Youth Conference!

I am the 1st counselor for the Young Women in my ward, and this year, we had ward-level Youth Conference. (This is a whole new idea to me - in fact, the way the usually do it in general here in Utah is new to this Floridian.) But, we started planning and decided to rent some cabins by Jordanelle Reservoir and keeping the festivities around there and Midway. I was pumped about going the whole 4 days, but we ended up having an important wedding on day 3, so we were just there for half (Jeff got to come too!) I love love love working with the Youth and really enjoyed being up there with everyone, especially the leaders!

Our sweet facilities.

Jeff keeping the boys in line (our MM activity of improv skits.)

Playin in the Party Cabin.  No really, that's it's actual name.

Meal time!!

Rec room - frequent free time hang out for the youth.

A little s'more time before our star-gazing night.

Swimming in the volcanic crater.  It was literally like 90 degrees in the water, and I think 90 ft to the bottom.

And leave it to Kathy to have her camera going at so-early-we-haven't-had-breakfast-yet hours.  These are the gems you'll get.

Each morning and evening, a pair of kids did a devotional, and for the most part, the kids cooked all our meals.  We did a decision-based hike at Cascade Springs, improv/games, scavenger hunt (made by the Teachers... so...) fire and marshmallows, stargazing fireside led by our Stake President, swimming, and then on the days I was not there, they did service for the camp, a ROPES course (so sad I missed it - that's totally my territory!) had pizza out, and made stars for each person. Though we ended up with a little more free time than was necessary in my opinion, it was a great week. The weather was amazing, plus we had a great view of the dam, mountain, saw deer and there was a creek that ran right by our areas.

I truly love my calling and all the people it allows me to associate with on a regular basis (not to mention stretching me to be better everyday.)

A lot more and a whole lot less

I'm already at 31 weeks pregnant!  It is just flying by - well time in general is flying by right now, but that makes these pregnancy symptoms more bearable.  Here's the 31 wk belly - it is so very large!  (Stay tuned for a size-comparison post.) Noticeably larger than last belly pic. (again I couldn't decide.)

In other news, you may have noticed I totally chopped off... oh, over a foot of hair.  I love it.  I don't care if you do, it's doing me well in this summer heat.  Happy Friday!

Mal Weddin! - The Ceremony/Reception

On June 11, Mal had a lovely outdoor ceremony (much less irreverant than the rehearsal... although the Bishop did announce them as Mallory and Travis Radcliffe instead of Mortenson, haha!) followed by pics and then a reception with dancing, cupcakes and catered by Goodwood BBQ (yummo!)  The girls performed their parts perfectly and Mal was gorgeous.

Mal Weddin! - The Rehearsal, Lunch, Pedicures, Breakfast

A few days before the ceremony, we had a rehearsal that was a little... irreverent.  Got all the little details and order and kiddos and everything worked out.  We just laughed while we did it - poor wedding planner.  We had all brothers and sisters as bridesmaids and groomsmen, with Stacey as a Junior bm, 2 nephews for ring bearers and 4 cuties (incl Amie and Lisie) for flower girls.  They were delighted and played their part well.  Afterward, we went for lunch and after much debate and some interfamily drama (you know weddings,) we decided on Olive Garden.  I was glad Jeff got to snag some To-Go before he jetted off to work. It was a large group and as always, delicious, and then the ladies headed for pedicures!
It was quite a busy day at the salon, so we kinda took our turns getting helped.  I got my toes done in wedding blue, and was wanting to do my fingers for the first time ever, but I had to run some people around on deadlines.  I wanted Amie and Lisie to both get their fingers and toes done, but they ended up only getting one too.  I felt really really bad because we started Amelie on fingers, then didn't have time for toes and she was the only one who didn't get a turn in the special chair. :(  Alisa was totally terrified and screamed through her very minimalistic pedicure.  Thankfully, Aunt Melissa helped out with that, as mom was trapped.  We'll have to go back when it's a very special day.

On my birthday a few years ago, we started doing sister breakfasts, and Mal wanted to have one the morning of her wedding.  We ended up all just meeting at mom's for crepes (yum!) and a little hang out time, with a few more than just the sisters to join us.  I had Lisie with me, but had to jet in time to pick up Amelie from her first day of preschool.  I really love those informal hagout times with the fam - I have a fun one!

Mal Weddin! - The shower

My little muffin sister Mallory got married last month to her boyfriend of a billion years, Travis. :)  I threw her a bridal shower with some help from Jaimie and mom.  We decided to go with the theme of "Hot and Spicy."  OF COURSE the SD card did not make it back into my camera before then, so I have NO pics.  Even the ones off my phone are gone since the charging port broke on that.
So, we held it at a park (cause we wanted to do fireworks... but we never found any good ones that early in the season) and I pretty much just made all the food.  We had buffalo wings, kielbasa skewers, stuffed jalapenos, chips and salsa, flamin fries, cinnamon bears, red hots... I know what you're thinking, too much spice? That's why we had milk, chocolate milk, and a load of TUMS.  We had spice cupcakes for dessert.

