Olympus High School Class of 2000 Alumni Website

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Aaron is 3 years old

Two girls are great.

Two girls who love each other. Lyvia is nothing but sweetness to Amelia and is now being rewarded for her kindness by big smiles and bubbles from Amelia.

Two girls who are growing. Amelia is getting bigger every day. We go into the doc this week- but I’m estimating her at least 12 pounds. I love the chubby little rolls on her legs! Getting out the summer clothes has been fun for Lyvia. She is very into dressing herself and choosing her own clothes- so you can imagine some of the interesting outfits. Lyv is almost in 3T- I can’t believe it!

Two girls are a big change. More experienced mothers were supposed to warn me how different things are! There are all sorts of books to help you adjust for life with one baby. No books on adjusting to life with two- I’ve looked! Maybe people figure you’ve already done it once- just double it! But, after a few months, I finally feel like I’m getting the hang of this.

Two girls who love bath time. Millie is finally over the screaming phase and now totally into the warm water. Of course, Lyvia loves to help. She pulls up the stool next to the kitchen sink and rubs the washcloth on Amelia’s feet. Lyv also loves the “big tub”. Bubble bath is Lyv’s favorite thing- but only if she can dump it in the water. She wants to know when Millie can take a tub with her…

Two girls who adore their daddy. Dad is a superhero at our house. According to Lyv, he can: reach high things, is very strong, can fix anything, knows the answer to everything, can make her hurts better, can calm Amelia’s cries. The other day when Millie was crying, Lyvia says, “It’s ok ‘Melia. Daddy will be home soon.” And he was. And he calmed Amelia right down. Maybe there is something to this super-dad thing?!

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Two girls.

I know that I have been a really terrible blogger lately so here is the update!

Jared: Is still working as the GM of Red Robin. He really enjoys the restaurant but wishes he had more free time. He was able to go to the annual Red Robin Convention in Orlando a couple of weeks ago and had the best time. They were able to go to Universal Studios twice where they closed off part of the park for them. He ate like a king and stayed at the JW Marriott.(yes I was very jealous) He also learned a lot of great new things and it was really nice to have him come home so excited to be apart of Red Robin. Jared has also started working out and has lost 15 pounds. I am so proud of him!

Brooklyn: Is still loving pre-school and dance. She loves to play with her friends and is always trying to plan our next activity. Brooklyn getting excited for our new baby and loves to throw out names for him some of our favorites are Rudolf, snowman, and every boy name in her pre-school class. She is very opinionated about everything and loves to tell us no.

Brady: He is our crazy boy. He is potty trained which went better the expected I only wanted to give up on week 2.5. He is doing really well other then flushing his “undies wares” down the toilet at my parents house. Brady loves to drive his sister crazy. He has also learned some “great” new tricks like leaving McDonald’s when Daddy is distracted, falling off the kitchen counter on his head and blacking out, and biting. We are hoping that these things all lose their appeal really fast.

As for me I am 35 weeks pregnant and ready to be done. This pregnancy has been the hardest of the three so more then likely it is the last. We are excited for baby boy the 2nd to come to our family. I have been really busy just trying to keep up with life and all of the fun that comes with it. I have been working at Carino’s as a hostess on Monday nights and have enjoyed it. We are now in preparation mode and it is really strange to think that the next post could be to announce our new arrival.

p.s. I am having a hard time getting the back ground to change on my blog. If you have any suggestions let me know.

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Family Update

The people have spoken, and they want more Bachelor. I’ve been meaning to blog about this perfect storm of unintentional comedy ever since the hilarious hijinx from last January. Jason sent the lovely Molly packing and picked Melissa, only to show up on the “After the Final Rose” special–aired immediately after his proposal to Melissa–looking like someone just sent him a turd sandwich. His subsequent confession that the Molly tattoo (likely applied during the sensuous massage she gave him in the finale) had not exactly washed off, followed by his dumping Melissa on-air and professing his undying Molly-love, was great TV.

But that’s all in the past. Without further ado….

A Few Highlights from the Season So Far:

-Jake letting Vienna “Sausage” Girardi (not pictured, blog standards) through the first cut, yet eliminating the likes of Emily from Ohio. After seeing and meeting Vienna, clearly the decision of most sane men would have been whether to tell her to go back to the limo immediately or to do it classy, letting her stay for 48 hrs if she agreed to wear a bag over her head and not speak.

