Birthday and Crafts


 Surprise Surprise! Duane was not home for his Birthday... He was at scout camp trying to blow himself up with a propane tank from what I heard.  Meanwhile I was home catching up on my Cake Boss episodes and came up with very detailed Birthday Cake for him, I'm thinking I should start my own show, anyway it looked good to me. As I sat home with this cake for the 1 1/2 days waiting for him to get home I begin to wonder if he was old enough that he would realize if half of it was missing, but I resisted and waited for him. I surprised my self with that task.

 I made a Mater Cake, because I figured they had so much in common, their Old, Rusty, Good Looking, has all his teeth, and Great Character.

Finally we get cake!
And then Duane was off on more church commitments so his Birthday Dinner had to wait.

 

That he got 4 days after his Birthdays I guess we just make them last forever around here, because we still have not made it to the movie "Cars 2" for his Birthday, Think that just may happen tomorrow. It's amazing how busy life can get. So while he's been camping, working, and churching I have been Crafting. Here are a few of the things I've been working on.


My bead board Flag Love the 4th of July, because that means It's MY BIRTHDAY the next Day!!


Yes my own Birthday Sign, and Yes since 21 was the last Birthday I remember keeping track of my age, I guess I'll stick with it.  


Then latter in the Month Andali will be celebrating her 2nd Birthday!! She seems like she's older than that already. She called me today on the phone, she says "Hi grannie" where's papa, Who ever answers the phone she will say HI but then ask to talk to someone else. papa wasn't around but I told her BOO BOO was. So the next three phone call she would say hi and ask for Boo Boo (HUNTER) 

The name Boo Boo came from Alex when Hunter was a baby, I think it was Alex's way of saying brother, so Hunter became Boo Boo and Alex was Yogi. and of course we had to go on picnics daily after picking Jessica up from Kindergarten. Bunkerville Park was our favorite spot.


 here is my newest craft. the Family


And of course Jessica's Family
This last week I had the opportunity to go to Zion's and take some pictures at a family Reunion, that is where I meet this amazing couple. They had a smile on their face the whole time. I wanted to adopt them as my grandparents. You could tell they loved and were proud of their family.


I hope I'm as happy as them, when i get their age. I have to laugh at the fingernail polish, all the girls had matching nail polish, It matched their Reunion shirts.


I also went to Cedar and took family pictures for Jessica, She's moving this week and wanted new pictures of the family I guess I should say they dressed for black and white pictures not color. And of course I picked different favorites than she did again. Lydia seems to be always happy when we do pictures, Andi is a fire ball and can't hold still, she wants to help me out with the camera, plus she was tired because she didn't have her nap yet, And we also had to rush because you could see the storm coming our way. In fact going back to their place after pictures Andi fell asleep in the Car and the the hail start to come pounding down before we could get out of our cars.





And then there are the picture of Andi and Papa!

What Camp Ruth is (A Borrowed Post)

 Okay I'm stealing this Post from from Mindee West, except I'm Changing some of the writing. I have learned to do this from Jessica, She steals mine all the time. So If I'm getting Graded I get the "F" not Mindee this is her writing with mostly my pictures. I've deleted some of her writing, and added mine in RED.


Our Stake holds a special camp, Camp Ruth, for girls ages 16-18.  It's a spiritual camp to help
 them feel the spirit and desire to stay on the path of righteousness regardless of trials and temptations.


Our theme this year was Helaman 5:12 - we substituted "daughters" for "sons"


We stayed in the Leavitt's Cabin which is huge and beautiful!  They are so kind to let 85 of us stay there.


This is everyone that went to Camp Ruth except our 2 cooks and the Priesthood, We had a lot of Priesthood around. You can't have camp without the Priesthood.


Here are all the leaders who came to help.  These women work tirelessly for the youth of our valley.
You are amazing!  And it was fun staying up all hours of the night with you.


These cute lanyards (is that the right term?) which we called the BIG "R"
were the reward for completing the requirements of camp. Keri made them all!
They are so adorable and I have my keys on it now so I will always remember camp.

I have my keys on also, It's kinda cute when Hunter and Duane want to drive my car and take my keys, They hand it back to me real fast as if they don't want to be seen with them. It's kinda funny.

We had to Memorize: Helaman 5:12, Article of Faith 13, and all 3 verses of As Sisters in Zion
Read: The Introduction to the Book of Mormon, Testimony of Joseph Smith, testimony of the 
3 Witnesses, testimony of the 8 witnesses, the Book of Ruth, the Relief Society Theme, 
The Family a Proclamation to the World, and The Living Christ.

The memorizing thing was hard for me, but it was nice to see that others struggled with it also. Not that I wish that on anyone, it just made me feel a little normal.


We had wonderful GAP session throughout the 4 days (stands for Girls Along the Path).
We are lucky to have such a beautiful place to stay, this is only a small portion of the huge living room.


We had wonderful speakers present on topics such as scripture study, prayer, our identity as
daughters of God, music, missionaries, dating, marriage & eternity, the priesthood, music,
following the spirit, building our foundation on Christ, and choice & accountability.

This is Mindee if some of your don't know her, She's truly amazing and great with the girls.
I really enjoyed all the speakers.  I learned a lot and was spiritually fed.


