McKaylie at Girls Camp

Off to Girls Camp!

 Mckaylie went to her second year at  Girls Camp.  She had a great time.  We have a great group of girls here in the ward with a wonderful Young Women's President!  Love, love, love that she gets these great experiences!

Haley and McKaylie

 McKaylie took her best friend from school (who isn't a memeber of the church . . . yet) She had a great time and even bore her testimony at the closing Fireside.  Awesome!!

Group picture  2013 Girls Camp ~ Pocahontas State Park

A little pranking going on . . .

On the hike . . . sure love this girl!

Some more pranking . . . that would be the Bishop's bike Saran-wrapped to the tree!

A few of the Girls (and Sis. Duse {that's the girls' nickname for her} in the front) waiting for us to come pick them up!

New Calling

About a month ago - just in time for my birthday - I was given a new calling at church. I'm the new primary president for the Salem ward. For those who might not know, the primary includes all the children ages 18 months - 12 years old. It's a large primary and we just had 3 new families move in this last week. They each have 3 children, so my primary just increased by 9 kids in less that a week. We have around 120 children on our rolls, I think.

Our primary and youth are also combined with a Spanish speaking branch in our stake. I think this (so far) is my biggest challenge. We don't have any records for some of those children. We don't know who some of the parents are and several speak very little English. It gets a little complicated some days. On the flip side of that, I love the song Nephi's Courage and I Am A Child of God in Spanish. The sweetest talk I've heard so far was by a little girl in our Sunbeams class. She gave her entire talk in Spanish. I understood very little of what she was saying but it still touched my heart and made me cry.

This calling keeps me really busy, but I'm enjoying it so far. Maybe someday I'll get to a point where I feel like I have a handle on things . . . I'm not sure if that point will come any time soon though. I have days I feel like I can handle everything and days when I feel like I'm in way over my head. I'm very grateful that I know the Lord doesn't give us anything to do that we can't handle and also that I feel his spirit helping me. I love serving in the primary and working with the children. I'm also really happy to get to be with McKaylie in her last few months of primary.

Hanging Out in Cody

Here's a few of the pictures that we took while we were at my parents house in Cody.

Visiting with Tracy (my sister) and Allisyn (my niece) and Chad, of course. We didn't get nearly enough time with them while we were there! (I wish things had worked out better when we were leaving--Noah and Myshel were both sick in the car--not our best day) My dad helped Vance earn his rifle and shotgun merit badges for scouts. Chad and Noah went with. Noah thought that was so cool, especially since he got to shoot the 45 (with dad's help)Noah and Grandpa Mckaylie "hunting" on the Wii Vance with his new buddies
Maggie ZoeBee Noah and Grandma
Noah loves his grandma and grandpa. It was hard to peel him away from them.
I love this picture of him with my mom While we were there we went and saw the Cody Mural. It's a mural painted on the ceiling of the foyer at one of the LDS church buildings. It takes you through the history of the church, from Joseph Smith receiving the gold plates to the completed Salt Lake temple. I grew up seeing this mural and being a kid never really thought much about it. Every time I see it, now thought, it's new and amazing and touches my heart. You can check it out here. There's pictures of the mural on the website and lots of information about it! It's worth seeing. I hope you check it out.

Here's the kids with my mom and dad Lately Cody has been over run with deer. When I was growing up, you never saw them in town, but now they're everywhere. This doe and her twins were in yard across from the church. Sooo cute! The little girls in the window of the house squealing about them was super cute, too!

Youth Trek

The youth in our ward went on a trek this year for youth conference. They basically lived and worked as pioneers pushing/pulling handcarts. Unfortunately, our kids got rained on practically non-stop and it was decided to cut it short by about a day. All the mud was getting rather dangerous for the kids to hike in. It was also really cold. Wet and cold aren't so good. I also heard a few kids lost shoes in the mud.

Vance was a little skeptical about going, but ended up having a great time, despite the rain. I think it helped him understand some of the difficulties the pioneers faced and gave him a new appreciation for the comforts he enjoys.

They were divided into "families" with a ma and pa, an adult uncle, and, of course, siblings. Vance said he had the best group, LOVED his ma and pa (I know them, they are awesome!) and he said he had the best food! Here's some pictures.