-Rozlyn the Scandalous getting eliminated for hooking up with a crew member. She’s like the Amelia Earhart of reality TV, just pushing us forward into uncharted territory. The best part of this story is the camera guy’s decision making process. “Let’s see, there are cameras everywhere. . . . I will without a doubt lose this job and many potential future ones. . . . This girl cannot possibly be clean. . . . But man, is she hot!” Thanks for giving the rest of us a good name, buddy.

Ali’s growing discontent over Vienna’s shocking, continued rose-finagling. Honestly I think Ali left the show not over work concerns but because she thought if she had to be in the same room as Vienna for one more day, she would drown herself in her spray-tanner.

-Jake’s decision to use “absolutely gorgeous” as his go-to adjective. Every Bachelor picks one; Jason’s was “amazing.” Maybe a limited vocabulary is what has kept these guys single all this time?

-Channy’s foul pick-up line during the opener seeming so ridiculous for what we thought was a classy, virtuous guy in Jake, followed by Jake himself dismantling this notion week after week by handing out roses to Vienna the Orange, former Hooter’s waitress.

And now, some Scenes I Wish We Could Have Seen:

-During the romantic 1-on-1 date in St. Lucia, Gia and Jake are on a private beach at sunset, whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ear. Jake inwardly wonders why Gia’s lips look like Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Suddenly, a ripple in the water. A larger ripple. A veritable tidal wave. A deranged Vienna emerges from the sea, looking even more like Swamp Thing than usual. “JAKE. WHY ARE YOU SPENDING TIME WITH THESE OTHER WOMEN!!”

-Jake explaining to Ali that yes, she could come back, but technically there was only one Fantasy Suite experience left, so she would have to share with Vienna

-A toilet cleaning contest held among the girls. I’ve been arguing for this one for years. Ostensibly, Jake is looking for a wife. I’ve got news for you pal, most women are going to seem like pretty good choices when you’re flying them all over the country going on $10,000 dates. You want to separate the wheat from the tares? Send them all into the jon after Gus the overweight mic operator drops a load in there. You think Tenley doesn’t clean that toilet, even if she hates it? And Vienna’s more likely to be responsible for the toilet’s current condition than to do anything to fix it.

-Along with the toilet contest, I would also make the girls take some sort of basic academic test. Everything else about this show is unrealistic, so why not this? I’ve even written a couple of questions for Vienna’s test:

1. If I have five (5) apples, how many apples do I have?
2. What is the capital of Austria?
3. Count the number of times you’ve wrapped Daddy’s car around a telephone pole without using your fingers
4. YOU:JAKE as…
a. OIL:WATER
b. BRITNEY SPEARS:MONASTERY
c. OPRAH:SITUP
d. HEIDI MONTAG:HEALTHY SELF IMAGE
e. YOU:ATTRACTIVE
5. Essay: In 50 words or less, list all the words you know

-A hard-hitting piece on the crew that was forced to film and edit Vienna and Jake’s Fantasy Suite experience. We see a scene of a support group, all the men in a circle. Silence prevails. Finally, one man speaks. “They told us it would be okay. But then it started. . . . We couldn’t help it, vomit everywhere. . . . I have lost all hope for mankind.” Other members of the circle nod, numbly. One just sobs as he looks at the floor.

-Michelle was this season’s token crazy person. She was so desperate for a rose that, even after she left, I hadn’t ruled out the following scene taking place during a later episode’s rose ceremony:

Chris Harrison: As you know, those of you who do not receive a rose will be asked to leave. Jake, are you ready?

Jake: I am. It’s been a tough decision this week, and all you girls look absolutely gor–

(Michelle enters, wearing black ski mask, with finger pointed like gun beneath her satin gown)

Michelle: Everybody DOWN ON THE GROUND!!!

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The Bachelor: Season in Review

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We spent time with all the family, we ate some Delicious food, and we got to have a 4 day weekend. Who could ask for more?

We had 3 feasts to attend this year and they were all delicious. we stuffed our faces and then went home and crashed. We went to the Jazz game on Thanksgiving, and thanks to Brandon’s Aunt and Uncle, we were able to sit on the 3rd row, it was a lot of fun!

