YW's Girls Camp 2009

This year we held girls camp on a ward level. This was my first time going to camp where it wasn't held on a Stake level. We got to be a little flexible with our choice in where to camp and what to do. So, we decided to go to Paris, Idaho. We had three main activities in mind that we thought would be perfect for this location: Bear Lake, Minnetonka Cave and the Cemetery. The Cemetery actually had old Pioneer family members buried there of some of the leaders and girls who came along.

First Day:
We left my house all packed up and ready to go by 9am. We made a stop up at the Logan Macey's so Bro. Bennion could pick up a Dutch Oven. Then we were on our way up Logan Cyn. I led the way but as we all knew, in the end Bro. Bennion would be passing us all up so he could lead the way. Bro. Bennion brought a lot of laughs. Unfortunately a lot of the laughs we had he was completely unaware of.

In front of the Macey's Flag

We arrived at camp around 12:30pm. This was the first time I had reserved something in my name. Welcome to the Paris Springs Camp Ground Baby!

After we all ate our sack lunch's we brought from home it was time to unload all our gear. This cracked me up. Bringing the cooler into camp was a group effort. The girls did it, and they were so proud.

While all of us girls were off putting up our tents I set the priesthood leaders out to put up our canopy. I told them specifically that the canopy was all in the back of Tami's truck. I didn't know how to put it up and neither did anyone else. "Good luck figuring it out" I said. Two hours later, and with no idea how to put up the canopy, this is what they came up with! "Are you kidding me?" I chuckled and said, "No way is this going to fly!". If a gust of wind were to come it would take that away in a heart beat. After examining it and being told by the guys that they were missing some elbows Danielle suggested going and looking in the back of the truck....low and behold there were the elbows. The key to putting up the canopy properly. Now come on guys, really? did you look in the truck? We laughed about that pretty hard. The guys were not at all happy with us.

Here Dee is making some salsa for us. If you'll notice in the background the canopy, set up in it's proper state.

All of us in front of the Paris Tabernacle. Built in 1886.

If you look closely you can see the Owl who kept flying over head. It was cool to see.

to end off our first day we went over to the Paris Cemetery. Some of the girls had ancestors who were buried there. We looked at the headstones, looked at the dates, and told stories about pioneers. Danielle and the girls found a headstone that didn't list the death date. As soon as she found this she started to tell the girls about an old lady who would roam the cemetery in the evenings looking for her husband. No one knew if she was a spirit or if she was alive. This is why they don't have the death date on her headstone. At that moment I came out from behind a headstone dressed as an old lady. Hobbling and moaning. The girls screamed and took off running. It was the funniest thing ever! Danielle got a picture but I don't have it yet. It's a good one.

Day Two:

Our day was spent mostly playing at Bear Lake. We played in the water, played in the sand and enjoyed each other's company.

Melissa, Tami, Me and Danielle

The building of the Sand Castle. It was a great group effort.

Finished!

We had to steer clear of getting too close to the fire. Bro. Bennion kept chucking whole trees into the fire until we had to yell for him to stop. We feared he would set the whole forest on fire!

Day three:

Our visit to Minnetonka Cave. Here we are waiting for our tour. We had to wait an hour but with our group it seemed like the time flew by were were having so much fun.

Here we all are inside the cave.

Going down the stairway to heaven....which means we were descending our way down to Hell! They even had red lights at the bottom.

Paris Springs. It came right out of the mountain.

Shooting the Potato Gun.

Picture with the Bishopric. They came up and joined us for dinner and our testimony meeting.

Warming up our rice sacks to put in our sleeping bags to keep our feet warm.

Kayla eating a huge marshmallows. They were a hit.

Here is an apparition of the lady from the Cemetery!

The lanterns we made.

Day Four:
Packing up and going home....in the rain. Thank goodness it stopped raining while we were packing. But everything was soaked.

Here we are with our camp awards. Ready to leave and go home to take showers.

Girls camp this year was great! Thanks to everyone who participated and made it Awesome!

Inspiration...

My friend Stacey was quite the crafty person and because of her and her inspirational blog I decided to try some things I have never done before or things I haven't done in a long time. It's been a fun couple of weeks and I feel so proud that I accomplished everything I set out to do. I still have a few projects in progress and plan on doing more. It's been really fun. Check out what I've been up to:

Made Skirt and Apron for this years youth conference trek

I didn't want to spend $40 on a watch like this so I decided to make my own. I've made three so far. I copied these from one I saw at a craft store. The one on the left is now hanging from my front door. My mom taught me how to crochet, it's been a long time since I've done it. These are washrags I gave as a gift.

Apricots were a plenty on my parents tree this year so now we have our bounty of Apricot jam. Oh yum...anyone want any? We made over 80 jars this year.

And I had to include Awesome. He's always an inspiration! This is him swinging for the first time.

More teeth. You can't see the top. He actually has 6 with two more coming through.

And now he's drinking water from a cup. Oh, how they grow.

Hope you've been inspired to try something new. It's so fun and it feels so great! Happy Crafting!

