Girls Camp 2013

It's Girls Camp time 2012.  I was asked to be the craft lady.  I quickly asked for a helper, my good buddy Abby.  She and I do Stampin Up together, and she has a crafty mind, a good choice in my opinion. We collorabrated for months and came up with some great crafts, at least we thought so.  We just hoped and prayed that the girls would like them.  We also decided to spruce up our "craft cabin" with banners, streamers, lights, balloons, and some music.

Cute decor huh?

Here the girls are making their first and second day crafts.  We made washer necklaces and Mod Podge lanterns.  They were a hit.  The girls had free time everyday from 1:45-3:30.  During this time they had the choice of going to different things.  They could learn about archery, princess prep, Zumba and crafts.  Out of the 75 girls at camp, we only had about 35 come and see us the first day.  But the news about the fun times in the craft cabin spread quickly and the next day we had 50 girls.

We were even popular with the leaders.  It was so fun to get to know them all and partake of their awesome personalities.  They all lit up the room with their characters.

We had placed big pieces of paper over the tables in the "craft cabin" and always had markers out for the girls to write, and draw on.  They loved it.  The girl graffiti was awesome.  

My partner in crime, Abby.  Love this girl. We even made and wore the aprons you see here everyday at camp.  We wanted everyone to know who the craft ladies were.  Needless to say, we stuck out!

All the leaders put on a skit during skit night.  We put this together in an hour.  Lol. It wasn't bad if you ask me.

The mess hall was nice and big enough for all of us to eat in and to hold our big productions.

Some of my Beehives: Elizabeth Nelson, Haily Groberg, Baryn Butte, and hiding her face is Emily Curlee.

On the last night we had each of the wards' bishops come and enjoy dinner with their ward's girls and leaders. It was nice to have some one on one time with our ward's bishop.  He took each girl and talked with her.  What a special event.

Brittany, my first councilor, was part of the kitchen staff and Bonnie, my personal progress advisor, was over the YCLs.  It was fun to have great representation from our ward.

Abby and I in all our glory after three days of camping.

The Hilton sisters. Love these girls.

My whole Young Women, leaders and bishop.  I loved serving as the craft lady at girls camp.  I would do this job again.  I really enjoyed learning about the other girls and being apart of something so cool!

Big thanks to my sweetheart, Vaughn, for watching the kids while I was gone, and to those women who watched them while he was at work.  Thanks for allowing me to fulfill this calling.

One Year Older and Wiser Too...

You've had a Birthday, shout Horray!!!  I love that primary birthday song.  Yes another year has been notched under my belt and I am older and I might add, wiser.  This year I spent  part of my birthday shopping with the kids for school supplies, clothes and shoes for me.  Then Vaughn and I went out on a date to Calhoons for dinner and then a movie.  It was a nice evening to spend with my sweetheart.  The only problem with birthdays now is that there isn't much to look forward to except for getting older.  Man, I wish I was 20 again!!

Free Tickets at a Cost

We patiently waited in line outside of Harden Valley's Food City for a chance to get free Dollywood tickets.  It must have been the hottest and most humid day we have had, because I sweated even in the shade.  Vaughn wasn't able to come with us, he is in CO to a wedding, so we could only get three tickets.  We were the 80th people in line and they only gave out 140 tickets.  I was so glad we didn't wait 2 1/2 hours for nothing.  The tickets were free but the cost was the wait.  Luckily my kids are good sports and will hang out in the sun for free tickets.  My good friend, Megan Schultz, always knows about these free deals.  She is the queen of deals and finds all kinds of free stuff or contests.  I am so glad she told us about this.  These tickets are for September 2nd, Labor Day.  I can't wait. Should be a great time! Yahoo!

Graduation from Residency

Well there they are.  All of Vaughn's fellow residence doctors.  They all started this journey 3 years ago and are now finished.  Everyone except for Vaughn will start a new job next week.  Vaughn has until December and then he will finish his residency.  This is fine by us because we knew that he would have to make up the time he lost while he was recovering from Leukemia at the beginning of his residency.  It also gives us time to decide where to go.

We took the kids with us to the festivities.  Taryn said the ballroom looked just like the one in "Beauty and the Beast".  They were all dressed up and looked so nice.  They loved the food and the service.

There is my sweetheart giving his little thank you speech.  I am very proud of him and cannot wait for the "real" day that we are finished with residency. It has been a long haul but an adventure none-the-less.

The Johnson's Side Tract Visit

Some of our good buddies from Michigan came into town and dropped by to hang out one night.  This is Bethany.  She is such a good buddy.  I love this lady.  We always had a monthly ladies night in MI and Beth, myself and a few other ladies were involved.  It was such good times.

Vaughn and George playing the guitar.  Just like old times.  This was their signature hang out night.

All the kids.  The Johnson kiddos and mine: Cayenne, Tyson, Boady, Ginger, Taryn, and Sage.  The kids had fun reacquainting themselves and meeting Taryn.  She was a bitty baby when we left.

It was Boady's birthday that day so we celebrated with grilling and cake.  It was fun to enjoy this time with their family.  We used to do stuff like this all the time.

Sage and Taryn became buddies!

Boady and Tyson, friends from the start.

I love these two girls.  They are so much fun and talented young ladies.

The kids got Boady a birthday present.

He was so shocked and happy.  We loved having their family spend time with us during their vacation. It was a bit sad to see them go.  I hope it isn't another three years until we see them again.

Fourth of July Festivities

What is more American than Fourth of July pancakes that are in the shape of a number 4.  We were hoping to go to the Farragut town parade but it was raining and so we ended up not going.  It was kind of a bummer.  It rained most of the day and our 4th of July plans dramatically changed.  I ended up working a few hours and took the kids with me, because Vaughn was at work as well. But...we were not going to let the rain ruin everything; we were still headed to the Smokies baseball game and fireworks.

We took rain ponchos, umbrellas and lots of smiles. It wasn't raining when we arrived, but within 30 minutes here came the rain.  So we put on our ponchos and sat in the rain waiting for the game to start.  It started 1 hour later.

Here is a picture of me and my best friend.  He was so good to stick this out with me.  I was going to go to this game come rain and more rain.

The kids had a blast getting wet, and dancing around.  They even made it on their jumbo tron four separate times.  They were troopers.  I was so glad that despite the rain they could have a good time.

This is how the field was for an hour trying to wait out the rain.  The rain would come and pour for 30 minutes and then go away for 30 minutes and then come back.  It was a vicious cycle.  We just kept laughing everytime it came because we would just get dry and then have to put our ponchos back on.

The kids each got a Smokies baseball from the cheerleaders.  That made their night.  I love those smiles.

In the 9th inning, Taryn was done.  It was about 11:00 pm and that is WAY past her bed time.  I couldn't believe that she fell asleep in the rain.  She woke up just in time for the fireworks, which were amazing.  It turned out to be a pretty good 4th of July.  I am so glad I could spend it with my family and  be able to be proud to be an American.