents.

We are sleeping in bunk houses though with mattresses! Score!

So...it's been a crazy last few months trying to get things organized. One of my biggest challenges was just trying to remember the girls' names (we have about 20 that are going, not including the leaders). I am fairly new to the ward, and the second week we were there, I was called to camp.

This has been a good calling though, pretty low key....this is what I have done thus far:

~Organized a ward garage sale as a fundraiser
~Delegated as many things as possible! (Chore charts, food menus, shopping, etc)
~Made WAY TOO MANY phone calls to remind the girls of meetings and activities
~Had a fun time shopping at Target for secret sister things (I bought them for the entire ward)...hopefully they enjoy their cheap lip glosses and chewing gum!
~ Stressed out!

We are having one last meeting tomorrow at church, and then we are off. One week full of skits, braided hair, mess kits, sleeping bags, bug spray, scripture study, flag ceremonies, devotionals, cooking, hiking and anything else I can think of to make sure these girls have fun!

I am excited to do this...especially b/c who knows when I would be able to do it again. We all know that boys camp is completely different than girls camp. And unless I become a Den Mother, this might be it for me.

So, wish me luck! May I return back to my modern conveniences with a greater appreciation and hopefully Jared won't go too insane watching the boys all week!

Red Eye Flight

Have you ever taken a Red Eye Flight? If you saw that scary movie, it was based on the midnight flights that only crazy people take.

I am one of them. I left at 11:30pm, which meant I had to be at the airport by 10pm. That is usually my bed time! We loaded up, and I was surprised to see how full the flight was. Not one available seat! Unfortunately for me, I was stuck between two people in the middle seat, so I knew that I wasn't going to get much sleep.

We took off and soon you could see and hear people settling into their seats; with pillows, blankets and those popular head/neck pillows that wrap around your neck. I knew it was going to be a long night when the gentleman sitting next to me used his LOUD street voice to talk with me. Hearing that amplified voice of his at 2am was too much!

Things were going well until, FLASH!!! The midnight movie came on....No thanks! Lots of bright lights from that screen and distracting creatures kept moving to encourage my eyes to stay awake and take a peek.

Not to mention the stewardess' bumping into people with their oversized drink cart and asking if anyone wants a Coke. No way! I want some sleep!

My head nodded back and forth, landing one too many times up against my chest and not allowing much sleep at all.

I had a layover at 4am, which also did not help me in anyway to get more continuous sleep.

By the time I arrived at my destination, I had lost not only 3 hours of the time zone, but I had only received perhaps 2.5 hours or sleep total. I was exhausted!

No naps were allowed for me the following day. Lots to do and places to be.

I was so exhausted by the evening time, that while I was browsing some stores at a local mall, I decided to just lay down...I needed a nap!

So, I laid down on the dirty and nasty mall floor, wrapped my purse under my arm (I was nervous it would be stolen while I was snoring), and closed my eyes. It seemed like just for a minute, but I fell asleep right away!

Who takes a nap on the floor at the mall? Lots of people running around, kids screaming, bright sky lights and dirty floors full of treadmarks. Well, obviously for me, it was as good as any Marriott Hotel :)

Will I take the red eye flight again? Perhaps, but only if a nap is included in my daily schedule.

Take the Disney Quiz

Probably the best thing about these silly quizzes is that they tell you your STRENGTHS and make you feel good about yourself for a bit! Go ahead, give it a try....2 minutes worth a self-esteem boost:)

Too bad I don't have any girls b/c I would know at least who Esmerelda is vs. Venom or Spiderman! I think she is from Hunchback???


You Are Esmerelda!

Mysterious and passionate. You are a survivor. Even though life has swung you some difficult situations you have a strong intuition that gets you through. Also, you have the capacity to sympathize and relate to a variety of different people.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

This was Jared: (3 questions into it he said, "Why am I taking this?" Good sport!~)


You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Where's Waldo?

These last few weeks have turned into a crazy traveling time for our family....a bit stressful, full of decision making, entertaining, sleep depriving and educational.

Can you guess where any of these pictures have been taken? Where's Waldo (Wilson?)

