Happy 2 Years!

Yesterday, June 7th, Brent and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary! The time sure has flown by. It is truly a blessing to be married to someone as amazing as Brent. My life is so much better now that he is a permanent part of it. Since I'm not a mushy person who gushes about the people in her life, I'm not going to go on and on about how talented, smart, witty, entertaining, athletic and practical Brent is. But I will just sum it up that I am a lucky gal to be married to him!!!!

Find the HERO in You!

Our theme for girls camp 2010 was "Find the Hero in You." It was a great theme to help the girls find their inner hero. I was able to work with the young women who were attending camp for the last time. These girls, "The SY's", were in charge of planning all of the evening programs and setting the tone for camp. Our journey to camp included a stop at the Payson, Jack-In-The-Box for a yummy breakfast. I believe it was Alyssa who convinced me that an Oreo Shake was the best thing on the menu and I just had to have one. She was right, it was fabulous!

Alicia just graduate from high school the night before. We are surprised she is awake in this picture. Jessica, Miranda, and the ever entertaining Madi must have been doing a great job talking her ear off!

Me, Chanel, Alyssa, and Kendall devour our high calorie breakfast! We will for-sure have plenty of energy for at least the next hour!

We paused at the entrance of camp to take a picture of the Incredible SY's!

Another photo moment in front of our super cool mural! This mural was created and painted by me with the assistance of my wonderful sister, Julie, and our very talented SY, Laurel.

On Friday night the SY's present the theme of camp in a skit. Kendall and Kailin our the instructors of Super Hero Training school. To the left of them are all of their "heroes in training." Mercedes was "Modest is Hottest Girl," Megan was "Tricep Girl," Caroline was "Brainiak", Miranda was "Monkey Girl," in the back row Alyssa was "Supersonic," Makayla was "Bitter Girl," Ashley was "Gossip Girl," and Madi was "Shape Shifter." There were several scenes in the play where the super heroes in training attempted their to use their super power to solve the situation. Some were successful and some weren't.

Monkey Girl was unsuccessful at talking the cat, Mr. Scratchy, out of the tree. :(

Jessica, the mom, and Chanel, the daughter, are having an argument over this very skimpy and shiny swimsuit. It takes several super heroes to solve this problem.

Alicia, Dominique, Danielle, Erika, Kay and Tiffany, are our back stage singers. They would peak out when it wasn't there turn on stage to sing our "I need a Hero" song.

Erika, Alicia and Kay are discussing why Tiffany supposedly doesn't like Alicia. It is a very sad moment.

Our super hero teachers, Kendall and Kailin are in tears about the previous scene and are determined to find a super hero to help Alicia. It was a really fun skit! All of the girls did a great job!

On Saturday morning, I led the 3rd year girls on a hike through Temple Canyon. It is a very challenging hike that takes at least 6 hours to complete. One of the coolest things on this hike is scaling the 20 foot cliff. Here is a picture of Alyssa making it up the cliff.

I made it out of Temple Canyon and then started the trek toward the switch backs. The trek to the switchbacks is long and boring.

After we made it down the treacherous switchbacks and down the rest of the mountain, we rested at the creek. The creek was very cool and refreshing. Some of the girls took off their shoes and cooled their hot feet in the water. From this point, the hike back into camp was a breeze!

Our Saturday night performance was dedicated to all of the Bishops in camp. This is Makayla who played "Miss Anita Mann" the hostess for Super Family Feud!

The Bishops competed for teams with a basketball shoot out. Those who made the moving basket were on the Galaxy Green Team, those who didn't were on the Yankee Doodle Yellow team. My bishop ended up on the yellow team. Each bishop received a "Super Bishop" cape so they could remember what team they were on. It was a very close game. These bishops were fierce competitors. The survey questions and responses were entertaining. In the end the Galaxy Green Team won by 2 points!

On Sunday morning, all of the SY's lined up in front of the sacred grove before church started to sing. They randomly picked out songs, completely unrehearsed, and started singing. It was a beautiful way to set the tone and spirit for the wonderful Sacrament Meeting that followed. These girls truly inspire me!

Brother Heywood was able to get/make Missionary badges for each of the SY's. The girls decided to wear red on Sunday

Our Sunday performance was done in all white. Don't they look like angels? Their spiritual program was amazing! These are some talented young ladies!

On Monday I helped Nancy for a short period of time to select photos for the dance party slide show. There were lots of great pictures taken by many different campers!

Kailin is displaying our Super Cape that has many of the heroic acts performed by campers. The Super Cape was presented to the Stake Young Women's Presidency.

This is the "Pants on the Ground" moment right before the SY's dance number. It was fun to hear Alyssa rap the tune.

At the Dance Party every dresses up in old prom dresses. One of the lady's in our stake has two huge tubs stuffed with a variety of dresses in many different sizes and colors. One of my SY's, Madi, picked this attractive black and white dress out for me. I added my long sleeved white t-shirt to the outfit to make it a little more modest :)

Camp was a TON of work but it was also quite rewarding. I am glad I was able to be a part of it this year.

Garden Update

Anyone want some Zucchini??? I can't believe how insanely huge my garden is!!! I just wanted to plant a little garden; however, the zucchini plants have 2 foot wide leaves, the tomato plants are full fledged monster bushes with hundreds of tomatoes growing on them, and the sun flowers dwarf the fence!Marianne checks out the garden. The tomato plants are out of control! In a week or so we will have more tomatoes than we can use. Its a good thing Amy and Bob want some so they can make salsa!