Saturday we headed to Colin and Jana’s house for some Holy War fun. Even though the Utes lost, I still think the Utah team came out the “classy” ones!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend of events!
Brandon’s Boyfriend D- Will

Jazz Game

Hanging out with Uncle Colin

Is this game over yet??
All the Boys

Mommy and Hayden

Daddy and his Utah Cheerleader

the whole clan

Thanksgiving makes me sleepy!

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Thanksgiving Weekend and the Utah BYU game

We had a super fun Halloween this year. Brooklyn was a fairy, Brady a dinosaur/scary monster, and Jared and I were the priest and pregnant nun. We love Halloween so much that each year it is a big deal to figure out the costumes. Brady was not into the whole thing as the rest of us so he was either in his basketball shorts or his spyder hat. He is a such funny kid that has a mind of his own. Brooklyn’s costume was so cute and she loved ever second of it especially the glitter on her face and hair.
Thursday: Brooklyn had a preschool party where she got to dress up. She loved it!
Friday: Brooklyn and Brady went to a birthday party for their friend Venice. It was really fun to paint pumpkins and play Halloween games. Brady really struggled and I couldn’t figure out if it was because it was nap time or if he was overwhelmed with the whole thing. When I got him in the car he told me “I go Red Robin and get cany” in the most pathetic voice. So we went to see Daddy and get cany.
Friday night Jared and I went to our friend Dan’s 40th birthday party. We dressed up in our crazy costumes and had a ball. The best part was Jared carrying around his Book or Mormon.
Saturday: We got up and went to a party at Red Robin. Jared is awesome about doing fun things for his employees and their families. We had a great time but again Brady was having none of it. He spent most of his time on top of a table or laying face down on the floor. (Who are his parents seriously) After that we packed up our stuff and headed down to SLC to spend the night with my parents. When we got there we had a yummy dinner and got ready to go. The kids at this point were done so we only went to a few houses. I loved the reactions that we got from our costumes one couple just didn’t say anything. One of our friends asked a group of 12 year old girls why it was funny and another asked if we had got kicked out of the church. Brady and Brooklyn loved getting candy and got so excited when kids would come to the door to get some.
All is all it was such a fun holiday.

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Halloween Fun!

ONE.
Lyvia really has her own personality that is bubbling up all over the place. I love this picture with her pigtails- something that she has a love/hate relationship with. She wants to be “beautiful” with piggies in- but they bug her in her carseat, where she promptly rips them out. Then she’s sad because she can’t put them back in herself. It would be maddening- but she’s just so dang cute!

TWO.
Ice cream is a favorite. Like mother, like daughter I guess. The other day I asked Lyvia what she wanted to eat for lunch and she said, “an ice cream cone, please!”

We went to Arctic Circle and got cones.

THREE.
We went to a pumpkin patch this year to find the best pumpkin. Daddy and Lyvia are pulling the cart with one lone pumpkin. Some of the pumpkins were still a little green, but we finally found one that Mom liked. We told Lyvia she could pick out any pumpkin she wanted. Man, that girl is selective! She and Daddy searched the entire pumpkin patch and she kept saying, “Green, green” which Jason interpreted to mean that these pumpkins had green on them. So he finally found a big orange one- but she said no. Then just as we were walking out she found a small, all green, acorn squash. “It’s my favorite!” Lyv declared- so we bought her a squash for Halloween.

FOUR.
Ever since our camping excursions this summer, Lyv has loved the tent. On our last trip- she even cried when we had to take the tent down. “My tent, I love my tent,” she sobbed until Daddy told her we could set it up again later. (Don’t you love how ambiguous “later” is?!) So when I saw this pop-up tent at IKEA, I knew it was birthday present material! Lyvia loves her tent. She takes all her blankets and books inside and reads to her dolls, Mary and Allie. We even play puzzles in there in the mornings!

