LITTLE PIONEER HOME

This is my painting from this morning. There are some good things about it and I had a great time painting it (which is what counts), so we'll call it a positive experience.

PICKINESS IS INHERITED

My Princess P is a picky eater and so was I. I remember my parents trying everything to get me to eat. I just didn't like to. Nothing tasted good to me (except treats), so what was the point of eating? Gosh, I wish I still had that problem.

This is a new development (trick) my sweet little P uses at dinner to get out of eating. She pretends to be sleepy and her normally stringent daddy picks her up and carries her to bed. When she can hear that all the dishes are done, she conveniently 'wakes up' and is good to go for the rest of the evening. What will she try next?

GIRLS DAY OUT

I had such a great day today! A couple of my friends came down with me to run the Sevier River. My husband and I ran it Saturday so I knew it was a good level and just had to do it again.

We inflated the boats (yes, we all own the same one- NRS Bandits are the bomb), left the truck at the bottom, and biked the six miles up the trail.

We'd stashed our boats in the bushes at the top (locked up, of course), so we exchanged bikes for boats to run the river.

Afterwards, we ate lunch at the Big Rock Cafe at Big Rock Candy Mountain and then headed home. What a fabulous day! We need to do that again soon!

OH THE PLACES YOU WILL GO

Girls camp was always the highlight of my summers when I was a young woman. It was so much fun to go up to Ragged Mountain and rough it (and we really did rough it). My family was not a camping family, so those are my camping memories.

This year I was put on the Stake Girls Camp committee in charge of certification with a good friend of mine. We have had a blast getting ideas together and creating experiences for the girls in our stake. Here are some of my favorite memories...

This is called 'Singing in the Trees'. Many stakes may do this, but it was my first experience. The wards all choose a hymn or song and take turns shining their flashlights on a tree while they sing it. Then the whole stake sings the camp song together. It made for an amazing experience! (and BTW, my ward sounded amazing!)

This is me with my niece. She was visiting her dad and my sister, so she came to camp. It was fun to have her there. She's such a cutie.

This is my daughter S and I. She came up for a morning to help teach CPR (she just took life guarding and CNA classes last spring, so she is an expert). I was sad she couldn't come for more, but she had to work.

We had some good rain storms up there and it was beautiful. I love the mountains!

Here are the stake leaders doing our skit. We are rocking out to "I Say a Little Prayer." (I am in the middle in the green hat).

Here are most of us on the stake committee. We had a blast together!

The Stake Young Women's President has a golf cart- that's me in the 'trunk' -in which she drove us around. Do not try this at home.

For the last part of certification, the girls went through an obstacle course. This is my ward crossing the finish line- yes, they got drenched. Needless to say, they retaliated the next day by pouring their water bottles all over us during their morning cheer. I was very insulted since I had no part in the throwing of the water (how could I and be taking this photo at the same time?) I am working on trying to forgive, but it might take some time... ;)

I hadn't been to a Girls Camp since I was first married (almost 20 years ago), so it was very fun to go back. I hope I get to go next year too!

SUMMER AT THE THEATER

I haven't been able to see all the movies I'd wanted to this summer (missed Prince of Persia, Toy Story 3, Knight and Day, Karate Kid, A-Team, etc...), but I never do. These, however, are two I just saw recently:

Eclipse was fun. I snuck away from the family reunion with my sister, daughter and cousins to see this one. I can't help but like these movies and books. I am not as caught up in them as some, but there is just something about this story that is intriguing and romantic (as idiotic as Bella is sometimes). Perfect blend of amour and adventure- well, there could have been a bit more adventure- I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat, but perhaps that's because I've read the books?

My sweetheart just took me to The Sorcerer's Apprentice last night. I loved this movie! It liked it better than anything I've seen this summer. I am not normally a Nicolas Cage fan (I tolerate him in National Treasure), but he fit the part really well and I was very entertained by this movie. After all, that is the most important movie criteria in my book. I HIGHLY recommend this one!

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

We couldn't go anywhere to paint this week because all of my babysitters are gone, so this is the house across the street. I have always thought it was a cute house and it was really fun to paint.