I can't find the carrots anymore! The jungle of leaves are hard to navigate through.

Our Garden

This is the first garden Brent and I planted together. Technically, I dug out the 3 years worth of weeds in the planters, tilled the soil, planted all of the seeds and watered them daily until Brent put in the drip system. I'm so glad he finally put in the water system because the plants really took off after they were on a consistent watering schedule. This is my first garden in my adult life. I'm just amazed at how big everything has grown!

We have many tomatoes growing on our 9 tomato plants. This is the only plant we transplanted.

The zucchini plant has just started to grow zucchinis. In a few more weeks I'll be begging you to have some of them!

Our GIANT sunflowers have now reached the top of the fence. By next week, they will be peeking over the fence to look at the neighbor's pool.

Lastly, we have a few carrots that popped up. I haven't read up on when to know when the carrot is ready to be pulled and eaten.

I am going to have to declare that my first gardening experience as an adult is a success. I've enjoyed watching everything grow. I'm going to enjoy watching others eat all of the vegetables that are harvested :)

I love my boys!

Sometimes they are normal...

Sometimes they are NOT!

Snake Bite!

This weekend Grant and Brent attend our ward fathers and sons outing out on the Mogillion Rim. The campsite was very difficult to find and it was dark by the time they arrived. Grant decided not to set up his tent and ran off with the other boys to have fun.

He had a great time hanging out with the other boys his age but as it got later into the evening it kept getting colder and colder. Eventually, Grant asked Brent for the keys to the car. Brent didn't know what he needed out of the car when he handed him the keys. As it got later into the evening and everyone else had gone to bed. Brent was worried about where Grant had gone and who he was hanging out with so late at night. He looked all over camp and asked one of the other late night campers if he had seen him. Eventually, Brent went to the car and found Grant sound asleep, in fetal position. He was shivering. Brent wrapped him up in his sleeping bag and let him sleep in the car for the night.

The next morning the smell of breakfast energized Grant out of his sleep. The ward breakfasts are always soooo good. Once food had been consumed, Grant and his friends were off exploring. While they were out, they found a bull snake. It wasn't huge and Dallin decided to pick it up. Although Grant is terrified of spiders, he had no problem taking the snake from Dallin and holding it. This is when the snake bit Grant on the thumb. According to Grant, he didn't freak out; however, the snake wouldn't let go of his thumb. I think I would have freaked out!!! In the end, the snake released Grant's thumb and left him with some teeth marks. The boys took the snake back to camp to tell their story.

Here is their "vicious" snake. Thank goodness it wasn't poisonous!

Trip to Safford

On May 1st our family headed out of the hot valley to the much cooler Gila Valley to visit the new temple and go through it during the open house. Brent had never been to eastern Arizona so it was quite a scenic drive. We stopped in Globe at the Jack in the Box for some lunch. To Brent's surprise he recognized the manager of the restaurant. She was someone he hadn't seen for 15 years or so. I am always amazed at how he knows someone everywhere we go! The Gila Valley Temple is absolutely beautiful. Brent, Grant and I had minimal waiting time to get into the open house even though that Saturday was extremely busy with van-loads and bus-loads of people visiting the temple that day. As we were passing through the lobby of the temple, Brent recognized and said hi to someone else he knew from a long time ago. What are the odds of that????

Outside the temple we posed for a few shots in our very casual clothes. Julie said that you didn't have to wear "Sunday" clothes and since we were traveling and doing other things during the day we didn't. At least we weren't the only ones not in "Sunday" attire.

Grant loved being inside the temple. He had lots of questions. Later in the evening he was able to go back for a second tour with Julie, Jordan, Grandma and Gramps. Lucky!

Ahhhhh....its been almost 2 years that we've been married and we still look good together :)

So after we went on our tour and were heading back to the stake center for cookies, I heard someone call my name. When I turned around, I saw Sister Hensen and her family of 5 right behind me. I used to be in Surprise Ward with them. It was great to see her and her family and it made me feel better that Brent wasn't the only one who was able to run into people he used to associate with.

Once I got inside the stake center, I ran into the rest of the Surprise Ward young men, young women and their leaders. What a treat!!! I used to teach math to some of these kids. One of the 10 year old's there use to be in my Sunbeam class. It was a wonderful reunion! What are the odds that my Surprise Family would be in Gila Valley at the same time I was. This place was 200 miles from where we lived. It was so much fun catching up with all of them!!!

Once we left the temple we went to Joe and Kami's house to meet Ember. She is adorable. She is such a good baby. Loved being able to take care of her while we were there. Her brothers adore her. It was a blast to hang out with Justin. He is so funny. He claims that diaper changing is only for girls and didn't know how to address the fact that his dad had changed Ember's diaper last. All of the boys were anxious to wrestle and climb all over you. Good times!

Of course Mom (Grandma) had to hog Ember once she arrived at the house. I guess that's okay since this is her newest grand-daughter.

We stayed overnight in the luxurious Days Inn motel. Grant thought the Continental Breakfast was the coolest thing he ever had. All I need to do have at my house is lots of English muffins, dry pastries, generic donuts, and jam in little pouches and Grant will think I was the coolest person ever. On Sunday we attended Joe's ward to witness Ember's blessing. She was a perfect little angle; absolutely adorable.

It was an amazing weekend and we can hardly wait to come back for another visit.