Girls Camp

ok, so I'm not very good at taking pictures. I took one picture the whole time. Maybe I"ll come back and add some when I steal them from the girls on FB :)
We went up on Tuesday. We had 20 girls from our ward, and I didn't really know any of them. I knew 2 from Activity Days, but that's about it. I really didn't know what I was in for. I knew I would have fun though.

Tuesday we met at the church early to work on the skit. I was still learning names. The theme was BUGS, Be Unique Girls and Shine. (LOVED IT) Each ward picked a bug. It took us a while to get together and pick a bug before camp, so all the "cute" ones were taken, so we chose Yellow Jackets. Turns out it was WAY more fun the the cutsie ones. We got them yellow back packs and bananas bandannas for camp. That was great for me, I could find my group from ANYWHERE in the camp.

We were in Cabins and we soon found out that we were not alone. Big Bertha spiders bigger than tarantulas, wasp nests, dead mice, and a Bird (which at first was thought to be a bat) were found in the cabins. Sleeping arrangements were shuffled and me and the other leader had 4 of the girls with us in our cabin that slept 4. A little crowded, but I wouldn't have changed it. It gave me a chance to get to know those girls better, and I LOVE them to death!

I ended up with one of the girls camera, and I forgot who's it was. So I took it back to my cabin instead of leaving it out all night. Well I thought it would be a fun prank to fill it up with completely RANDOM pictures.  I had one of the girls and the other leader in there and for a good 20 mins were were cracking up and coming up with hilarious pictures. At one point, I took an extra yellow bag and drew a face on it and put it over my head. Apparently that was a big hit with all the girls. They named her Gertrude, and she lived through the duration of camp.

Camp was exhausting cause there was no flat ground, you were either going up hill or down hill, we were up at 6:30, and went to bed no earlier than midnight, and had very little free time during the day. Plus it was a bit chilly at night, and I only brought a sheet to sleep under. (I used my towel as another layer and managed to stay warm :) )

For bishops night our bishop came all decked out in our colors, including his bright yellow knee high socks. He scored BIG points with the girls. And he helped one of the girls roast a moth so SHE could eat it....no, I'm not kidding. It was hilarious.

It was a busy week, but SO FUN! The activities were awesome, the food was great, and the company was AMAZING. I hope I get to go again with these girls. (next time I'll bring my banjo) :)

P.S. they are STILL using my additional 3 verses to Grandma's in the Cellar. YEAH BABY!

Marks B-day

Marks favorite show is Dr Who. It's a British scifi series, One of the "bad guys" is a race of Aliens called the Daleks. 

Lydia wanted to make Daddy a Dalek cake for his birthday. He requested that I make him a cheesecake, so I was going to find a simple picture of a Dalek that I could draw with chocolate syrup on the top. But instead I found how to make a mini Dalek cake using swiss rolls. So we headed to the store for swiss rolls and candy. After I took the picture, I realized I forgot the little lights on the top. Lydia decorated the blue one and I decorated the brown one. 

 For his birthday on Saturday I made him ribs. What guy doesn't love robs?! Honestly I love em too, but they are so darn expensive that we don't have them very often. This is the 3rd time we have made them. The first 2 times we were no super successful. So I spent this last week reading different recipes and methods for cooking ribs, and it paid off.

I took off the membrane on the back, covered them wit ha dry rub (brown sugar, garlic, onion, paprika, cayane, black pepper, and a dash of pre mixed mccormic something or other)

Put them in their own thing of foil with a table spoon or two of apple juice in each one and just a few drops of liquid smoke.

Baked them in the oven for 3 hrs at 250 (actually at 2 hours I turned it down to 200)

Then Mark took them out to the grill, slathered them in bbq sauce, put them on the grill for 20 mins or so till it got bubbly and sticky and then we ate them.

They. Were. AWESOME!

 And of course we had corn on teh cobb (but no home made rolls....I spent the afternoon making Daleks instead)

 EXTERMINATE!!

Rissa turned 1!

We had "bazonya" for dinner on her birthday (as Danton calls it), then for FHE we did a little birthday party.

 Daddy had to blow out the candle, she didn't know what to do.

 Brownies in a cup cake pan, she loved it.

 Then time for presents. The kids each wrapped one for her earlier in the day. I 2wrapped one too, so she end up with 3 presents.

 After the first one, she was done, she was happy, and not even interested in the others.

 So I told the kids to open the presents that they wrapped for her, and they were delighted. Once she actually saw the other stuff she was excited to have it. (same monkey Lydia got for her 1st b day.)

see saw swing

Just made the kids a see saw swing. It's so fun. They LOVE it!




