Settimana Dieci

For those who are keeping track or can speak Italian (I can't) you may have noticed I skipped week nine. It did happen (naturally) but I can't get my pictures in order because we have company staying with us and I still need to take pictures of the finished rooms. Week nine was the epic week of switching rooms and the added bonus of the fridge and washing machine breaking. I know it sounds like a great story, but you will just have to wait.

In the meantime, let's get on with week ten. Summer is about at a close and I am going to try to keep up as well as I can.

First things first: Sharon is the company we have staying with us. She is a great friend of mine that stops by when she is in town. We love to see her, but this trip is special because she is doing a training to go to China. She is gone most of the day, but we see her enough to have a blast. We taught her Farkle and have played so much I am starting to dream about it. She tried to teach us Pinochle last night. (Sadly, I was not a very willing student. Maybe another time.) We get her another week and we sure love having her around.

Monday, our craft was 'Bead Suncatchers.' I chose this craft because June has so many pony beads already. Then I realized they had to be translucent beads, so I had to go out and buy more. Figures. They came in a large container and the girls helped me organize them.

This craft was easy. The girls took turns making designs in the bottom of our cupcakes pans.

Look how fun. They all did a great job.

Then you melt them in the oven for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. If you plan on making these, please visit a real tutorial here. There are ways to melt them outside of the house to avoid the smell of melting plastic. I just put fans in place and had the kids play outside for a while since I didn't want to mess with the grill. (A friend of ours just tried this on the grill and her beads evaporated.) When the time was up, I took the beads out of the oven and put them outside to cool. I could hear the plastic popping and separating from the pan while it cooled.

Sure enough, they came out beautifully. They came out of my newer pan like a charm. My older, grungy pan had the tiniest line of plastic left over in each cup, but it came out easily when washed. No damage done to the pans, it ended up being a very easy activity. Tyler drilled holes in them later, but I haven't decided how I want to hang them yet. Look at all the fun finished products.

I thought it was weird how some of the girls put them in their glasses, but when Tyler came home in the evening, the first thing he did was balance them in his glasses just like the girls had. Must be a glasses thing.

Tuesday was an epic day. Ivory went from a mouth of 30% metal to a mouth of 45% metal. She added some braces to her face.

I think she is such a trooper. It must be kind of awful to have so much stuff crowded in your mouth, but she is taking it in stride and after two days of Ibuprofen, she says her teeth don't hurt anymore. At least she got them before school starts.

Our field trip this week was to hike the 'G'. Most of you know the 'Y' near BYU, but there is the 'G' over in Pleasant Grove. We decided to conquer that hike. If you want to hike the 'G', you head over to Kiwanis Park.

There are a couple trails you can take from there. It was actually quite crowded when we arrived but I think most of the people were hiking up to Battlecreek Falls. The trail is easier and goes to a waterfall. (I can see the appeal.) But we were there with a purpose. The trailhead for 'G' hike isn't marked. You go into the park, cross under a pavilion and head between the rocks and trees. This is what it looks like if you are going.

Then...be prepared to climb. It is steep. Very steep in some spots. It is up a mountain and I was warned before, but the kids were actually concerned about my heavy breathing at some moments. "Mom, are you going to be okay?" little voices asked. Sheesh. I'm going to be fine, okay? And I wasn't the only one who stopped to rest occasionally. Selfie rest stop.

My kids haven't done a lot of hiking, but I think they were built for it. Pearl and Ivory were always running ahead and leading the pack. The rest of the kids kept up a good pace and luckily didn't wheeze like their mother.

We brought water bottles and stayed well hydrated along the way. And the weather was perfect. Clouds kept covering the sun giving us shade and a cool breeze.

We were told it would take about an hour to get there. It didn't take us quite that long. From this picture, we didn't have to much farther to go.

I was the last to reach the 'G' and the kids were already headed to the top. Hey...wait for me. Maybe do some weeding on your way up.

We stopped for a break at the top and feasted on Granola bars. I love these gals. I'm so glad we have had this summer together.

And don't forget the fantastic view.

We actually went around the entire 'G.' We came back down the other side and it sure was steep.

Here is a great picture that looks like June is leaning. I wish she had put her other foot down because she would look so funny, but it was quite the grade.

We saw a few wildlife friends. There were some ground squirrels at the start of the hike and we found this lizard by the 'G.' A few of us found a gigantic spider on a blade of grass but I didn't take a picture. (Didn't want to get too close.)

Here is our last picture by the 'G' before we hiked back down. The kids were awesome. No complaints from any of them. Next up...Mount Timpanogos. :)

Our 'treat' this week was Mozzarella Breadsticks. I was told by several children that this didn't count as a treat.

TREAT (noun)
1. An event or item that is out of the ordinary and gives great pleasure.

