Youth Group Stake Activities...

In our plans for Stake Girls Camp this July, our presidency decided to do an activity with each of the 11 wards in our stake, so the girls would know us better and we could get to know them better before camp. Hoping that first day of awkward moments being separated from your ward won't be so difficult when you know more people. It's about 220 girls ages 12-18.

I am horrible with names so I thought I better start compiling a book of pictures to go with those names... I will probably be doing flash card family nights the entire week before camp, knowing me. But hopefully these Wednesday night activities will help.

We learned some embarrasing new information on some of the leaders, that would include a certain skating birthday party when she was in the 5th grade and a certain pair of pants that ripped up the back seam when she fell in front of the cutest boy at her party....

(I was dying for her all over again... good thing we can laugh at ourselves when we get older)

We laughed at each other, and shared some really unique traits.

(like Emily's love of speaking in a british accent - jolly good!)

One of the games included having to eat a piece of gum everytime you guessed a wrong answer about someone else. Some mouth's were getting really full...

plenty of popping and snapping....

we learned of some unique talents... like wedding planning for cats ???

and that allot of us are very uncoordinated.... and she met Donny and Marie Osmond when she was 16...

(even her two girls with us didn't know that little tidbit of information...)

But a good time was had by all... and only 123 days left until camp!

The Engagement Photo Shoot...

I made it through the photo shoot yesterday... hopefully the happy couple will have something they can use. They wanted their invitation picture to be black and white to match the colors, so I have converted most of them over digitally for that purpose. We ended up with almost 100 shots. It was challenging, with the rain on and off and on again. Also challenging was that the groom is 6'5" and the bride is 5'2"... so I tried to come prepared with poses for them to try as to NOT make her look like a little child.

These were some of my favorites... but both "my boys" picked totally different ones and didn't like these at all... so now I am second guessing if there were really any good ones that the bride will like.

It was a great experience, and I love photography... I want to keep learning and developing that into hopefully a talent someday, at the very least a more persued hobby.

1st year on the golf team....

The teenager has played baseball since he was 5 years old... I have hours and hours and discs and discs full of baseball games and pictures. We spent so much time with him at the baseball field and traveling to tournaments, it's crazy when I think back on it, but we all LOVE baseball.

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This year, he decided to try out for the high school golf team. The season runs the same time as baseball, so he had to make a hard decision because he loves both. But in the end golf won him over. He made the team... whew! But there are many boys playing that were on the team last year, so he knew he would have to earn his way up the ladder to get to play in tournaments.

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His first tournament was yesterday... his coach called him on Sunday to let him know he was playing on Monday and we didn't know at the time, if it was because everyone one else was in a body cast or he had earned the spot, it really didn't matter at that point... he was in the tournament!!!

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We found out later that his practice scores from last week were good enough to earn him the slot to play on Monday, so that was cool. He was sooooo excited! I have had golf gear in my living room, cleaning, organizing, practicing putting... it has been nuts for the past 24 hours with anticipation.

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He got his team shirt at school on Monday... very nice, and I am so excited they are not white!!! YIPEEE... I have been cleaning grass stains out of white baseball pants for way longer than I care to remember, so this is a really big deal for me!!!

When we arrived at the golf course, the competition was already there warming up on the putting green. So there was no way he was going to stop and let me get a picture of the new team shirt. But half the fun is teasing Mom and not letting her get any good pictures... I can see him grinning as he turns away telling me "NO, GO AWAY"!! I will interpret that as "I love you Mom, see ya" and not get my feelings hurt!!!
And I never realized what making the golf team would mean for us parents... it's not a big spectator sport at the high school level... so if I want any pictures... it would have to be at stalking distance from the car. So here he is with the competition, on the putting green warming up.
The new team shirts... they are so sharp!
And the happy teenager after the game. He really did have a great time... that's what he told me! He didn't play well, because he was sooooo nervous with every one's eyes on him. But he said he made some nice friends from his rival school, nice kids, with good golf etiquette. And he was really excited to play again... hoping he can earn another tournament spot before the season is over.

No common sense without Dad...

My teenager has reached a point where he doesn't listen to me anymore, and his Dad seems to be the only one who can reach him and put some common sense into his head. So with his Dad out of town for a few days, he is really something.

I really have to chose my battles with him, and decide what is really really important, otherwise I am nagging and yelling at him constantly for EVERYTHING!!!

Our precious little puppy Taylor had gotten a little anxious one afternoon over the dogs next door, and broke through the fence to go visit them. My Strong silent mysterious man mended the fence back so it was breakout proof. So the next day while trying to get a better view at those pups next door, sticking her head through the fence that doesn't give anymore, she ended up rubbing all the black hair off of a spot above her eye. Not a big deal, it didn't break the skin or anything. But her skin underneath her fur is white... so it looks like she has something white by her eye.

The teenager as easy going as he is, became very annoyed with her discoloration and decided he could fix her right up until the hair grew back.

I couldn't get her to sit still long enough for a picture (4 months old she is a ball of fire now), but this was his solution.

It actually worked... you can't even see her little scar now. I just hope she doesn't get blood poisoning or anything worse.

Dad hurry home... your teenager is outta control, he knows everything and I can't tell him anything!

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Oh ~ and in response to my last post... they were not plotting against me! My strong silent mysterious man thought it was sweet that all his "girls" were crashed in bed together piled up on each other, so he went and got the camera and took a picture of the moment.

How sweet is that? and who is that man?