Young Women's Camp

Welcome Back from Young Women's Camp!!!  I LOVE Young Women's Camp. This is the first year I've been in a while...about 4 years. I missed it. Our Stake does a Stake camp every year and it is very successful. The divide the girls up by age group/camp level and they stay with those groups the whole time at camp. They do not meet together for ward time except for Friday night when the Bishops come up to meet with their young women. It is really nice because the girls get to meet friends their ages and they get to work on their levels together the whole week. When you are asked to serve at camp, it is a calling issued from the Stake. I was called this year to be a cook. It was a TON of work. Posted below are a few pix of the camp and the kitchen.
This is the cooks cabin. We were one of the few groups that got to sleep in a cabin...and might I add....it had its perks and its downfalls. :D

Wildflowers brought up just to beautify our cabin

So this is the inside of our cabin..one room slept 5 and the other room slept 3. My bunk mates were fabulous women who all seems to snore a great deal. I do not deal with snoring very well and had no place to escape to so as a result, I spent most nights not falling asleep until after midnight..which may not seem late but it was after the long days of cooking. 3 meals and 1 snack for 220 people...we kept busy.

Caitlyn found a leader that was willing to braid her hair daily. Yeah! She looked fabulous. She was a YCL 1 (youth camp leader 1) this year and so she worked with a group of 2nd year campers. She and her friend Kayla had to do devotionals every night and help them with their camp skills and such every day. They did a fantastic job.

This is a picture of the MASSIVE potato salad we made to serve 200+. It took 2 grown men to lift it down to the eating area and it was yummy

This is a shot of the amazing kitchen we got to work in. It had tons of prep space, tons of cooking space and in the other room was a walk in pantry, a walk in fridge and freezer. They had a separate dishwashing space as well.

Another cute shot of Caitlyn at night...such a beautiful girl!

The scenery was breathtaking. There are bears in the area so they are diligent about no food in the campers cabins and they are diligent about burning the trash and even have a huge cement building for the wet trash to be stored until the garbage pick up just so the bears cannot get into it.

 

This river was about 2 or 3 miles down from the camp but was also spectacular. Just had to include it.

All in all it was a wonderful camp. The theme this year was "Construction Zone, a testimony in the making" and there were things geared to the theme every day and night. Lots of work for such a worthwhile cause of building up Young Women to become leaders, mothers and to strengthen them to withstand this world we live in

Lessons in Life

I want to share a favorite quote that I have posted on Facebook, but it has once again come up this past week. My sister shared with me the fact that she had read this and shared this,this past week.

"May I share some suggestions with you who face...the testing that a wise Heavenly Father determines is needed even when you are living a worthy, righteous life and are obedient to His commandments. Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Proverbs 3:11-12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain" (in CR, Oct. 1995, 18;).
- Elder Richard G. Scott

We all share this common thread in mortality of trials. Some trials are large and some seemingly small. Why does one family lose a husband and father far to early? Why does another struggle with infertility, when all they want is a baby in their home? Why do some struggle financially and some face the trial of infidelity? Why,when we are doing all that is required and asked of us do we still face trials and are caused to be humbled further? When we have eternal perspective we begin to understand Heavenly Fathers hand in our lives. I have heard of all the struggles I listed in just the past 2 months. So what do we do in the midst of the lowest part of the trail? I believe we have to keep remembering the fundamentals of the gospel of Christ. We must PRAY daily, communicating with our Father. We must STUDY his word and how blessed are we as Latter Day Saints to have both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We must exercise our FAITH and sometimes just put it out their first and couple it with HOPE. We must SERVE one another and LOVE one another. Realizing that Heavenly Father will hold us closely as we go through the necessary stretching and growth, or as I like to say : as we "level up" in this mortal station.

Now, I have NOT been going through any big trial, but had a couple of wonderful experiences lately. Last Thursday night, a member of the Bishopric met with Kris and I and the first thing he said to me was "I would like to honorable release you from your calling as teacher in the Relief Society". He did not ask if I wanted to be released, he just did it and I felt my heart twinge a bit. I was taken aback and I was SAD! He let me tell him why I loved Relief Society and what I had learned in my calling and then he said "I don't think you will be sad for very long" and then he called me to be the 1st councilor in the YW Presidency. I was so emotional and have been all weekend. When I was released from YW's a few years ago, my heart broke and with each move I have secretly hoped and LONGED for the opportunity to serve in there again. When I was called to be in the Relief Society presidency in Maine, again, I was sad, but was willing to serve and learn and grow. When I was set apart for that calling, I was told in a blessing that although my heart was with the Young Women, my time was to be used in teaching their mothers. Well, OK, that sounds good. So when this calling came, I began to realize just how much I had missed the young women and how much I love them. We have an amazing group of YW and of leaders, cream of the crop!!!! It was a testimony builder to me that my Heavenly Father loves me and knows that I am prepared again to serve in this capacity. I have felt very strongly this weekend where I need to help and teach and how I can serve and sustain. So, although the trial of NOT being in YW's may seem miniscule, it was something I struggled with and am grateful for the stretching I have been able to go through to prepare to serve them again. :)

MMMMMMMMMMM CHERRIES

Can you tell what time of year we are hitting? Yep, time to get our canning on! And yesterdays task

CHERRIES!!!!