So there. I tried to explain that even swimming is a treat, not just food or sugar in particular, but I'm pretty sure I didn't make much progress.

Regardless,  behold our one NON-sweet treat for the summer. First, cut some string cheese in half.

Next dip them in flour, an egg/milk mixture and Panko bread crumbs. (Please go find the actual recipe here.)

Now, freeze them for 20 minutes and fry them until golden. Please note this is harder than it looks. I am no expert on frying things. My oil wasn't hot enough at first and it is key that the cheese sticks don't stay in the pan for very long or they melt and stick. My first one was a disaster, but the rest turned out okay. I never got them as golden looking as I wanted, but the kids seemed to like them.

That evening, we went and played at Seven Peaks courtesy of Trapnell Orthodontics. (One of the bonuses of paying thousands of dollars for straight teeth.) The kids had so much fun. We haven't been in such a long time, and it was great to go on the slides with the kids. The best part was that everything was free. (Thank you Trapnell.) Parking was free, tubes were free. The kids had a blast.

Sadly, Robyn and I had to leave briefly to attend a sixth grade ice cream social. It was LAME!!!! The teachers introduced themselves and that was IT! Oh, and there were root beer floats. No supply lists, no CLASS lists. Nothing. I'm not even sure why we went. We said hi to a few friends and headed back to Seven Peaks to play some more. (Note to self: Skip sixth grade social in the future if we have other plans.)

Robyn was happy to be back. Check out her cute bracey smile.

Pearl probably wore out the fastest. Not because she doesn't have energy, but because she has no body fat. She gets cold quicker than the others do.

But she was still going strong into the evening. Here she is sliding and I'm pretty sure Ivory and I are somewhere in the distance waiting in a large line on the stairs only to be turned away at the very top because they closed the ride in the evening for the fireworks.

We were so close. Just one person away. We resignedly went down the stairs but there was one feisty, unhappy lady who was determined to get her ride. She would not budge. As we left the area, we saw no less than six employees headed to talk her down. (I wonder if they had to physically remove her?)

It was really a fun time. Maybe we will actually get a Pass of All Passes one of these years.

Friday we watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman. The kids seemed to enjoy it, but I didn't watch this time around since I was trying to finish up a book. (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Very strange and disturbing in some ways. I sure hope I never get any mental illnesses.)

Finally, on Saturday, we drove up to Logan to go to Jami's baby shower. She is looking so cute and pregnant. It was at her parent's home. When we arrived, her dad put us to work snapping beans.

 

The shower was fun because I got to meet a lot of people from her side of the family. It was fun to chat with her sister-in-law, Sarah, (who is also expecting) and remember when I had my first baby on the way and I was in school. It seems like a very long time ago. First babies are so exciting. Jami is already a great mom to her step-kids so I know she will be amazing with her baby. (Babies sure change your life.)

(On a side note, I also got to visit a friend, Trudy, who had her baby this week. Her baby boy is absolutely adorable, and I'm not biased enough to say all babies are...some are a little frightening. She ended up having a c-section, but also an appendectomy after baby was delivered. I am so happy that everything went okay for her. There are so many scenarios that could have turned out badly for her or baby. It is a blessing to have a healthy mom and baby.)

While visiting Jami, the kids were able to see the family horse. Pearl was content to brush her.

She was even happier to ride. Jami's sister Staci put a saddle on the horse and Lynette (Jami's mom) led the girls around. All the kids who rode had a great time.

Thank you Potter's for a fun afternoon. (Too bad Jami's brother isn't named Harry. I would love to say I was related to Harry Potter.)

Only one more week of summer. I am in complete denial that the kids won't be around to play with me in ten more days. I'll have to squeeze them extra this week.

Anchor Yourself In Africa

A few weeks ago, June went to her first Girl's Camp. It was a great experience for her, and I'm letting her write her own post about it.

Before I (June) start writing about Girl's Camp, I just want to say how amazing it was. I felt like my testimony was really strengthened by going to Girl's Camp, and the young women really made me feel like I was welcome.They made sure I had an amazing experience. 

On Monday, we got our luggage on the bus and had a long, long ride up to Heber Valley. (Unfortunately, I hear the ride up to Shalom is even longer.)

The bus ride was long, so everybody was ready to be off the bus and into their cabins. Cassie was in Cabin 5B, so naturally, all the Beehives found a bed in 5B also. (The leaders call Cassie the Beehive Magnet. It's a pretty good nickname for her.)

The cabin was pretty nice. There were dusty bunk beds, and lights. It may not sound like much, but I've heard enough stories about Shalom to know we were living in Girl's Camp heaven.

Their were also bathrooms and warm showers, both of which Shalom does not have. (Can't wait for next year, right?)

This year, all of the stakes were a different country. We were Africa. There were some pretty awesome decorations, but it was too dark inside to get good pictures. Allie even created an African Tribal Dance.

