Family campout

A couple weekends ago we went on a family campout up American Fork Canyon.  It was so beautiful up the canyon and I loved that it was cold in the morning.  My house isn't cool right now and I loved sleeping in the cold!

We had fun with all the neices and nephews until we built a campfire.  Then they all wanted to 'help', light matches, put wood on the fire and everything else.  My dad was sure that one of them was going to fall into the fire pit and I got to the point where I was going to help one of them fall in so that the others would learn to stay away from the fire. (I'm nice, aren't I?)

My dad taught us a new Indian saying (since he has some Indian blood he and one of his brothers has taught us 'Indian' lore). 

"White man built big fire, sit way back.  Indian build little fire, sit real close."

We had a true white man fire.  It was huge and warm and attracted all children within the campground!

Fireworks

Last night we did some fireworks at mom and dad's house with all the lettle neices and nephews. We gave the little kids sparklers to start off.  When I was a child when we had sparklers we spent time writing our names in the air and twirling in circles.  Last night, we had 5 little kids running around yelling 'stupify' and 'protego'!  We also heard lumos, avada kedavra and expecto patronum!  What fun they had pretending to be wizards.  I heard several refrences to Harry Potter while playing with fireworks.  I love that kids can take something like sparklers and pretend to be wizards!

Germany trip 2011

I've been home almost 2 weeks and I still wish I was in Germany!  We had so much fun and I got to do so many things that I probably wouldn't have if I lived there.  I kept telling myself that I needed to do it because chances of me getting back there are slim.  That's the only way they got me to ride the tram to the top of the highest mountain in Germany!


Here's a slidshow of some photos I put together for the girls at work.


http://cmd.shutterfly.com/commands/pictures/slideshow?site=mygermanytrip2011&page=mygermanytrip2011/pictures&album=8

Busy, busy, busy

Life has gotten busy and I guess the first thing to go was my blog.  I'll attempt to catch up to the present.  Dad had bought a new toy to play on - a Rzr and we have taken it out west twice to play with the grandkids.  I've gotten sunburned each time we went out - you'd think I'd learn the first time. And to my credit I mostly did.  This past Saturday when we went, I put sunscreen on my head and face (where I had gotten sunburned the first time), but neglected to do my arms.  Who would think that I would get a lobster red sunburn on my arms? Apparently not me! 

My 2nd niece turned 8 and got baptized a couple of weeks ago.  It's so fun to see her sweet personality shine through when it's her turn to shine in the spotlight.  She's the middle kid, and is really quiet, so she sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.

 

We had our auction for Friday's Kids Respite and had lots of fun.  I always forget how much work it is, until we get right in the middle of it and then I wonder what I am doing there!  It was a lot of fun and I actually won a couple of things.

 

The biggest change in my life came about 3 weeks ago when I was called as the Relief Society President.  It was not unexpected, but still nerve-wracking anyway.  Right now, I am trying to figure out exactly what needs to be taken care of and hoping that I'm not dropping anything. 

We get to watch my neices this weekend in their dance recital.  The 4 year old was doing her dance for us on Sunday and it was really fun to watch.  She's quite shy, so the recital should be interesting.  The other two are old pros at it now and have a lot of fun with it.  Let's hope the 1 year old boys enjoy sitting in the dark for a couple hours, or it's not going to be much fun for anyone.

Disneyland!

I just got back from a fun, quick trip to Disneyland with some of the family! My sister, brother-in-law and their 2 kids were going and they invited mom, me and our other sister to come join them. We had lots of fun! We started out by leaving late Wednesday night and drove through the night. Little nephew fell right asleep and stayed asleep most of the trip, little niece was good until she got sick and threw up a couple of times and lucky me, I was the one beside her in the back seat.

We rolled into town about 8 am and were able to get right into our hotel and took a little break/nap. Then it was off to Disneyland!  

Little niece wanted to meet Tangled (aka Rapunzel) so we got in line and saved her a spot.  She is usually incredibly shy but we were surprised to see her walk up to Tangled and Flynn and talk to them.  She also gave Tangled a hug when we were leaving.

We spent most of the day Thursday in Disneyland, on Friday we went back to Disney and spent quite a bit of time (and I saw my roommate who was there with her sister, brother-in-law and their children), then that afternoon we went to California's Adventure (which I had never been to) then back to Disney for the fireworks. Saturday we spent time in both parks and then that night started back home. With all the 'fun' we had on the way down, we decided to stop in Las Vegas for the night. Then we got up this morning and finished the ride home. About an hour from home, little nephew, feeling left out, threw up (and since I wasn't sitting by him he got it on my pillow for me!)

All-in-all, it was really fun and I would probably do it again (but I'd come a little more prepared for the fun of a road trip with children!)

Passport

I got my passport in the mail today!  Now I'm one step closer to my trip this summer!  Happy day today.

Busy, busy, busy

A week before Thanksgiving I got called as the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society presidency and then promptly got thrown in charge of the Angel Tree gifts for several families in our ward.  Life got very busy for about the next month and it was really nice that I had some time scheduled off of work.  We ran into a few problems near the end but everything worked out and all the gifts got out by Christmas Eve.  I don't think I've ever been so excited for Christmas to be over! 

I did take some time and took 4 of my brother's kids to see the 3rd Narnia movie.  The 3 1/2 year old loved it
(I think he loved the popcorn the best though).  And my sister and I took her 2 kids to The Living Planet Aquarium.  I liked the penguins and seeing the octopus eat was very interesting!  Her little girl really like the penguins too but did not like when my sister tried to get her to touch the sing-ray.