ANSWERS GIVEN AT THE BOTTOM>>>>BUT LET'S SEE HOW SMART YA'LL ARE!!!!



SLC, UT for General Conference




Lubbock, TX temple

Just a cute pic of my "muscles!"

Oriental Theatre, CHICAGO for Broadway Theatre, "Wicked." A great mother's day gift!!


Field Museum, Chicago


Enjoying a true, "Che-cago" hot dog!

We were like natives using the Metro in....


Chesapeake Bay, MARYLAND

This is my favorite pic! Jared and the Washington D. C. Capital!

Museum of natural arts, Washington D.C.

The LDS D.C. temple POPS out right from the freeway as you are driving along....very fun!

The new World War II Monument in D.C.



I loved how each statue had the states represented...

What monument is this?

The Franklin D. Roosevelt monument


Of course the Lincoln Monument

Vietnam Statue

We all know this monument! Gorgeous reflection...


Wow....THE WHITE HOUSE!!!


The Vietnam Wall...a sacred and peaceful sight...everyone there was very respectful.

A closer look at the D.C. temple. We actually were able to do a session inside on our way back to the hotel. What an aspiring and powerful temple! 7 stories tall!

Racing back to AZ for a double baby shower....Leslie Boley and Arianne Pearce. Too bad my flight got delayed from MD and I actually MISSED all of it! So sad for me...but, they knew that I had made every effort possible to get there from across the USA.

Pictures of my boys playing with our new plants that Jared planted yesterday....with their "shoot guns" of course!

Confused by all that traveling? Here is the break down:

EL Paso - Utah
El Paso - Lubbock, TX
El Paso- AZ
AZ- Chicago
Chicago- Washington, D.C.
D.C.- AZ
AZ- El Paso

Whew! We are done traveling for now! Soon I will let ya'll in on more info about our life...until then...keep on reading!

CHASING A PREGNANT WOMAN

I invited my BBF Arianne Pearce to go lunch with me here in Phoenix, AZ. I decided to come for a quick visit this week. So, we loaded up our two toddlers and headed out to "On the Border."



We had a nice lunch, the two year olds behaved themselves quite nicely with only a few hundred broken chips all over the floor. Our waiters name was Ruben, and since he had a heavy Spanish accent, I enjoyed praciticing my Spanish on him.



When it came time for the bill, of course I reached for my purse. Well...this is where the brawl began!



Arianne insisited that it was her turn to pay, but I HAD INVITED HER to eat. I am staying at her house, I am eating her food, she is prego with her 4th child, and I wanted to treat her! She had already handed Ruben HER CARD...which I was not going to allow. So, I stood up and started chasing down Ruben to ask him not to charge her. What did Arianne do? She chased after me! Yup, her big ol' 8 month prego belly doing sprints after me. We left the toddlers in their high chairs and started doing a mad dash circle around the entire restaurant! You can imagine the looks we were getting! I was not going to give in, and neither was she.



By the way, is this a good time to mention that Arianne has been on semi "bed rest" these last few weeks? Why is a woman like her running in her condition!!!



I yelled across the dining room for Ruben NOT to charge her card (of course this was all in Spanish which even infuriated Arianne even more b/c she couldn't speak it back to him!) I then ran back to our table, thank goodness our toddlers were more entertained than ever and didn't try to climb down.



I reached for my purse, and what did Arianne do? She grabbed it and hid it underneath her arm. So, I SAT ON HER TINY LAP and started poking at her boobs to give it back. She then started biting my arms. We were laughing so hard, we could barely focus on the other victim.



Eventually, after a strong tug of war, Arianne gave up a bit of strength. So, I seized the opportunity and dug inside my purse to get my wallet. I then CHUCKED the entire wallet at Ruben, yelling at him in Spanish to, "Charge the silver Discover card!" Hopefully he didn't take any other cards while I was pinning down my opponent.



In the end, I did pay and we left Ruben an LDS pass along card:)



Hopefully Arianne doesn't have any more contractions after our wrestling match.

Ketchup Bootie

Our date night didn't go so hot last night. We'll just say that my nickname all night long was "ketchup butt." Why do you ask?