The first activity on Monday was one of my favorites.

Grab a life jacket, a paddle, and jump in the canoe! Each canoe had three seats. Hannah and Naomi were in my boat. We really enjoyed paddling around, moving the boat ourselves. (I was impressed with how strong I was; sitting in the front required more strength than I thought.) I got to steer, which made it extra awesome.

After a few minutes of paddling around, somebody splashed somebody else and splash wars started. I'm not kidding. If someone who was good at splashing got close to you, you paddled for your life. I thought we were pretty good splashers myself. We totally soaked Amrin and Sariah.

Anyway, it was a fun activity. Go team!

On Tuesday, the major activity was the Challenge Course. We spent half of our day there. 

It was my kind of place. There were seven different activities, each difficult in it's own way. All of them were so fun. After every activity there was a brief reflection where we thought about how the activity compared with our lives.

The activities were:
1. Lifeline. A chord was woven between trees, and we were blindfolded. But it wasn't like any similar activity I've ever done. On some of the trees, the rope branched off two ways. You had to make a choice about which way you would go. I suppose that in real life I would have an easier time choosing a good path, but I really enjoyed the activity. Especially the part where I finally got to the end and the guy helping us said, "Welcome home, sister."

2. Balance Test. A long log was lain out on the ground. The girls walked across it in any order, and then they had to organize themselves without falling off the log. It was not my favorite activity because I'm small. I squatted down and the taller girls stepped over me. Oh well. It was still a fun activity with a good moral behind it. The lesson was about the importance of diversity. How could we have won if I wasn't small enough to step over, or if Danja and Sabrina weren't strong enough to switch places without falling?

3. Spiderweb. The goal was to get everyone to the other side of the web without touching it, so it was also a fun activity that I would have enjoyed more if I wasn't small enough to lift through a high hole. The spiderweb symbolized Satan's traps for us in life. Friends and family can help us avoid his temptations,sort of like strong girls can lift you through a hole. We had a really great discussion on that one about letting your friends and family support you, but not carry you.

4. Zipline. SO FUN!! Not spiritual, but not everything about Girl's Camp has to be spiritual.

5. Abyss. This was the only one we didn't complete, but no one else completed it either. There were three stumps and three boards. The goal was to be able to get everyone to the other side of the abyss without touching the ground, a.k.a. falling in. The only problem was that the boards weren't long enough to touch the stumps, so they had to balance on each other, which made it really difficult. The message was about getting through trials, which none of us did, apparently.

6.Rope. We were all in a boat that was slowly sinking into shark-infested waters. There was a rope that was just a few feet too far awat to grab. The rope would take us to a rug which was Heaven. Of course, the idea was that the rope was the scriptures or something that would help us get to Heaven, and the sharks were Satan's traps. We tied stuff together to catch the rope, but after the fact, Allie jumped and actually caught the rope. Lucky to have athletic girls on your team. :)

7. Wall. This one was my favorite. It was so fun, plus we got second place out of all the groups. There was a thirteen foot wall with a board about eight feet up for grabbing. Everyone had to get up and over the wall, using one of the three foot holds Brother Underwood taught us. Since I'm one of the smaller ones, I was over third or fourth. I helped from the top for about 30 seconds, then I was unable to help anymore. (Those were the rules.) Everyone went like that, until there was only one person left. Athletic as she is, Allie could not jump up to the board. The moral was to ask for help, and your friends, parents, and teachers, will help you. In this case, Brother Underwood lifted Allie up and she went right over.

Since we were fast, we got to do it again. All 11 young women in our group made it over the wall in 2:20.

Snipe Hunting was as good as it gets for my first time. Can't wait for next year when I can help the younger girls. :)

Wednesday was Hike Day. The scenery was nice, and I walked with Amrin basically the whole time. It wasn't even steep. But it was three miles. Of course, I was lucky. I was in the only small group that didn't get lost and lengthen the hike. Half of the first years walked five miles, as did the third and fourth years, but the second years walked the longest by far. They were already supposed to walk five miles (which I am not looking forward to next year), but they walked nine miles in all. I heard they didn't complain at all, though.

We walked almost all the way around Legacy Lake.

Thursday was the last day of camp. I was ready to go home, but I didn't want Girl's Camp to be over. Can you tell how tired out I was?

Testimony meeting was one of the best parts of Girl's Camp. I shared my testimony and listened to a lot of really great spiritual testimonies. I fell asleep, but I got woken up when we shared Secret Sisters. Suzy had me, which I knew from Tuesday, because she left a letter of her name everyday. I had Rachael.

The only bad part about camp was the bus ride home. Although the ride there was nicely uneventful, after a week without cars or driving, the windy bus ride awoke my stomach. I threw up all over myself, but overall it was great.