Between the spiritual feast we had fun too.  We played lots of games to apply the things we learned.


There were lots of laughs along with a few tears during the week.


The highlight of Camp Ruth is always the Friday night Iron Rod experience and testimony meeting.
It was supposed to rain and we prayed for good weather, our prayers were answered.


We did the rod different this year, it was a wonderful experience for those participating and those helping.

I have been to Camp Ruth quite a few times, I have seen the Rod done 3 different ways now, It amazes me that even though they have changed it up over the years, the effect is still the same.  couldn't tell which way I like it best.

It's interesting to watch and see how the Young Women Leaders and Bishopric want to help each girl out and show her the way. Priesthood leaders running around breaking off branches around the trees for the girls won't smash into them with their face. Standing over fallen trees, and stumps so they won't trip and fall.  Just like in our everyday lives, We have church members home teachers, visiting teachers, Bishopric, Family etc.. you name it they want to help and keep us on a safe path. The only thing is just like at Camp Ruth you can't take their hand and lead them around everything or do it for them. We all have our Free agency to choose, We have to sometimes loose our way or fall a little, so that we can know right from wrong, The important thing is that these same people are there to help us dust our selves off and start again to grab a hold of the rod a little tighter.

It's hard to watch girls struggle and have to just stand back and watch.  


But just as in life, they have to make their own choices.


Parents and leaders met the girls at the end of the rod.


And enjoyed glorious reunions.  I sat at the end for most of the time and watched, and cried.


This was my third year as a leader at Camp Ruth and I hope I'm still in the Stake next time.
I love working with these amazing women and being with the girls.
These weeks change my life!

Our Stake Young Women Leaders. Great Job on another job of Camp Ruth!!

And this was our Cooks not such a great picture but it was hard to get these to together, They were always busy trying to feed us all, they were on their feet all day long, and the food was the best. They absolutely  had the hardest job there.

I was able to come to camp and do the sound system make handouts and take pictures whatever was asked of me I tried to do. I was able to  put a slide show at the end of camp use some of the pictures I took, I have had people ask me to post the slide show, but I'm just not sure that I would be the same on here as it was at Camp. It was built upon the spirit from the week of camp.  So I've been undecided on posting it, mostly leaning towards not. Though I put many hours into it, and enjoyed working on it. I just don't think it would be the same for anyone else that wasn't there.

Ruth Picture (recreated)

Here is the picture of my recreation of
Ruth from the Old Testament. 

I had found one somewhat like this on the internet and wanted a bigger picture of it, I tried to locate the owner of the picture to get permission but couldn't find a way to contact them. So I decided why not just recreate it ourselves. So after posting for help on facebook and some ideas from friends. And then a lot of looking for the right dry field, props, whatever this is what I came up with. 


I have to say, Camp Ruth was amazing (like always) where else can you go with 68 Youth ages 16-18year old. memorize scriptures & songs. Study, talk, and bear testimony of the Gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

It is an experience one should never pass up, We left our little Valley and went up to a beautiful Cabin in Utah, where we could leave all the interruptions of the outside world. And just take the time to study and ponder whats important to each one of us hear on earth and where we are on the path to return to our Heavenly Father through the plan of Salvation. It's makes one try to put things into perspective on the direction we may be traveling in this world.

I have meet some of the most wonderful girls that one can meet, each one has a quality about themselves that makes them unique from one another but yet have the same goal in life. Some know who they are and what they want, Others still trying to figure it out. I love watching through the eyes of the girls of when the light turns on, Hey, I get it! and this is what I want. There is nothing else like it.

Throughout my life as a mother, I have seen this light in my own children's eyes, and I have also seen the light go out. Nothing hurts more than to see the light turn off and watch them wonder around trying to find what true happiness is. It breaks my heart. I can only pray and wait patiently (working on it) for them to realize what brings true happiness and that light to come back into there eyes. 

I  love them very much even though right now, at this very moment in their lives it's not as important to them as it is for me. I am very blessed to be called, Wife, Mother and Grannie! and I can only pray that I can have the light and be the example I need to be for them, that I may become a stronger Daughter of God today than I was yesterday. It is a constant work to be done, and I need to remember 
and not to take it for granted, which I tend to do for too often.


I earned my BIG R


WOW, I don't know the last time I was challenged to try to memorize things. It is a difficult challenge for me. I have always struggled when it comes to memorizing, test, school, anything in that nature, unless you can do something with your hands, the mind not so well, But with the help from my sister Angela, who I must had drove crazy trying to pass things off, she helped me get it. Even though I struggled for 3 day to memorize, it is now stuck in my head after returning home. I wake up with that scripture in my head and my head says it perfectly, (but maybe not out-loud) But any way I got it and I'm happy I got it.

Jessica's Photo Shoot

I thought that Jessica was going to use these photo's  for Father's Day but come to find out like always she gets too excited and can't wait. I just read on her blog she was waiting for me to post so she could steal them from here. Sorry Jess these are just a few of the pictures, didn't think people would want to see all 60 of them.







the next few pictures come from papa (Duane) trying to help by making faces at Andi, all it did was make Andi make them back. Might need to get me a new assistant.