Saturday, August 16, 2008

Zion's Camp


The first day/night of camp (Monday) is only for the 5th the 6th years. After getting everything set up and ready for the week, they played games, sang karaoke, and danced. For one of the games, they were seperated into groups and given a ziplock bag with a frozen t-shirt inside a block of ice. They had to get the t-shirt out of the ice (without hitting it on the concrete or trees) and then one team member had to put the shirt on. Amanda's group won!


Checking the 2nd year girls in as they arrived at camp on Tuesday morning.


They learned basic CPR. Sam is practing on "Annie".


They each made a "sword" and learned self defense. Hmmm.....I don't think that's the way they were taught...... =)




Rowing around the lake and playing on the rope swing


Each night they called the visiting men down to the stage to recognize them and to give them a little bag of candy to say "Thank You".




The theme of this years camp was "Justice League". This is Amanda's version of Spiderman.


We had a big problem with the racoons this year. They kept stealing our food and scaring the girls.


For the first time, Amanda did the "trust fall". The girls on the ground interlock their hands/arms and then someone stands on the wooden pole and falls backwards into their arms. What an amazing lesson in trust!




Amanda and her friend playing "super hero". (To go along with the "Justice League" theme.)



Samantha walked into the house, went straight to the couch and slept for 3 1/2 hours! (Amanda went out babysitting within an hour of getting home!)


This last week the girls and I have been at Young Women's Camp (for church). This was Amanda's 5th year and Samantha's 2nd year. I can't believe Amanda only has 1 more year left of camp. Time flies so fast!
I was at camp all week as head cook for the 2nd year in a row. Along with cooking - I was also running all over camp, trying to get pictures. In a couple of weeks there will be a camp fireside, where they will be showing pictures from camp. I always give the pictures I take to the camp director so she can use them. Needless to say, my feet/ankles are swollen tonight and I am exhausted! Even though it was an incredible amount of work.......it was fun!
Andy came up to the camp on Wednesday as one of the priesthood leaders to help keep us safe all night. The girls and I loved seeing him there from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning.
I'm sorry if the pictures go on forever - but I took a ton of them and I can't possibly pick only a few pictures!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Welcome Home Amanda!

We left for the airport at 5:00 in the morning! WAY too early for a summer morning.......don't know WHAT I was thinking when I made those reservations!


On Monday, July 28th, Amanda flew to Salt Lake City to stay with her cousin, his wife and their daughter (Alma, Matti and Bella). She was there for a week and had a GREAT time! While there she also spent time with her cousins, Jill and her children, Joanna, and Jeanette and her husband, Jeff. It was fun for her to get away from home by herself. I really appreciate Alma and Matti for letting Amanda stay with them. Thanks for taking her around and showing her a great time!

While I was at the airport picking Amanda up, Andy decided to make a sign to welcome Amanda home. He got some of my scrapbooking paper, drew and cut out the letters (by hand - with no stencil), taped them together and hung it up on the garage door, so that when we pulled up in the driveway that was the first thing she saw! What a great way to welcome home our daughter!