A few highlights of camp that I forgot to mention in the post were the sunrise hike, which was early but really enjoyable, and the Chocolate Buffet.

Also, Anchor Games. This is Aaliyah trying to hit only the black water bottles with the tennis ball that is hanging from a nylon on her head.

Thanks for making Girl's Camp a blast, girls and leaders! I loved it!

Settimana Otto

I just ordered my blog book for the first half of 2015. I must say that I need to cut back somewhere. Perhaps on my blathering, or maybe on the huge amount of pictures I include. This latest book was the biggest yet. Huge, really. If I keep up like this, I will need to divide the year into thirds. But I like adding a lot of pictures. It is my blog after all. I can have it my way in this tiny corner of cyberspace.

That said, let's review week eight. We started the week with Olympics. Not those regular, boring Olympics with field events or ice skating. That is so cliche. How about an entire Olympics centered around popcorn. Creative and tasty.

The girls signed up for the events they wanted to participate in. (Most chose all six events.) We began with the every popular Popcorn Toothpick Swap. In one minute you try to move as many pieces of popcorn from one bowl to the other using only two toothpicks.

The girls did a good job in this event, but I rocked it. (Yes, I know I am an adult competing against children, but I hardly won gold in all the events. In fact, I stunk at some of them.) There was a tie for third between Daisy and Robyn.

Next event, the Popcorn Straw Blow. This is the only event we did inside which is good because the backyard was strewn with popcorn by the time we were through. For the straw blow, two contestants lined up and on the mark they blew their popcorn across the table trying to cross the finish line first.

This was a little trickier for the littles. It was hard for them to keep the popcorn going in the right direction.

As for the rest of us, if you got a good enough puff, you could send the popcorn across the table with one gigantic breath.

Our third event was the Cup Drop. You stand on a chair and drop the popcorn from your forehead hoping it will land in the cup. I was awful at this event, but I'm going to chalk it up to being taller than everyone else. I think the wind kept blowing my popcorn off course. (Although to be honest, June is basically as tall as I am and she seemed to do okay.)

Pearl rocked this event.

Event four was the classic Popcorn Toss Up. Only the older kids opted to try this one. It was really fun to watch.

June barely edged me out for the win. (Please to notice the height difference. Or the not difference in this case.)

Our fifth event was the distance throw. I don't think there is a lot of skill in this one. Just throw the popcorn and hopes it goes somewhere. (Popcorn is not easy to launch.) We counted how many wood slats to measure distance.

I scored 29 slats and earned my second gold.

Our last event was the Popcorn Bowl catch. This event had teams throwing popcorn back and forth to see how many pieces they could catch overall.

It was a close event with a tie for first and second close behind. (I believe if two teams tie for first, the next team comes in third officially, but we liked the sound of second more.)

I'm not sure if you noticed, but we used candy for the medals. Reese's Peanut Butter cups for gold, Hershey Kisses for Silver, and Rolos for bronze. June was really proud of her awards. She medaled in almost every event.

Ivory didn't seem to mind her three bronze medals. She actually got first in the bowl catch, but opted to switch it out for Rolo goodness.

It was a really fun day. I'll have to remember Popcorn Olympics in the future.

That same evening, there was a neighborhood parade for the kids. They sent out a message saying kids could dress up or decorate their bikes and scooters. I told June this was a perfect chance to try out her face paint set that she got for Christmas eons ago. (She has never touched it.) I got to play with it first and June was my victim. I was experimenting and trying different brushes. I like the design.

June turned around and experimented on Daisy. Very cute.

Pearl may be smiling here, but she wasn't as thrilled with her design. She thought she looked like a caterpillar.

Eva happened to be over, so June got her before she left. I love this picture that June took. I think Eva's eyes and freckles look amazing. (Not to mention the fun design.)

I used some of my old paints and some of June's new colors to paint on Robyn. I really liked how it turned out.

June was very kind to let Robyn use the paints. She did my face (cool sunset over waves) and June did Tyler. We were really having a lot of fun.

Lastly, June painted Ivory, but I forgot to get a picture until we were at the parade. June had such a fun time painting her sisters that she plans to paint them more often during the year.

The parade was fun to watch. I had June take pictures but most of the people were missing a head. (You have to practice some time.) I got this picture as Pearl was cruising back in.

And we got a parade selfie.

It was a nice evening that ended up with me starting a candy war with neighbor Terrie. The kids followed suit of course and eventually everyone was chucking candy across the street at each other. Sometimes, I am a poor example...but it sure was fun.

Week eight was not a usual week. We received word on Wednesday morning that Grandpa Barry had passed away. We spent the rest of the week up in Idaho for the funeral. We left in quite a hurry, and I was pleasantly surprised when we came back to find Curtis had cleaned up the house. It was really nice.

Especially since week nine was the epic week of switching rooms. But that is another post that will come in time.