FIVE.
This picture is two fold.
Lyvie-Loo still LOVES reading and books. Seriously, she is in some sort of library/reading/snuggle phase- and it’s the best! I love cuddling with her in the rocking chair or on the couch and reading a stack of books. Her current favorites (as this is constantly changing): “the robot books” a.k.a. Walter Wick’s Can You See What I See?, A Big Fat Hen, Hoodwinked, One Little Mummy, The Little Engine That Could, anything Maisy, If You Give A Pig A Pancake.
And second- that Princess Aurora dress seems to find it’s way over pretty much anything she wears. She even took a nap in it the other day. But being her father’s daughter, Lyv will not eat in the dress- she doesn’t want any “spills” to ruin it! She calls it her “Aurora Dress”, twirls in it and says, “Isn’t it lovely?”
So. Dang. Cute.

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the friday FIVE

• It’s a pet peeve of mine when people complain about how tired they are. And then somehow it always turns into a battle to compare how many hours of sleep each person got. Does saying it out loud make you feel less tired? Take a nap! Ok…rant over.
• I have no idea where the remotes are to my TV. For some reason this reminds me of watching episodes of Batman with Adam West at our cabin on an old black & white TV with big antenna coming up from the top of the set. It had the clunky, old knobs to change the volume and channel- after all, there were only like 8 channels back then!
• Lyv’s naps are becoming more and more normal again. Can you see me jumping for joy!?!
• Some days (ahem, like today, ahem) I just feel out of sorts. The pregnancy nausea plays into that- but I think I need to start looking for a project. Nothing to bring me out of “hohum” like a good, old-fashioned project!
• I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before- but I happened to be married to the most wonderful man ever. If I ever needed proof, it has come since we’ve given up the binky. Where I am impatient and just let Lyv cry it out- he has been the best about reading stories, comforting and snuggling with Lyvia at bedtime. He’ll sit with her in her room until she gets really sleepy, rubbing her back or just rocking her. She has become even more attached to him- asking, “Where’s my daddy?” when she wakes up in the morning or after naps. Jason has saved my sanity and set an excellent example of the kind of parent I really want to be. Like I said, he is just the best!
• I loved LDS Women’s Conference this weekend. Sometimes hearing someone else say something I already know solidifies it in my brain. Especially Sister Thompson’s “Mind the Gap” talk! Listen to it here.
• Fall is coming. The weatherman says Wednesday will be my kind of day, cool and cloudy. Maybe I’ll even pull out a sweater for good measure! I can’t wait until that distinct fall smell begins- crispy leaves, sweet candy corn, cold air, crock-pot dinners and burnt pumpkins from Jack-O-Lanterns.

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a penny for my thoughts…

Two.

Lyv is two years old today.

Not only do I find her amazing, brilliant and funny, but she is dang cute, too. In only two years, I’ve nearly forgotten what life was like B.L. (Before Lyvia.)

Here are a few happy things about my happy girl:
- As I’ve mentioned before she loves Cinderella. Yet, she also loves playing ball- especially basketball with her Daddy. I see this as a beautiful balance.
- She talks up a storm. This kid is always surprising me with words to songs, pointing out items at the store or telling me a story about her friend. It’s fun to hear her vocabulary grow.
- Pretending is a big deal with Lyv. She plays “dinnertime” in her kitchen almost every day! She also likes to build train tracks and the train “town”, play “babies” with her dolls, dress ups, doctor visit (complete with shots) and farm.
- Lyvia is a puzzle fiend. She loves putting together puzzles! We’ve got quite a few at home that she’s mastered and she plays with the nursery puzzles every week. I think she’s got her Dad’s mind for math!
- If she’s got Jason’s brain, she’s got my taste in food! She is an excellent eater and tries just about everything. Sometimes she’ll tell me that something tastes “spicy” or “sour”. A few of her favorites are: popcorn, peaches, berries of all sorts, “riche” aka licorice, toast with jam, cucumbers, pretty much anything she can “dip”, ice cream, noodles, nachos, string cheese and artichokes. Luckily, she also loves to cook and help me out in the kitchen.

Happy Birthday Lyvia Elaine!

Two.

Two also means just a little more this year.

In March, we’ll have two kids! That’s right- we’re adding another baby to the brood.
Our family will have two adults and two kids. Woah.
Two smiles in the morning.
Two tummies to tickle.
Two kids in the bathtub.
Two kids to comfort and rock.
Two “I love you’s” each night before bed.

