My last year at camp without Emma

This year I was not the ward camp director, but I went up with the 16 year old girls. I was in charge of leading the level 2 girls in certification. We had another great year, and I am so grateful I get to go. Next year, Emma gets to go to Girl's Camp and I am so excited to share it with her!

 The theme this year was HERO. We were Captain America. I bought this flag blanket at a yard sale and wrote all of our names on it.

 Emma wanted to help with decorations so she made this for me :)

 I made the mail boxes from milk cartons. I think they turned out so cute! I'm impressed with my limited ability to craft.

 I am much better at laminating. So I made these to put up all over our campsite. I let the YW pick which guys they wanted me to make.

 Before camp, we had an outdoor movie night to watch Captain America.

 Sometimes, watching a movie isn't as fun as trying to do push ups?!

 The 16's were able to go on a fun day trip in the middle of the week. The lake was beautiful and thank goodness it had stopped raining. Yup, the first year I have every had to deal with RAIN! I almost went back home on Tuesday. My tent leaked and I was soaked and we couldn't do anything the first day except try to stay dry. I'm not the best camper, so the rain wasn't a big help for me. But, I go through it and even snagged a bed in a yurt so I didn't have to stay in a tent.

 I let one of the YW borrow my swimsuit since she didn't bring one. So, I went out in the paddle boat in my clothes. It was a close call and we almost got stuck a few times, but I stayed dry for the most part.

 The girls always love to take weird pictures...and so do I, if I am being honest:)

 Our Bishop and his wife came up on the last night, and obviously had a wonderful time.

 Jodie, the camp director in our ward. I have to say I am glad I was not her this year! It's so much work to be camp director. Although we both look a little tired by the end of the week.

 I have made some great friendships over the years at camp. It's one of my favorite parts, and lets me get to know women all over the stake.

By Saturday I am pretty delirious. So I dress up in the girl's outfits while waiting for capers to check us out.

Bailey turns 14. Stop it.

 We had a do-over of our botched 4th of July river trip, and spent the day in our favorite secluded river spot.

 Emma made an amazing jump, but got the wind knocked out of her and freaked out. She wouldn't jump again.

 Bailey and Ben had no problem jumping from the rock.

 I was in my trusty chair, watching everyone explore.

The river is not my thing, and the drive down to it is very nerve wracking. Then, we have to float our things across the river to get to the good spot. Every time I participate in these things, I think how dumb it is! But then, I see how much the kids enjoy it and I keep agreeing to go and do because they don't have the crazy fears I do. I guess if I survive each time, mine should eventually go away, right?

4th of July 2015

We had great plans for this day! The 4th of July is always one of our favorites. So, we got in the car to drive up to the river to spend the day with some friends. Apparently we didn't leave early enough, and after the LONG drive we realized we had to turn around because there was no place to park and not even one square inch to put our things if we could put our car somewhere. We drove back home and all ended up in our little pool to at least cool off and wait for fireworks time.

 We had already planned to have a celebration with our neighbors. We both filled up hundreds of water balloons and let the kids loose with them.

 We defied water restrictions and had a water slide for the kids too.

 Ben was quite the hit for the block party fireworks with his blow torch. Although it isn't super hard to impress a lot of drunk people. I think he was mostly trying to keep them away from anything with flames.

The fireworks went on for hours, but the kids loved it.

Summer, summer, summer-time

This last summer was welcomed with open arms. In our new neighborhood, we have so many kids the same age that they have a big old party all day long. It was a constant stream of kids in and out and around. They rode bikes, they sold lemonade, they swam in our ghetto pool....

Emma and her friends ran so many lemonade stands over the summer that they all walked away with a nice pile of cash. I am shocked at how much money these girls made! I think almost every time they went out, they made around $50.

 We did a lot of swimming over the summer, which produced some tired twins. Although this picture could of been from when they got in trouble...which seems to be a lot. These two are such a handful, but so funny at the same time. They are quite the ending to our gaggle of children.

 Mamaw came to my dad's to visit so we stopped by during the day.

 We spent a few days in Tahoe with my family for the annual cook off.

 Our kids love hiking, thank goodness. They are also much less afraid of high places than I am. I don't think I moved from this spot the entire time, and was cringing every time one of them got too close to the edge.

 My beautiful cake creation- Neapolitan

I didn't win, but I was impressed with my layered cake. It tasted exactly like the ice cream. 

Scouting!

 Nathan has been hard at work in Cubs. He has a great time every week and quickly earned his Bobcat.

Bailey earned his Life rank, leaving him only a few requirements to get to Eagle. 

It's been an interesting time for scouting lately. We were unsure whether or not the Church would continue with the program due to the BSA policy changes. I'm pretty sure I went back and forth quite a bit as to what I wished would happen. Scouting can be a great tool, but pack meetings!!! Ug.... Although I guess that's a terrible reason to not want to do scouting ;) so I will insist the above sentence was a joke.