We had made a good and valiant effort to go to the Juarez Mexico temple for our monthly date. Little did we know, that by arriving only an hour ahead of time at the bridge to cross over would NOT be enough time for us to get across. We arrived just in time to see back to back traffic and red break lights all over the lanes. It was pretty frustrating to say the least.

There is a lot of prep to go to the temple! You have to get a babysitter, get out the door on time, pack not only your temple recommend...but your passport as well, and then get to the border with enough time to allow the weekend traffic to slow you down. It was not our night...

After saying a prayer of forgiveness to God (we sure do NEED those blessings right now!!!), we headed to the nearest exit...another 1/2 hour wait to just get on a major street. We hit up the local dollar theater...which is where another adventure begins.

We saw the movie, "Jumpers." Pretty lame, but decent entertainment. As we were leaving, something unfamiliar was making my skirt stick to my chair....oh no...what could it be? You got it....bright red and clotted ketchup was stuck all over my backside...all over my light pink and beautiful skirt. Why couldn't this have happened to a black skirt, or better yet, to Jared's chair? Nope...it looked like I had had a serious accident all over myself...a nasty period if you will.

How embarrassing for me. Jared walked behind me until we got out the door and to the parking lot. We went to the nearest clothing store where I had got lots of weird looks from strangers and I was very insecure. I went to the dressing room where I turned my skirt inside out and from front to back. It had gone through my slip and down to my garments! Seriously, what kind of nasty prank was that?

So, in other words....no temple, boring flick and a permanently stained cute skirt to toss out.

Tonight I am throwing a "pizza party" for some girlfriends. Sounds fun? Well, it would be even better if my kids would behave, eat their blasted Spongebob Mac 'n cheese and give me some peace so I can mentally prepare myself!

Lubbock, TEXAS

We took a roadtrip to Lubbock, TX this weekend to visit my old SUU roommate Amy Merrill Baker. We left late Friday night and got into the Ramda Inn at 1:30am (a solid 6 hour drive if you don't stop, which of course we have to with small children). We then tried to share a king size bed between all four of us. Jared got squished and kicked in the middle, and I got nothing more than 2 inches of space and no covers on the end.

We woke up cranky and tired, but were excited to see Amy and her family. I have never met her little boy Taylor, and our boys got along like brothers. They loved to run around the house, share Spiderman sippies and play with golf clubs.

The city itself is based off a huge Loop of Freeway. I didn't understand the layout of the city while I was there...either "inside the loop" or "outside the loop" was all I got from it. There are no mountains in any direction to help you out, but there were some pretty green parks everywhere.

I was in a bit of culture shock b/c all I saw were white people as well. I guess I have gotten pretty used to my El Paso/Mexico city and I have enjoyed all of the diversity. Surely there are some hispanics in Lubbock, but I sure didn't see them! White folk everywhere!

Brandon (Amy's hubby) cooked us a mean "Texan brisket" that was really yummy....he had to cook it for 12 hours overnight! Talk about dedication! I guess it's a popular dish here in TX, and I can now see why.

More than anything, I LOVED MY CHATS WITH AMY! We hadn't really seen each other in our "mother" role...we had never met each other's children...that's a long time! How fun it is to see your college roommate, who was really into boys and dating back at SUU now involved in time outs with toddlers and chocolate milk. I think we have even more in common now than we did back then; motherhood, education (she teaches high school bless her heart), being wives and involved in the church.

Amy is very knowledgeable about current events and especially politics. She sent me a great email if you can't decide which president you want to vote for:
QUIZ ON PRESIDENTS

Supposedly I am a fan of Barak Obama. I may need to read more up on my debates now.


The ride back always takes longer, and Austin had to go poopies every few hours....but once we'd take him inside the truck stops, he would change his mind! He would choose another stall, or complain that he'd want to be at home, or just toot with no results. Wesley did fantastic with his 5+ movies in our DVD player and his gummy sharks that he got at the gas stations.

Road trips are good for the family, although now it is back to doing laundry and getting back on a sleeping schedule.

One last word: Bahama Buck's! Check it out and see why I LOVED IT...