We did a Name That Spice, and the clothespin game, as well as Mad Lib vows (that was my favorite part).  Game prizes were the hot and spiciest novels I could find (haha!) and favors were a bottle of hot sauce and some sparklers.  Kids got sparklers and pop-its.  We had red, black, chili pepper decor, and the wind was out of control! At one point, we ended up clipping and tying all the gifts down so they wouldn't blow away with everything else.  Finally, I made a "Hot and Spicy" apron for Mal that we had everyone sign with a paint pen.  We had a good turn out and I thought it was pretty fun.  Mal got some super cute goodies and a nice kitchen haul.

Stay tuned for more wedding goodness!

Tidbits

I finally got a video of Amelie's dance performance - except after numerous tries, I still haven't been able to load it.  She had her last performance a month ago. She loves that class, but as mom, it's been nice to have a little break!  Here's the cuteness - Amie's a few from the left - with pics from various performances.

It also occurs to me I skipped Mother's Day in the blog (harder to man the camera and all that) but I definitely do not want to give the impression that I didn't fully love and appreciate what my family did for me!  So again, no pics, but I got super spoiled with my favorite breakfast in bed that morning (skillets - Jeff did an awesome job!) I actually woke before he brought it, but it is totally a gift to get ready on Sunday at my own pace and even got to start the day with some Book of Mormon.  I was given loooooots of gifts - candy ("from the boy") 3 awesome girlie movies, "Mom" jewelry that Amie picked out and the memory foam pillow I've been coveting forever.
At church, we were given the Gospel Art Kit - a unique gift, I thought it was good. Then, afterward we swung by Chris' to give her the photo magnets we got for her, and I got a gorgeous hanging plant, then on to my mom's (same gift) for dinner.

Being a mom is totally the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever done.  I'm terribly excited to be having another child and add a completely different dimension to the crazy mix. Thanks lovies!

Happy Father's Day Jeffrey!

This year for Father's Day, Jeff had to work and we were going to have some visitors, so we took advantage of a rare free Saturday evening to have our celebration with him. We got the presents ready while dad got ready, and the girls thought it would be great to surprise him.

(That says "You're the bomb!" Cause he is.)

Then we went out to dinner, at Dad's choice, Red Robin. There was a carnival going on in the parking lot, so we stopped in for a sec.

Lookclosely at that happy, smiley face Lisie's got, cause you'll notice...

It did not last.  And there are no more pictures of her because she wouldn't ride after that! (She would've once with dad, but they would not let adults on the kid rides.)

Amie loved the rides!
In the morning on Father's Day, of course we made him breakfast in bed, and gave him the last of the FD spoils.

It says "Most Marvelous Dad."  He proudly wore it all day at church and got lots of jealous remarks.  We sure love our dad.  We get the unique opportunity to celebrate him in May and in June, and it gives us a good chance to really spoil and think about why he's so great.  We are lucky to have him!

Funny Things the North's Say, 3

Amie and Lisie have this little game, where they just look at each other and sing la-la, la-la, la-la, kinda dancey, and then they laugh their heads off, thinking it's hilarious.  (It is hilarious to watch.)
The other day, Alisa when up to Amelie...
Lise: la-la la-la la-la la-la
Amie: Lisa, I don't have time to play la-la, I'm doing my biking skills.

Amelie: Mom, the good news is, you're beautiful.  The bad news is, I don't like time outs.

Mom: Lisie, come here, you've got a booger.
Alisa: No!
M: I've gotta get it!
A: No, I get it!
M: OK, you get it.
(gets it successfully... examines... sticks it in her mouth.)
M: Ew, Sis, that's caca!  Yuck!
A: Mmmmmm, that's yummy!

Preschool!

Amelie has been long-registered to start preschool at Challenger school this coming fall, and she is anticipating it with excitement.  A few days ago, though, we got a flyer saying that the elementary school across the street will have free summer preschool for 3 weeks in June.  We thought why not - it's across the street, free, and just 3 weeks.  So we enrolled her, and yesterday was her first day.

She wore her favorite hearts outfit and a Dora backpack (which was kinda fitting since she was the only white kid in her class :) ) with a notebook, pencil and water. Halfway to school we had to check and make sure her pencil was ok.


She was so dang adorable all morning, and while walking there, she was singing a song about her first day of preschool.  Once we got to the school, we waited and had to have someone show us around back, and the whole time walking around back, she was just giggling to herself, and then said "I'm so excited!!!!" (Or maybe I'm so exciting, sometimes she says that instead.) 

When I picked her up, she was a Smiley Sue and sang all the way home, too.  I didn't get a ton by way of report, but she did say that she sat on orange on the rug, had goldfish for a snack and had to walk all the way around the school to play on the playground.  She can already recognize her name, though, even though literally half the class have names that begin with A.

Can't believe how grown up she is, not to mention cute!