I have been growing my hair out just to see what it would be like again to have longer hair...now I remember why I cut it. My hair is so thick that it just gets TOO HOT in the summer and then it become frizzy at the ends...ugh. So I decided that after Girl's Camp was over, I would cut my hair. Now Courtney has been refusing to have a haircut and her hair was really long. She gets upset and doesn't want to look like a "boy" with short hair, so it took months of convincing but she finally decided she wanted her hair cut like her friend Lydia's hair. Now, Lydia has beautiful hair that is always cute, but her mom is a hair dresser so it's easier for her. But I didn't want Courtney to back out of a hair cut so I decided we would try getting her short hair to look cute every day.
I made us appointments with my friend around the corner who always cuts my hair and we were off. Ethan played with his friend (my friend's son) while we got "beautified." Courtney had me go first. My hair is basically back to what it was before so it wasn't too dramatic. Then it was Courtney's turn. She is REALLY wiggly but my friend did a great job. Courtney loves her new haircut and I'm hoping she will let me style it cute everyday. Here are some before and after photos of us:
Our kids are camping/hiking kids. And the last month has really reinforced this with all the activities we have done. Courtney and Ethan have some friends over to play and when they were trying to figure out what to play Courtney suggested they play "camping" but someone else suggested they play "Disneyland." Courtney insisted that she doesn't know how to play Disneyland and her friend insisted that he doesn't know how to play camping. So they combined them both together and they are "camping at Disneyland." But since Courtney is playing it's just "camping." ;)
Yes, we just can't seem to get enough of this camping thing. This last weekend was our family campout and we decided to go back to Bryce Canyon. We got reservations at one of the campgrounds in the park. We figured that it would be crowded because it was the 24th of July holiday weekend, but it was even less crowded than the week before when I was there for Girl's Camp. We did feel in the minority though because hardly anyone spoke English. But it made it interesting.
We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights. The first night was really noisy because a lot of kids on a trip from France didn't know much about camping etiquette and kept walking right through out camp. So that was a bit annoying. But the weather couldn't have been more beautiful! It was overcast and the temperatures were wonderful. I still knew the code to get into the swimming pool we had used at Girl's Camp so we went swimming both days and Bryan and Ethan hiked the trail the girls hiked the week before. Ethan was a hiking fool and had a great time on their hike. Bryan said he was so impressed by how well our little guy did.
We went to a local rodeo which was so bad it was hilarious. Like I said, not a lot of people spoke English so they couldn't understand what the rodeo clown was saying so he bombed. No one laughed at his jokes...because they couldn't understand them. But it gave us something to do. We also went to a night lecture on the galaxy and black holes. Ethan was fascinated...Courtney was not. Bryan ended up taking Courtney back to camp while I stayed with Ethan. The ranger explained about the sky and then he mentioned about glow worms which are found all over Bryce Canyon. I had seen some at Girl's Camp and Ethan and I found one on our way back to camp. So the next night, when it got dark, we went in search of them and found a couple. They were neat.
We came back home on Saturday, unpacked and then started to kind of organize for this week's camping trip...the Pack Family reunion at Bear Lake. This will make the 4th weekend in a row that one of us has been camping!! Crazy.
I finally have time to scrapbook now that Camp is over so I have been scanning photos into the computer. I came across these that were taken in Heber City over Christmas when we were there with Bryan's family. This really shows the kid's personalities. I think they are pretty cute!
Last week I went to Girl's Camp and here is the low-down.
Tuesday night we loaded the un-refrigerated food into boxes labeled by meals and then had all the girls take their gear to the assistant camp director's house so it could be loaded up. Bryan was great because he took the kids swimming that night so they would be out of the way.
Wednesday morning all the girls met at the Church at 9:00 and then waiting for another 30 minutes while the leaders helped pack up the coolers and the Scout trailer with all the food we needed. We didn't get this done as quickly as we thought we would, so we got a bit of a slow start. Oops!
We drove to Bryce Canyon National Park as a 5-car caravan. I was AMAZED and SHOCKED at how much the girls in my car ate! They started eating right outside of St. George and didn't stop until we got to Bryce. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, we checked into the tepees at the Ruby's Inn Campground, set up camp and then got going on our activities. We had three groups: one decorated our secret sister pillowcases, another made necklaces for their knot tying certification and another group made journals. We had figured it would take about 30 minutes per activity and it actually took about 45-60 minutes for the knot tying and journals. So we were a bit behind schedule. It was about this time that I realized that a schedule at camp is just a rough guideline of what we should do. Once I figured that out, I was a lot less stressed!
Then we had dinner on a stick (kabobs) so the girls would pass off a certification to cook a meal. The 2nd years started the fires and then we grilled the kabobs. They were really good! We then played games (which was hilarious!), made up our tepee cheers, had our night devotional and went to bed. I was so grimy from the day that I showered before bed and it felt SOOOO nice! The leaders didn't sleep too well that night.
Thursday morning I was up early. It was our hiking day and I was a bit nervous. There was a forest fire in the park and it was pretty smoky. I talked to the fee specialist for Bryce National Park and she suggested that we hike early in the morning so the smoke wouldn't be too overwhelming. So instead of 4 groups, we hiked in 2 groups. We did 3 certifications along the way and it was a fun hike. The girls didn't complain too badly about it although the end of the hike was pretty steep.
We went back to camp and it was free time. The girls all agreed that they wanted to go swimming, so we headed over to the pool. It was a fun time. I got out, dressed and went back to camp to just relax in the shade. It was a bit warmer than we would have liked so I sat in the shade of a tree and chatted with some of the girls and leaders. It was a great afternoon.