GIRLS CAMP HERE I COME

Our church does a girls camp every summer for girls ages 12-18. I am now on the Girls Camp committee and am really enjoying it. I am an outdoors girl, but haven't actually been to Girls Camp since I was 15 and I am REALLY looking forward to it. We have lots of fun activities planned and I get to go with lots of my friends! Our theme this year is Dr. Seuss's book 'Oh, The Places You'll Go' and each ward is a different Dr. Seuss book. Our stake committee is 'Horton Hatches the Egg.' I am making a huge Horton today to put on our little shack we stay in. Get ready to party like Maisy! ;) just a little 'egg-hatching' humor there for those of you who haven't read the book in a while.... he he.

DAY LILIES & A LAKE

While we were up fishing for the reunion, my aunt and I painted.

I wish I had a photo of her painting. It is so much better than mine. Yuck. I am NOT fond of that one.

3 of my nieces wanted to paint too and it was fun for P and I to share some tips with them.

This is this morning's painting. The verdict is still out on this one. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. Picky picky picky.

BABY SHOWER

During the week of emergencies and family reunions (last week), we had a shower for my sister-in-law 'Jo' too (my honey's youngest sister). She is due next month with her first and it is a girl. We are very excited for her and I wanted to be there even though it was during my reunion.

Here she is- the cutest pregnant girl ever! (I stole this from her facebook- I didn't get a good photo at the shower- is that breaking copyright laws?)

Sister-in-law 'N', my daughter 'S', Me, sister-in-law 'Je' at the gorgeous shower. It was in Je's yard and such pretty setting.

The food was in the gazebo (don't you just love that word) and it was just so beautiful I had to take a photo.

A DOUBLE DOSE

The night I brought my son home from the hospital, my family reunion started. My family has 'THE BIG ONE' every two years (with my aunts, uncles, cousins and their children). We have always been lucky because they have the reunion in our town so we never have to travel. This year with my son's injury, we missed quite a bit of it. I was sad, but life was still just too stressful.

Here's a photo of one of the events I was able to make it to. These are some of my cousins and we are standing in front of the homestead cabin my Great Great Grandfather built when he emigrated from Denmark. (I only live a couple miles from here). Our family still owns this farm. Cool, huh.

The next day my husband's reunion started and we did the big slip 'n slide in my in-law's back yard.

That night we reserved the pool for us and had a blast there. Here's A going down the slide even with a cast on. I am reluctant to post this photo, but have to defend myself. I didn't want him to feel completely left out, so we let him do what he could with plastic bags and duct tape on his arm. He had a good time and so did the rest of us.

Then it was fishing the next day. Here are the girl cousins P's age. They have such a good time together. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun weekend, but I am glad to have life return to a semblance of normalcy, ... if you call skin graphs normal.

DID I EVER MENTION HOW MUCH I HATE ATV'S?

We have never owned an ATV for the simple reason that we think they are too dangerous. I know that sounds bizarre with all of the outdoor things we do, but it is something my husband and I have always agreed on.

About a month ago, my sister brought her Rhino down and left it with us. She lives in a highly populated area and wasn't able to use it very often and thought it would be fun for us to use and then it would be here (in the 'country') when she came to visit.

Last Monday for Family Night we went up in the mountains to roast hot dogs and make s'mores with my husband's family. My 14 year old took the Rhino for a ride with his cousin and he tipped it over. He was wearing a seat belt and helmet, but stuck his hand out intinctively to 'catch' himself and ended up losing part of his ring finger and breaking two other fingers (compound fractures) and a couple bones in his hand. His cousin was unharmed and ran over a mile back to tell us what had happened.

After waiting 8 hours for surgery, this is what his hand looked like... (my husband took photos of the injury for A to see later, but like S says- it looks like a zombie movie, so I won't share those with you).

Orange arrow shows his missing ring finger. Green arrow is his pinned index finger and blue arrow is his pinned middle finger (the bone got twisted and they had to do surgery to fix it too). Initially they were worried about the ring finger not having enough skin to keep the whole thing, but with lots of fasting and prayer and a Priesthood blessing, the skin looks really good and he's going to keep half of it. If you remember, he is my guitarist and pianist, so he is VERY thankful. Just another testimony to me that Heavenly Father is aware of us and hears and answers our prayers.

Here he is the next morning. Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City is the most amazing hospital on the planet! The best nurses and doctors work there and we are so grateful!

He is doing really well and has to have one more surgery for a skin graph on Wednesday and then he'll be good to go. Needless to say, my hatred of ATV's has doubled.