New scraps

Two pages I made today for the challenges at PGD. I miss digiscrapping!!! The first one was a photography challenge, you were supposed to get close and fill the frame with your subject. The second one is for the "wild card" challenge. We were supposed to use only the colors of our favorite ice cream. Mine is Mint Chocolate Cookie. YUMMY!! It was hard finding a photo that matched mint green and dark brown, so I am not thrilled with that page. Oh well, at least I got a chance to scrap. I need to get to work on the kids' scrapbooks, especially Jake's. I want to have them displayed at his baptism. It will be here before I know it!!

*ETA: I see the mistake in the text on the one I did of Andy...gotta fix that!

Friday!!

Hooray, it's finally Friday! Best part is that I am not sick anymore, worst part is that after going to camp and then being sick, the house might just be past the point of no return. I think today's picture for my 365 blog will be of the disaster that is my front room/playroom. Although it will be embarrassing, I will hopefully have a nice clean picture to share by this time tomorrow!

Phew!

Wow! It's been a week already, a long, fun, fast, crazy week! Girls' Camp was amazing, as usual. I loved being there and getting to know the girls on a more personal level. I will post some pics later. Saturday I got home around 2pm, and we left for Bryce's baptism at 4pm, then stayed for his bday party at Grandma Ard's house. I also found out an exciting surprise about Afton and Brandon! :) It was fun, but I was so tired, I am afraid I might have seemed anti-social. Oh well, they probably just all thought I was being my usual grouchy self, lol.

I was supposed to teach on Sunday, but was totally unprepared. The lesson I had been working on at camp all week just wasn't doing it for me, so late Saturday night I decided to show President Monson's talk from the April 2009 YW conference. All was well until I realized the DVD i made had no audio. You could see Pres. Monson, just not hear him. I figured that the church library would have it, so I wasn't too worried. Well, guess what? They don't have it! A little bit panicked, I decided to drag Steve home in between Sacrament Mtg and YW and have him fix it, since he is the computer whiz. No prob, right? Wrong! He couldn't get it to work either. So, I went in there with a copy of the talk in my hands and a really big prayer in my heart that it would end up ok. I think it did. I got a lot of discussion from the girls, more than I usually get when I teach, so that was good. Thank goodness for the girls and the other leaders being willing to jump in and discuss things!
Monday I decided to tackle this horrible office. I haven't cleaned it up since before Christmas. We are having family come and stay with us at the end of the month, and this is the room they will be in, so it needed to be cleaned. By about 11:30am, I was sick. Like, feeling like I was gonna throw up sick. So, I stayed in bed or on the couch for the rest of that day. Yesterday I had to take Becka into the orthodontist and after that, I was wiped again. No more nausea, but I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I spent most of the day in bed, watching videos with Rachel and refereeing fights between the older two kids.
Today I am feeling better. I am still kind of weak, but definitely improved. I took the little kids to see "The Tale of Despereax" this morning while Becka was at "work" (although I don't see playing with Kylie and Lexi as work!). I wasn't impressed with the movie, kept asking Jake if he thought it was weird. :) Poor kid. Now I am just trying to do a few of the chores that have been neglected since I left last week for camp, and rest a bit when I get going too much. My trusty glass of ginger ale has been a near constant companion since Monday evening.
That's about it, my week in a nutshell. Time to get back into the groove of things!

Yes!

I got a ride to camp for tomorrow morning! My sweet sisters (Cat and Dana) are watching my kiddos for me so I can go up with some ladies from the stake. I owe them both big time!!! I will have lots of pictures and fun stories, I am sure. Hooray for camp! See you all when I get back!

Girls' Camp!

"This necklace is a little gift

in hopes it might give you a lift.

And in the night, it will glow

to let you know we love you so."

"A snicker here and a snicker there

will never show someone you care.

Try to be a friend today

to all the girls who pass your way.

"It is through our trials and afflictions

that we can become like diamonds.

Strong and full of light."

"I am a child of royal birth.

My father is king of heaven and earth.

My spirit was born in the courts on high,

A child beloved, a princess am I."

"If you thought yesterday was a ball,

just wait for today!"


Phew! I have been going crazy with stuff for girls camp. I am not even sure if I get to go. There is a good chance I will though. Both Karen's and Kim's sons are expecting to receive their mission calls this week, so their moms will be driving back from camp to be there when they open them. If that happens on Wednesday or Thursday, they offered that I could ride back with them because Steve took Thursday and Friday off of work in case that happens so I could go up. Hooray! He wouldn't let me drive up there on my own for some reason. I won't get into that argument again, but this option is my best for now.

The pictures are of the little treats that we, as a YW presidency, are giving the girls every day. I had fun working on them and putting them together. I also made some stuff for the "Service Survivor" game they will be playing on Thursday night. I really hope I can go up. It will be so fun. I love YW camp!!!

Independence!

I love the 4th of July. Maybe I just love fireworks...the smell of the smoke, the sounds, being wrapped up in a blanket watching them with friends and family. Having a BBQ, playing games until it gets dark enough to start the fireworks. Bug spray, sunblock, buckets filled with water and used fireworks, and matches. I love it all. Getting up early to proudly put out the flag. Singing patriotic songs with my hand over my heart, remembering all the men and women who have fought and are still fighting for my freedom. My dad in his Army uniform, boots polished, pants ironed stiff. Watching parades, feeling that surge of fierce pride when the soldiers walk by holding the colors of our country high.

Sorry, I sort of went stream of consciousness there. I have been thinking about this stuff over the past several days. Today in church, we stood to sing the National Anthem. I love doing that. I miss being the chorister. There is something so moving about leading a congregation in singing a song like that. Listening to them sing and knowing what it means to all of them and to me. It is an awesome feeling.
As we were singing, I noticed particularly the 2nd and 3rd verses of the song. Verses that most of us don't know by heart like we do the first verse. I love them, even more than the first verse of the song. They have so much emotion. Music does this to me often...paints a picture in my mind or helps me understand a concept better than other ways. I might be silly, but music moves me, speaks to my soul in a way that makes me feel the spirit of the Lord and makes me want to be a better person. I love it. I want other people to feel the things I feel when I hear or sing a song. I usually end up in tears when a certain song touches me. I love it!
So, enough of my blabbering, right? Well, not quite. I am going to leave you with the words to that song...pay particular attention to the second and third verses, and take a few moments to just "feel" and "see" the words.

The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I am such a dork!

So, I decided to do a little preschool this fall with some of Rachie's friends from Primary. I didn't want a big group, and was happy to end up with 5 kiddos that she is friends with to join us. I wanted to make it official, so I came up with a name and then of course, needed to make a logo, right? :) I know that "doodlebugs" might not be the most sophisticated name for a preschool, but it fits me and my personality well. Do ya like my logo? :)