I Know What You Did Last Summer

This Summer has been pretty intense. On the one hand there isn't time to be bored, but on the other, there isn't much in the way of relaxation...

 Right at the beginning of the summer I sent 6 crayon rolls to my friend in Hawaii...and have not laid a hand on my sewing machine since.

 This Spring I volunteered to help out at Stake Youth Conference, thinking that Randall and I would have a mini-vacation (yes, this is what my hopes of a vacation have come to).  

What I did not anticipate is that I would be in charge of a gigantic life-sized game of LIFE.

 So I had to develop this game for 120 youth to play at once and incorporate temporal and spiritual life lessons.  In the end it went very well, although I wish I would have made those dinky "Game of Life" posters like 10 times bigger....oh well.

  I won't explain the whole game but in these pictures you come upon your first life decision: College or Career?

Then you went to "college" or straight out into the big bad world.

I had leaders from each ward in different rooms teaching about; Marriage (chastity) Children, Car Care, Home Maintenance, Mission Prep, etc. then the kids would spin a wheel and see what life handed them.

It was really interesting to see how the kids reacted to being called to the Evanston, Wyoming Mission, or

To having 10 kids...or no children.

 In the end you were made accountable ("judged") to your bishop or a member of the stake presidency for what you did with your "life" and were rewarded accordingly. 

(candy bar-jolly rancher-pretzel)

 Like I said, though, it ended up working out well...too well one might say. 

Shortly after that I was called as the Stake Camp Director, I am still in my Primary calling for another few months though...which is good.  I am very hesitant to leave those little ones.

At the beginning of the summer we also started K-Camp.

My maiden name starts with K...thus...

Anyway, in the past we (My Mom, Sister, Sisters-In-Law and kids) did 2 or 3 all-day K-Camp events but this year we decided to do it once a week for 12 weeks.

We used the 12 Principles of Happiness from a talk by Ezra Taft Benson and focused on one each week.

This is our first one, we are decorating our t-shirts and learning about friendship.

Don't the children look happy and serene...I tell you by the end of the summer neither the children or adults were so serene.   

To do K-camp every week is just so....weekly.

  By the end they had learned all the 12 principles and painted 13 plaques 

(on which we put vinyl lettering for each principle)

that will be lashed together somehow to hang on the wall.

(Pre-lettered plaques)

 12 Principles: Repentance, Prayer, Service, Work, Health, Study, Blessings, Fasting, Friends, Music, Endurance and Goals.

Our Theme Song was My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music

All the kids kept a binder with copies of all the songs, stories, games and recipes from the camp.

This summer we decided to put Addi on a different swim team 

and it made a HUGE difference.

I mean, she's good anyway, but the coaching she got this summer was awesome!

 

Aaaand here are some medals and ribbons from one meet to prove it.

She qualified for the State Championship meet in 3 individual events.

(100m, 100m, & 50m Freestyle)

She swims in the 10 and under age group so she has another 2 years to compete in this age group.

We are pretty excited about what she can accopmlish.

We decided that we love this team so much that we are willing to leave every morning for practice at 5:55 to drive 20 miles and be on time for 6:30am practice! 

(I can't believe it either...I am NOT a morning person!)

This has made it so we need to move her to a school that meet the following criteria:

Must start later than 8:30am

Must have Chinese Immersion at least up to 3rd Grade

Must be within 10 miles of the pool and home.

We did find one, and by prayer and persuasion we got her in!

If doing K-Camp and Swim practice and Meets were not enough, at the same time we were rehersing and putting on a play.

A full fledged play...a MUSICAL no less!

My Mother had a dream of doing a family play and this year she made it happen!

We got the script and music from a little company online.

The Play was called, "The Real Story of Little Red Riding Hood"

You can probably guess, Red Riding Hood is snotty and the Wolf is nice.

 As you see, I was the wolf and Addi was the grandma and my mother and I (but mostly me) were wrangling 9 kids into practicing their lines and songs and remembering their blocking two to three times a week all summer! (while trying to memorize my own lines, which were not few in number)

 It turned out really cute and the kids had a lot of fun.

Believe it or not we had 2 performances with 30+ people at each...

It is a good thing I am used to making a fool of myself.

Addi was the cutest little Granny...

 

After all that to say I was D.O.N.E. was an understatement.

And the next day, I mean, the VERY next day was our Anniversary.

We haven't done anything for it yet, surprise, surprise, but maybe we'll go out for ice cream some time this week...the last week before school starts...you know with those alarm clocks going off before 6am.

 Not Pictured:
Timpanogos Half Marathon
I have been training for 1/2 marathons this summer, so far I've done one, the Timpanogos Half.  It was tons of fun my friend did the full (where you run up AF Canyon and back down) she is CRAZY!!  But I ran a little while with her husband and I saw a bunch of random people that I know, it was fun.  Fun, because I checked the results and beat them all! HA!  No, just kidding, I'm really not very fast and I didn't beat them by much.  I don't have any pictures of that one because Randall and Addi were at the State Meet but I'll get some up here of the Hobble Creek Half that I'll be running this Saturday.