We then had a camp meeting, gave out the skit boxes, started dinner (tin foil dinners they had to cook in the fires made by the 2nd years), ate dinner then had time to get ideas ready for the skits. Our theme was "Be Loyal to the Royal Within" so the girls were given a box and a princess character. They had to use the props to "mormonize" the story of the princess (Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, etc.). Then we had our skit time. We had 2 leaders that were pretty sick (a bug going around) so we got together in a tepee and got ours planned. They all turned out really cute and it was fun to see what the girls came up with. We then sang songs, played some more games, had our night devotional and then the 5th years took everyone on a snipe hunt. They had a great time and the younger girls loved it!! Then it was bedtime. Everyone slept great because we were so tired from the hike!
Friday was our relax and love it day! After breakfast, I ran down and reserved a tent spot just down the hill from the tepee sites. It was pretty loud next to the road and then we had a lot of people stopping to take pictures of the tepees. We wanted a quieter place for our spiritual night and for our activities, so I paid for another spot and was so glad I did! While the girls read their scriptures, the leaders helped us get the "Spa Day" stuff ready. We had made some spa kits with pedicure sets, nail polish, lotions, face masks, etc. in them. We bought some throw up tubs from a hospital to use as a foot soak tub and packaged all the kits nicely in those. Then we put down some tarps so the girls wouldn't have a semi-clean surface to use. We had all the girls bring down their camp chairs and we set them around with their foot tubs on the tarp. Then we had our "spa day." For each thing we did (face mask, pedicure, etc.) I had scriptures and quotes from prophets about how our inner beauty is reflected on our outer beauty and that we have to be pure inside to truly be beautiful. It was a great day. I had anticipated it taking only about 1 1/2 hours but it ended up taking 2 1/2 because the girls would get to talking and relaxing and we didn't want to rush them. It was so much fun and we got some great pictures. It ended with the girls, eyes covered with cucumber slices, just relaxing and listening to nature. Many of them said it was the best part of camp.
After lunch, they had to finish up any certifications they hadn't finished earlier and then it was free time. The Beehives french braided each other's hair, the Mia Maids napped and the Laurels went swimming. Although everyone did something different. We had girls nap, swim, shower and then play games. I took up a bunch of card games like Uno, Rook, etc. and they played those. So many girls have complained in the past that it was all "go-go-go" when they were at camp, so we gave them a bunch of time to just be together and have fun. I think it went well.
The Bishopric came up and we had dutch oven dinner (beef stroganoff). Then we played games for a bit, ate dutch oven dessert (I couldn't BELIEVE how much the girls ate) then we had our spiritual night program. It was really neat and we ended with testimonies. We ended pretty late but the Bishop still had time to growl at some of the tepees and scare the girls. They loved that!!
The next morning everyone was ready to go home. I think the smoke from the forest fires was starting to get to us all. We broke camp, ate breakfast (which the Bishop brought up for us!), had our awards and devotional and then headed home. I was told that the girls would nap on the way home, but the 1st and 2nd years in my car didn't!! Oh well. We came home to 112 degree heat in St. George and were happy to be home.
The girls all loved it and it was fun to be with the girls and other leaders and just laugh! That's what impressed me the most was how much we laughed. I think camp is for the girls but the leaders benefit greatly from it too!
We leave in about 45 minutes (yeah, right, make that 2 hours because of Mormon Standard Time) for Girl's Camp. I'm director and really haven't had a clue what I was doing but I have an awesome assistant, so it should all balance out. We have 22 girls, 10 leaders and 2 priesthood going. On the night when the bishopric will be up there, we should have around 40 people! Crazy! But it's going to be fun. The forecast is for BEAUTIFUL weather (no rain, hopefully!) and there aren't any fire restrictions so we can use the wood I've been collecting for 6 months!
So keep me in your prayers! Bryce Canyon here we come!
For those of you who were wondering, it is now officially July. Why do I say this? Because it isn't July until our air conditioner goes out. Yes, each July when it's 106 degrees outside, our AC will go on the blink and stop working. We have been in our house for 4 Julys and it has gone out each year.
Last Saturday, when Bryan returned home from the high adventure trip, he noticed that the house wasn't cooling off. So we checked and it wasn't working. We called an emergency service who told us the compressor was broken and was expensive to fix. But he told us that it was probably on warranty and to call the company who put it in. We called our builder who told us that he would contact the owner of the company who put it in...for the fourth year in a row in the month of July.
We loaded the kids up, some clothes and went to my parent's house in Washington for the night. We went back to our house to get ready for Church on Sunday and then spent the rest of the day in Washington at my parent's house. (The kids are LOVING this, by the way.) Monday morning they finally looked at the unit and concluded that it was, indeed, a broken compressor and that they would run to Las Vegas to get us a new one since it was under warranty.
Now, this is the MOST INCONVENIENT July for the AC to go out because I leave on Wednesday for Girl's Camp. My house is a wreck with piles of camp stuff everywhere and I have a ton to get done that I have been trying to do by cell phone. But it hasn't been stress-free.
Anyway, we spent Saturday through Tuesday at my parents house, hanging out in the AC and waiting for it to be fixed. They are supposed to be putting it in this morning so we are waiting to hear from them.
But apparently it is not an official July until our AC is out. I do have a much greater respect for the pioneers who settled this area without AC. I firmly believe we are all born at certain times in the history of the world because we can handle the situations at that time. I think I would have jumped back on my wagon and gone back to Salt Lake after the first summer in St. George .;)
