Girl's Camp 2018

All my girls were able to go to camp this year. I was the ward camp leader, and Dustin came up as a priesthood leader. My sister watched Britten for me. She spoiled him! We all enjoyed our week!!

I probably will not have this calling next year, so I'm grateful to have this year with all my girls.

Our theme was a university theme, Be Y.O.U. Our focus was on divine nature. Every ward was able to create their own university and pennant.  We were Morning View Prep- M.V.P. We talked a lot about being a valuable player in the Lord's church, and sharing the gospel, and how we are all born with talents and qualities in order to fulfill that purpose. I feel it went really well! 

I was grateful to have the opportunity to help these girls understand who they are and why they are here. I enjoyed encouraging them to find out for themselves what their purpose and role in  the gospel is. And, of course, it's always great doing it in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains, singing bizarre camp songs. There's nothing like it!

Merrits at Manti

It's been a long time since we were at the Manti Pageant. Dustin and i decided we would take the kids and have a quick little summer trip. Manti is a small town south of us. Every year it does a pageant on the temple grounds about the Book of Mormon. They have fun vendors and little shops. We decided to spend our day at the city pool. Our kids love to be in the water and it was hot!

They let us enter the temple grounds at 6 pm. So once we claimed our spots, we walked around the temple grounds and took some pictures. The pageant started at dusk, around 9:30. It lasts around 2 hours, so we finished around 11:30. tool late to drive home, so we had a motel room. 

Everything in Manti is vintage. We ate dinner at a cute diner. It was yummy! I love all the old homes. You can tell which ones were original settler's homes because they are made out the same stone as the temple. It's always fun to get away form the daily routines. Glad we could make this little memory. 

 Aaron's shirt cracked me up walking through this small town. he had several men stop him and tell them they love it! Crazy!

Lagoon 2018

Dustin's work had a a summer work party at Lagoon. It's been a while since we have been. the kids were excited! Everyone but Kate. She doesn't like big rides. We told her she could just hang out with Dad, me, and Britten on the small rides. She did. She was a good sport about it! It was long day, but a fun day!!

I road Cannibal for the very first time ever! I would have loved to ride it again, but Dustin and I were taking turns with the bigger kids. It was Britten's first time that he could remember. He was unsure at first about any of the rides, but by the day's end, he was loving it!! HE keeps asking if we can go back and ride the helicopters. I guess those were his favorite.

Softabll Champs

Because of my new job, life has been pretty hectic. I wasn't able to be to as many of Kate's games for soft ball this year. She ended up on a team with 18 year-olds because they didn't have many girls sign up. I know she was discouraged, but this girl learned a lot because there was so much more expected of her. She improved in all things. But most important, that I saw, was a change in attitude. She matured as she watched these older girls not get upset with themselves if they weren't perfect. They didn't get mad when another teammate was struggling. they cheered each other on and encouraged one another. Being 14 can be rough, especially is you're still learning new things. But, Kate listened and learned, even though it was hard sometimes. I'm so proud of her and her team! They worked hard even when they were losing. In the end, they were crowned the league champs! It was an awsome thing to witness! Way to go Lightning!! 

The Chocolate Factory

Every night before bed, I read Britten  a story. One of his favorites is, Curious George And The Chocolate Factory. Britten has been obsessed with factories ever since! He would have us looking for factories in the car whenever we were driving. We have found a yogurt factory, concrete factory, chip factory, mine factory, a welding factory. Thank goodness our daily drive to and from the daycare consisted of all these factories.  

I would always tell him about the chocolate factory that is not far away. He would beg me to take him, I would promise to. The day finally came that I set up the tour. He was so excited- it only took me 3 months!

He loved it! they even had little George's all around the factory to find. We watched a movie about chocolate, ate chocolate and ice cream samples, played games. it was fun! It made his day! And, I'm glad Dustin and the other kids came with us. they had never been either. And, Dustin bought me my favorite: chocolate caramels. A happy family + chocolate = a good day!