We got all these Cherries for FREE! A man in our ward has a cherry orchard and they had already sold all the cherries they could, so before the trees were stripped, he let any ward members come over and pick the cherries. The trees were still LOADED, but if a cherry has a blemish, a split or is not the right size, it can't be picked to be sold. So we picked an apple box FULL of cherries. I did 16 quarts of cherries, 6 batches of various cherry freezer jams and froze a bunch as well. Our fingernails are still stained a lovely bing cherry color, but we are done. And the blessing? Spending the day canning with my daughter. Even though it was hard work and tiring, we accomplished something fantastic.

So I know this is on my Face book, but not all of you Facebook, so I am posting a video here as well of Caitlyns last Choir Concert. This is Shenandoah. Mr Renner, their Choir teacher had the Seniors perform the first part in parts and then added in the rest of the concert. It is beautiful. The second one is Ave Verum by Imant Raminsh. It is beautiful as well. Enjoy. You may have to turn off my playlist on the right hand side so it does not play while you are listening. :)

Can we have a wing with our name on it?

Those of you who have gone through a catastrophic illness with a loved one might ask the same question after spending so much time in the hospital. We we arrived Friday evening from California, we hit Wendover and my sister and brother called informing me that my mom was once again in the ER. She had severe abdominal pain that brought her to her knees and they rushed her into the ER. They did a CT Scan and found fluid and air in the abdominal cavity so they knew she had perforated something in her abdomen but they didn't know what it was. We talked with the surgeon and she agreed to have them use a scope to see what was going on. Around 1 am, the surgeon came out and informed us that she had an ulcer rupture in her stomach and perforate through. He was able to repair that and now she is on the road to recovery once again

This picture was taken on Easter Sunday. My brother had brought my mom a HUGE stuffed easter bunny and we placed the bunny by her. Sorry mom, but it is too cute a picture not to share
While we were in Utah, we also went to the State Capitol Building as Nick needed that for a merit badge he is working on and the kids enjoyed it. It is a magnificent building.

This is a great shot looking up in the rotunda.

This is a shot looking into the House of Representatives

Next we went down to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was getting COLD!!!!

Caitlyn in front of the beautiful Christus Statue

Another shot of the temple. I think I may frame this one

Some of the beautiful flowers just blooming

Amazing vintage hat display at the Joseph Smith building. If you know Nick, Caitlyn and I, you might not know that we LOVE vintage hats. We went to an estate sale last year and scored a box full of hats from the 30's and 40's which now hang on Caitlyns wall. Nick particularly loved the top hat in the top right part of the hat display.

Right after we took this picture, we crossed back on to temple square and SNOW....SNOW....SNOW!! I was wearing capri's and a sweater...Toto..we are NOT in California any more :)

It was a great trip in which we were able to see many friends, spend time with family and focus on the things of eternity

Antelope Island

One of the fun things we did while in Utah was to go to Antelope Island. We haven't been for a few years and my great nephew Caleb had not been at all. We loaded up and proceeded across the causeway and out to the Island. The pictures are from my phone camera so i couldn't get close ups, but we did see Buffalo from afar, and a great Antelope :)

My sisters grandson (my great nephew) Caleb. He was so happy and was having such a blast!

I think Nick was trying to fit in with the local wild life :)

Some of the horses at Fielding Garr Ranch. Caleb enjoyed petting them. We fed them grass and loved on them for quite a while.

The beauties of this Island are amazing. From the blue waters of the Great Salt Lake to the rugged rocks and sage brush and grassy areas. From the sandy beaches to the beautiful wildlife we saw. What a great day at Antelope Island

Easter and Spring Break

Easter 2011
We were lucky enough to travel to Utah for Easter this year. Well worth the 11 hour drive. My sister Diane, graciously hosted us and let us crash at her house. Nick and Caitlyn were excited that they did not have to give up the dying of the eggs.

Nick getting ready to dye his portion of the eggs

Caitlyn is very determined to decorate this egg in her own way

Let the dying begin

Awesome eggs

Taken in front of my sisters house on a Beautiful Easter Morning
We were blessed to attend Sacrament meeting with my sister at her sons ward. Craig (my nephew) and his wife, Erin, were speaking in their sacrament meeting. They spoke so graciously and with such love of the Savior and of his atonement and of his glorious resurrection. How grateful I was to hear their testimonies. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with family later and I was feeling so blessed to be with my family that day.