One of life's twists

This past week has been life changing. When someone you love and care about leaves this earth it feels like a piece of you goes with them. Like a piece of your heart is missing. I received a call early Monday morning with the sad news that one of my oldest and dearest friends had passed away at the tender age of 31. Stacey Lynn Lambert Wolfely had just delivered her fourth child fourteen days earlier and passed away from complications from preeclampsia.
Stacey's obituary:
http://obit.nelsonfuneralhome.com/obitdisplay.html?id=688940&listing=Current

Growing up we had some really great times. We even kept in touch and did stuff together with our families even after all these years. This is my tribute to Stacey:

We, (Mindy Nichols Hendrix, Emily Schoenfeld Norman, and Tyra Stoker Swensen) were asked to sing at her funeral. It was an extremley hard thing to do but we were also honored that Mitch thought of us. (We knew Stacey was looking down on us and laughing).

Stacey was an amazing and talented person. She shared her gifts well and even spent time teaching others what she knew. She did it well and on a budget. Check out her amazing blog at http://www.thethriftychick.blogspot.com/

My prayers and thoughts are with Stacey's family at this time. Especially Mitch and the kids. Forever families are real and it's so uplifting to know that we will get to see Stacey again. I'll miss you my dear friend.

Love, Shawna

Life

Life is definitely a journey. Lots of twists and turns, and along the way there can be bumps, pot holes and sometimes you have to just stop and take a detour because there's no other way to go. Today I was sitting down to post some of the best news of my life when I suddenly got a call about a dear friend who is in critical condition in the hospital and suddenly life took a turn. I made a few calls, cried a lot, and thought a lot about how precious and beautiful life is when later that night I got a call from a client who wanted to set up a hair appointment. My first thought, who calls on Sunday to make an appointment, and doesn't she understand that I have just received and am trying to deal with some pretty emotional news......No, she has no clue. Like most of us, we have really no clue what's going on in other people's lives at that very moment. We are just making a phone call for an appointment or calling a friend not knowing we've interrupted their night for some trivial information. I was thinking about all the emotions that go on simultaneously throughout the world with each human being and for a small, very minuscule moment I could see how our Heavenly Father really has his work cut out for him.

The moment my precious son was being placed into my arms by his birth mom as we left the hospital was one of the most emotional moments of my life.....somewhere someone else was celebrating their 16th Birthday. The day my brother passed away, someone somewhere else was booking a flight to surprise their sister for Thanksgiving. The day my son was finally Sealed to us forever, someone somewhere else was finding out their spouse was in a car accident. One thing that's certain and one thing that's constant....LIFE! And each of us have our own individual trials and opportunities and we learn so much, find out something new, and find strength in even the darkest of times......I want to now focus on one of the most happiest, most joyful times in my life, my son, finalizing his adoption, and being Sealed to him forever!

The day we finally brought Awesome home, after he was born, everyone was so excited to finally meet him. Everyone was instantly drawn to him and knew he was a very special spirit. The one who was smitten by Awesome the most...my dad! It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. So, for father's day, we had to take pictures of them in their matching suits and hats. This pic is my favorite!

So of course we had to take more pics of our cutie little man!The month of June was nothing but rain, which Scott and I loved. It reminded us a lot of Oregon, but then July hit and we realized we hadn't been out in the mountains so we took a picnic up the canyon.

Family was starting to arrive in town to celebrate Awesome's Sealing and blessing so we decided to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house.

July 1, 2009... the day we finalized our adoption. We had been anticipating this day for so long yet it was amazing how fast time had flown by. All our months of planning for this particular weekend was finally here and flying by. Another thing about life, it goes by so fast.
We arrived at the court house at 7:45 am with both our parents. We met up with our caseworker, Rachel, and from there after meeting up with our Bishop (Bishop Oldroyd) and our attorney (Les England) we were summoned into the court room where Judge Robert Faust was presiding (he's Pres. Faust's son which we thought was pretty cool) From there they went through the court procedure which took a matter of five minutes and then it was all hugs, tears of joy and pictures. It was a wonderful experience and Awesome took it all in great stride.

July 3 was the event we had been anticipating the most. Our Sealing to our son...the key to making this a forever thing! All of our family and friends came from all around. They sacrificed money, time, other family events, and I'm sure other things I haven't mentioned to be with us on our special day. It really meant more then words can say. It truly was an amazing and spiritual event. Awesome, again, was so good. His spirit was definitely calm during this time. We knew that he knew that something miraculous had happened. Kristen was awesome with Awesome during our pictures on the Temple grounds. With her around we got some great pictures of Awesome smiling and laughing. We then spent the rest of the weekend eating well and visiting with our beloved family and friends! We enjoyed the 4th taking family pics, having fun at the pool and ending the night with fireworks. The next morning, Sunday, everyone was up early and ready to go to church where we were finally able to give Awesome a name and a blessing. Again, he was so good. We then took over the meeting by having our own Harmon/Sanderson testimony meeting (it was a holiday weekend, hardly anyone was there) which was really special.

The Harmon Family The Sanderson Family
July 1st through the 5th was five great days. Life was frozen in fantastic mode for that time. From here on out life will keep sending us curve balls, good or bad, and it's up to us to keep our eye on the ball and make sure we just keep hittin that ball out of the park!

p.s

Stacey, I love you. You and your family are in our prayers!