I put full instructions on my new Project Blog

Lydia's scripture study

     Last night for Lydia's scripture study we read Mosiah chapter 19 in the Book of Mormon. This is about the wicked King Noah taking the men and fleeing from the approching Lamanite army, leaving the women and children and a few of the men (who refused to leave their families behind) to fend for them selves. They "caused that their fair daughters should stand forth and plead with the Lamanites that they would not slay them. And it came to pass that the Lamanites had compassion on them, for they were charmed with the beauty of their women. Therefore the Lamanites did spare their lives"


 A little while after we were done reading Lydia said "Mom, I'm pretty huh."
"Yes you are Lydia, you are very pretty"
"The Lamanities wouldn't kill me because I'm so beautiful"
(chuckling to my self) "Nope, they wouldn't kill you, you are very beautiful"

ha ha ha well, at least she is getting something out of the scriptures.

I'm not quoting word for word, cause I can't remember exactly, but that is how the  conversation went anyway, And while we are reading I stop often and make sure she understands what we are reading.

I built a Swing Set!

For my birthday I got to build a swing set!  Funnest birthday present ever. Once I FINALLY got it all done I realized just how crazy I really am. I really have NO CLUE what I’m doing. But once I get an idea in my head that is really the only thing I think about till it’s done. Kind of like a pregnancy craving, you don’t want to eat anything else till you get what you are craving. Well I have….Idea cravings .

My husband is so awesome to see how ridiculous I can be, and yet support all my crazy notions. I used 2 different sets of plans cause they both had things I liked. When you mash 2 things together like that, sometimes you get "holes". I used this one and one from Ana White. 

I wanted to make one completely out of wood cause when you start getting swing set brackets and braces you can double what you would have spent on just the wood. So with a little extra work I saved a lot of money. I spent a whopping $116 on this, and I got everything I needed. 

It's made out of 10 ft 4x4's (and here is the crazy part) I thought I could do most of it my self. And if you know me at ALL, you know that strength is not one of my strengths. :) It took FOREVER cause those things are huge and heavy. 

Day 1 last Monday (my birthday) (also the hottest day so far this year) I went to lowes and got the supplys and lumber. I got one A frame put together by my self, and the other one ready for assembly. Then my parents and siblings still at home came over and surprised me that evening. They helped me get it all put together. It took all of us a little over an hour to do what would have taken me all day. It was so fun to have them there working on it with me. We got down to the VERY last nut and bolt, and then we were gonna set it up. BUT the last nut was all screwy in the fact that it would screw on. 

Day 2 I went to ACE (just down the road) to get the last nut. Got the WRONG one, so I took it back (with all 3 kids in tow) And got the wrong one AGAIN. ANNOYING. Put the kids down for naps and worked on swings. When Rissa woke up I headed to Lowes and got the RIGHT one. Finally got it all put together and My brother Joe came over that afternoon to help me set it up. 

Here is the "hole". I only had one bolt in each end connecting the A's with the beam, so essentially I made a slight hinge. The swing set was swaying side to side. GRRR. So we set it down and I spend the evening figuring out how to fix it.

Day 3: Lucky for me I grabbed a couple extra pieces of lumber when I got the last bolt so I had what I needed to fix it. I got the braces on the ends and the front, I couldn't get them on the back cause that was the side it was laying on. 

 Mom and Dad stopped by that afternoon and helped me set it up. And it was STABLE!! Then later I had to climb up the side and finish screwing it all together while it was standing. Lydia got some puctures of me while I was up there. 


My favorite part of a project is seeing it all come together. It's still a work in progress. I have 2 seat swings up, and a partial baby swing. My original design didn't work so I found a better easier one. I will get it done this week. Along with a see-saw swing. I have everything I need for it except 4 bolts. The see saw swing will be more fun to make, but I should do the baby swing first so Ris can enjoy it too.

This is the gift that keeps on giving. Since it's all wood and I made all the swings, I can continue to change it and add. (not all right now) Some day we will make a fort to go with it...some day.

It was a lot of work but SO FUN.  Like I said, I have the best Husband EVER for putting up with all my crazy projects. My poor house suffered greatly last week. :)

Danton's 3rd Birthday (2 months to late)

We celebrated Dantons Birthday at Grandmas house and invited all the cousins that live close. I made him a motorcycle tire cake. 

It says Happy 3rd Birthday Danton like tire lettering. And Uncle Joe gave him a really COOL motorcycle so we put it on top of the cake. (the motorcycle was the biggest hit)

Love this one, you can see everyone that helped blow out the candles.

 See, the motorcycle was very popular.

 He was opening his Lightening McQueen shirt and Mater shirt. He couldn't see what they were yet

 He saw the, he LOVES them. (see the HUGE hug)

And he got his very own skate board. He seriously got TONS of new toys from his cousins. Enough for everyone to play too. It was a fun day.