Here's before he left: And after he got home: (We still haven't gotten the smoky smell out of his hat)This is his pioneer family And this is his ma and pa (before the rain started) Working hard This is Vance and Cameron. They're great buds and some how ended up in the same pioneer family......hmmmm I think they've got some pull somewhere..... It never hurts knowing the Stake YW and YM's presidents!!!

Overall it was a great experience. Every youth should have such an opportunity!

Noah's Baptism

Noah has been waiting patiently for his dad to get home from deployment so that he could be baptized. And that day finally came today. It was such a nice time with many wonderful friends there to support him. It filled my heart to overflowing!

Out With the Old in Primary

Yesterday our ward sustained a new primary presidency, which means I was released form my calling as 2nd counselor. It came as a bit of a surprise, but I was totally ok with it. The new presidency will be great. I was given a new calling, but they forgot to sustain me, so mum's the word for now, I guess. I think it will be a nice change actually. Although, I'm not sure how I feel about being forgotten on the list of people they sustained. This is the 3rd time they've done that to me when they've given me a new calling. Apparently, I'm easy to forget.

Formal Stake Ball

Our stake had a formal youth ball at the beginning of December. It was very formal with dance cards and everything. All the girls were encouraged to wear formal dresses but make them modest! All the girls looked great. Here's Myshel in her dress.

Youth Temple Trip

Saturday the youth in our ward were up bright and early (5AM) and on their way to the Boston Temple. They had a great trip.

This Will Tickle Your Funny Bone.....

I love this website! Go check it out it is hilarious!
Overheard In The Ward

Family Home Evening...............

Monday we decided to go back to the Cathance River and have our family home evening there. There's a calm spot in the river, just after the falls that we let the kids swim in. I guess you could call it swimming, the water wasn't very deep at all. It was very quiet there, except for the kids laughter. Chad and I really had a nice time, visiting with each other and watching them in the water. It was so nice to see them getting along and having fun together. After they played, we had a family meeting and discussed some things that we need to work on in our home. We also discussed our trip to the temple that we'll be taking this Friday. (They're having a youth temple trip Friday afternoon. Chad and I decided that we'd take the whole family down there Friday morning, get a hotel for the night and spend some time checking out some touristy spots. Then go to the temple that afternoon. They'll probably need Chad to help with the youth, so McKaylie, Noah and I will check out the grounds, and the visitor's center. After they're done, we'll take the kid's back to the hotel [it's so nice having older children to babysit] and Chad and I will go back and do a session in the temple that night and hopefully another one Saturday morning before we leave.) It was such a quiet, peaceful atmosphere. I think that helped us have a better spirit while we talked. We sang "I Love to See the Temple" (Vance's favorite primary song). It was so neat to listen to our voices carry through the stillness and trees. We had a very reverent, spiritual closing prayer. It was really such a nice family home evening. I wish they all could be like that!

Picnics, Parties, Parting, Talks, and New Callings.....Oh My!

Friday night was our ward picnic. It was at a local park here in Topsham. There's lots of food and games and lots of people. We had a good time. McKaylie and Noah came home covered in dirt and had to get a quick bath before bed.

Saturday night I was invited to a girl's night out at a friend's house. It was a lots of fun, too. We made fruit pizzas and laughed A LOT! I came home a little earlier than I wanted, though, because......

Chad left for a school in Florida at 4AM Sunday morning. Yikes, that's early. He arrived there just fine, but our house felt especially quiet and lonely without him, this time. He'll be back Saturday night. I think we'll pick him up at the airport in Portland.

Myshel gave a talk in sacrament meeting Sunday. I thought she did an especially good job this time. I was really proud of her, but then, I usually am.

I was released from my calling on Sunday, also. I was surprised, because I've only had it for about 5 months. I was teaching in Relief Society and I really enjoyed it. I had several ladies come up to me and tell me how disappointed they were that I was released, because they really enjoyed it when I taught. That made me feel soo good, I can't even tell you! I was glad that I was able to teach one last time, yesterday, even though, I was "officially" released. (I did think it was my best lesson....frustrating that it turned out that way.....)