This is going to be awesome! And really, can life get much better than this?

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two

The summer came and went too fast. I feel like we didn’t do half the things that we wanted to. Since school has started again, I am realizing that maybe the end of summer is a good thing!

Cute Cal

The Boys

London and Jack

Jack is such a stud!

flirting?

Another Plus… maybe when the weather cools down we will feel like doing more cooking in the kitchen!

London and I made shrimp pizza. It was so so good and London had so much fun.

With all the kids in school, our neighborhood is quiet during the day and the kids our out in the evening. That means no more sitting out in the HOT mid day heat. NOT FUN!

London likes to be like the big girls on our street. Helmet and all!

Cam Loves being outside too!

London’s friends like to share with her.

Daddy has found time to come home during the day to mow the lawn!
We love seeing him during the day and London loves to help him.

And these are just some fun pictures of the last few weeks.

London watching a show with her babies!

Cam had a mullet with curls. Oh this picture does not do justice how cute it was. Ok, how cute I thought it was. I had to compromise and cut it off. I was sad. I never thought I would love a mullet!

And once again, Cam had to be London’s model!

At this point Cam is crying. Do you blame him? What boy wants his nails painted?

We will miss you summer, but you’ll be back soon!

And here are a few things my kids are doing:

London asks everyone we run into in public “what’s your name?”

She also announces when she toots. Even in public. Oh joy!

The other day she barricaded the door with her body so my parents could not leave.

Last night she saw a guy smoking and asked, “mom, why does that guy have a pen in his mouth? That is gross.” I just left it at that.

We test drove a car last night. London told us what one she wanted. When I told her we were not getting one with a DVD player, she cried the whole way home.

The other day we had family pictures taken. Cam and Daddy were both wearing light blue shirts and tan pants. London then looked at me and asked, “mom, why are you not wearing a shirt like me?” and “where is my twirly skirt?” It was the end of the world that London and I were not wearing matching outfits like the boys.

Camden is climbing the stairs…CONSTANTLY! He thinks it is a game. He is also climbing on everything he can.

His new words:
Ball
Doggy
What’s That? (sounds like “wuz thaa“)
Cheese ( when taking pictures)
And I think he says “please” but I cannot really tell.

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See Ya later Summer

This pretty much sums up life at our house for the past 2 weeks: Cinderella.

Lyvia loves the “princess story”, as she calls it. We had a little family movie night a few weeks ago. Jason and I were tired of watching old Clifford episodes and thought Lyv was probably big enough for a Disney movie. Little did we know she’d want to watch it every single day!

The music, the magic, the mice, the “mean sisters”, the “mean kitty” and of course- the dress! Lyv has been getting her pink tutu out of the dress-up box and calling it her “Princess Dress”. She begs me to turn on music so she can dance like Cinderella. Trying on shoes has also become a favorite past time- my shoes, her shoes, even dad’s shoes are all tried on and then she decides if they are too big or “just right”. And in a great find at the thrift store, we procured a Cinderella book! It has all the highlights from the movie. Lyvia likes to climb up in her rocking chair and read that book to her animals. I can hear her telling them the story about the “Fairy Mother” and when Cinderella’s dress gets ripped. But, I think my favorite part of her loving Cinderella is that she calls the Prince, the Daddy! It’s so cute! (And I think her Daddy is flattered!)

I know this is probably a fleeting obsession, but I am enjoying how excited Lyv is about Cinderella. Ok, so sometimes it is a pain to tell her she can’t watch the movie 4 times a day or try to comfort her when she twirls herself dizzy dancing at the ball. But, I think the fun of the “magic” outweighs the minor tantrums. If this keeps up, I may be making a princess costume for Halloween!

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Maybe it's a girl thing…

Well, this guy turned 29 on the 29th! Unfortunately, I don’t have a post full of all the fun things we did, since Lance was sick with the flu. I had a party all planned, but we had to cancel it. Bummer. Basically we sat around and waited for Lance to pee, which luckily after about 9 1/2 hours he did. But trust me that was the best present he could have given his daddy yesterday!

So, in order to document this special golden birthday, I made Speen take a picture.

Happy Birthday to one incredibly loving, patient, kind, happy, spiritual, and fun father and hubby! We love you babe.

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Golden Birthday!

SISTER!!! Baby Morris is due Oct.25. I found out a few weeks ago but I’ve been too busy to post! We are SO excited and I won’t have to return any of the girl clothes I’ve been buying

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Jake is having a……

Oh how sweet it was to be on the west coast with REAL sand, sun all day, a nice mild temperature, lots of free parking, the list goes on and on. We LOVED every minute of our trip and it was especially nice to hang out with the fam.

Here are some pix! Yes these are pretty much the same ones in my facebook album but it’s all we have…we got camera-lazy after a few days.

We started our trip by visiting the Getty Villa in Malibu. It was GORGEOUS (thanks Dave for taking us there). If you go to Southern Cali you must go see this place.

Our nephew, Andrew, posing at the entrance

We made Andrew take this picture (pretty good!)

5 minutes later they tossed me in the water

Before my swim

What a view!

Don’t you just want to put Marshal in your pocket and take him home? Adorablest ever.

Marshal and Lindsey…awwwwww

Two nights before our trip I was running through our condo and I slipped on a cell phone charger cord and ATE SH*T like never before. I started crying because it hurt (my pride) so badly. The next morning I woke up with a G I N O R M O U S bruise on my thigh. The picture seriously doesn’t do it justice. The thing was black and blue.

As if a minor injury wasn’t enough to spice up our trip, we also had to take Marshal to the ER! The first 2 days we were there we feasted like crazy on In-N-Out Burger (double double with a chocolate shake) and greasy mexican food. Marshal usually eats like a health nut and his body couldn’t take all the bad food. So at 4:00 in the morning I took him to the ER because he had a huge pain in his side that wouldn’t go away. Turned out to be his gall bladder dysfunctioning (I made up that word btw) from all the fatty food we ate. Big oops. But at least now we can say he OD’ed on In-N-Out Burger.

Before – happily enjoying In-N-Out (cell phone pic)

After (another cell phone pic)

Like I mentioned in the previous post, we had tickets to Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach and it was stunning! Another must-see in California. Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures of the show, but I found some more images online from one of the actual sets we saw on stage. So here’s a little glimpse but not from our camera.

And here are a couple random photos…

A total stranger who just got done shopping at the best store on earth (except I think they were having a bad day when I was there because the store was a hot mess)

Marshal practicing his daddy skills

This pic is hideous of me, but check out Marshal’s partial sun burn. He used the spray but didn’t rub it in so he had the cutest sun burn patches poor guy.

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I was born to live in California

I’m home from camp and all is well. Not only did Miranda take care of my kids physical needs, she even kept them on schedule, monitored their TV time, and cleaned my house, so transitioning back into our normal routine this week has been easy! Such was not the case last year, so I’m very appreciative. I meant to take a darling picture of her with my boys, but I forgot to before she left (of course). Lucky for all of us, Nick has been practicing his photography skills and captured this beauty.

Everything at camp went great, except for the fact that it poured rain EVERYDAY. We just went on with our acitivities as planned and came home with a lot of wet and muddy clothes. I love girls camp. I think it’s probably one of those things that you either hate completely or love absolutley, and I love it. The songs. The cheesiness. The testimonies that are grown (hopefully).The girls in my stake are incredible. And the women that I planned camp with were fantastic. Here we are:

Things, camp-wise, are a lot different here than they were for me in UT. Everything is done in year levels, not wards, and so the stake camp directorship plans everything. There have been moments of stress and tears in the past few months, but the moment I got up there and saw the girls it was all worth it. Now we’ll take a few months off and then start planning for next year! My only complaint of the week was that I missed my boys like crazy (including Brad…if you’re wondering why, read the post below). I’ve never been away from them for that long (last year I took Chase with me and came home to visit Nick twice), and it nearly did me in and made me all the more grateful that I’m able to stay home with them. Love these two:

{photo from Del Grosso’s amusment park, 2 weeks ago. That post is coming}

On a side-note, Nick has been working really hard at learning, recognizing, and writing his letters and I’m so proud of him. He knows them all by name, knows the sound they make, and is slowly starting to sound things out. I think he has his Daddy’s brain (phew!). Can’t believe this silly boy will be 4 in a few months!

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Survived…