I don't get to rest for long, though. I was released from being a RS teacher and then sustained as the Primary Secretary. I haven't worked in Primary (officially) since Vance was in nursery! I'm excited, though, because I love, love, love the primary president! She is such a wonderful lady and she has some great counselors, too. So, this will be a big change for me, but I'm looking forward to it. I think that I will really love it and if I don't, I'll learn to love it, but I think that I'm going to love it!

Doing Service, I Think.......

A couple of weeks ago, the scouts in our ward went to the new campground in New Hampshire, where they'll be having girl's camp. Our stake along with 8 other stakes purchased it. The scouts were asked to help get things set up for when the girls would be coming up to camp. Our ward went down and camped over night. Chad went with the scouts to help, too. I'm assuming they got their service project done, but all I heard about was the fishing!
This is a sunfish that Vance caught. We were told that it's actually a good size for a sunfish. I wouldn't really know, though. He was sure happy to catch it! (Even, though, the top picture doesn't show it)
These are the tents that the girls will get to sleep in. Better than sleeping on the ground, I guess.

Red Carpet Treatment...........................

Our stake had a dance for the youth a few weeks ago. It's theme was "Walk the Red Carpet". It was a semi-formal dance. When they arrived, there was a limo out front that they could get in and then come out the other side, as if they had arrived by limo. On the other side was the red carpet that led into the dance, lined with photographers and the press. It was such a fun idea.The girls were encouraged to to wear formal dresses that they had or go to a second hand store and find a formal dress there. Since we know that most formal dresses these days are completely immodest, the girls were told to make them modest. In other words, wear a t-shirt under the dress or a sweater/swag over it. They could do whatever they wanted as long as it would be a completely modest dress when they were done. Another idea that I thought was totally cool! We took Myshel to a consignment shop here that one of her young women leaders works at and let her choose what she wanted. She was really excited. I thought that she looked great and the black shirt under it looked great, too!

There was also a contest to see which ward/branch could bring the most friends. Myshel brought Cody and Jessie. They had a great time and really enjoyed seeing how the other girls "fixed" their dresses.

5 Year Old Sweetness......

Thursday evening we sent Myshel off to Youth Conference. Her leader picked her up around 5:30PM. They had about an hour's drive ahead of them, so we let her take our portable DVD player for the drive. She was there until Saturday night when we had to go and pick her up in the town where they had the conference.

Chad and I were talking Friday night about how quiet the house was without Myshel home. It really was much quieter. A little while after this conversation, Noah came and asked us when Myshel would be home. My heart melted a little, I couldn't help but think that it was so cute that he missed his big sister, too and wanted her home. Chad was thinking the same thing. This is how the conversation went.

Noah: "When is Myshel coming home?"
Chad: "She won't be home until tomorrow night, when we go get her."
Me (thinking "ohhhhh, how sweet"): "Why, Bud? Do you miss her?"
Noah: "No, I miss the DVD player!"
So much for that sweet little boy!

Myshel had a pretty good time at youth conference. I think she had more fun than she let on. Apparently there's a boy that "shadowed" her and her friends all day Saturday. Chad and I teased her that he must have liked her. She said, "yeah, probably, but it was just creapy!". You just keep thinking that, Myshel! Boys=Creapy!

President Gordon B. Hinckley

This would not be my blog, if I didn't post about President Hinckley today....
Yesterday when I picked Myshel up from seminary she told me that President Hinckley had passed away. My heart and mind have been filled with so many thoughts and emotions since. What a wonderful man he was. I would think that he has touched every heart of everyone one who has heard him speak. Even his gaze through the TV screen could bring peace and love. He was a kind, humble, inspired man of God. We will miss him so much here and I'm sure that he continues his wonderful work and mission still.
Without a doubt, he returned with honor.

A thought from Gordon B. Hinckley...

Each day I try and add to my other blog, in the hopes that eventually I will get everything I've collected on it. I just grab a few out of my folder and don't pay attention to what I get. This morning this is one of the things I grabbed. I thought it was extremely fitting today, so I thought I'd add it to this blog, too.

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"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas, and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride. "
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Gordon B. Hinckley