We had a ladies lunch to celebrate Jenna McGowan. Her family moved to Quincy, Illinois, so we got together for a lunch at Julio's. It was fun to visit with everyone and get to have lunch again. I miss those lunches with my friends since I'm not available during the day anymore because of work. This is Holly, Toni, Jenna, Audrey, me, and Kristina.
We were actually in El Paso for the 4th of July this year. Because of the girls' church camps and school workouts, we weren't able to travel to Utah like we normally do. So while the older girls were gone to FSY, the rest of us walked in the 4th of July parade for Tony's dental practice, Agave Dental. Aubrey wanted to dress up as the tooth, so the kids thought it would be fun as well.
We passed out otter pop popsicles as we walked along with the decorated truck. It was fun to see people we knew. I had to take pictures of Tessa's drumline friends since she wasn't there to see them. We saw Gisele and her family and also Steven and Josh. Aubrey loved being the tooth because everyone wanted their picture with her. She said she felt like a celebrity.
We walked with Grandma V and the Kasallis family. Verna and I loved all the corvettes that were in line behind us in the parade. We took a picture before we started on the route.
Since Aubrey wouldn't give up being the tooth, Sam decided to be the toothbrush. They looked cute together and they walked the entire way, so they took the chance to sit while we got into position to start the parade route. After the parade, we went with the Kasallis family to Top Golf and had fun golfing. We had a good time and it was nice to have a little vacation while at home.
We sent the teenagers off to Arizona for FSY - For the Strength of Youth. It's the new church camps like EFY, but for everyone. Our stake went to FSY in Thatcher, AZ at Easter Arizona College. As a part of the stake YW presidency, I helped organize the youth and we made sure they got on the buses and headed on their way. I also made sure to get pictures of the girls with their friends before they boarded the buses.
Since I wasn't at FSY, I only got to hear about it from the girls, but they had a great time and made sure to take a lot of pictures which I love. They sent me their favorites and so I've included some of them here so we'll have them to remember. This was Abby's group. She roomed with Anna Dixon and they had a great time. There weren't a lot of older kids, so even though they normally split the youth up between over 16 and under 16, they didn't get to do that this time. She said she was one of the oldest ones in her group and almost all of the boys were in the 14-15 year old range. Besides the lack of older boys, she still had a great time making friends and getting spiritually fed.
Abby did say she got to know a lot of the kids in our own stake a lot better which she enjoyed. A lot of those kids came back talking about how awesome Abby was, so she was definitely a good example and a light to all the youth in her group and at FSY overall.
Abby and Tessa were in different companies, but they still did see each other around the campus. They even sang together in the talent show. Tessa played the ukulele and they sang a duet together. They sang Count on Me. They didn't get a very good recording of it, but I heard from a lot of people that it sounded really good and it was one of the best acts.
Here are pictures from Tessa's group. She roomed with Audrey Pierce and they had so much fun. They've become really close friends since spending that week together. Tessa helped design and draw their company's banner, so she was very proud of that.
Here's Tessa with her three counselors. I love sending the girls to camps like this because not only do they grow spiritually and make new friends, but it also really pushes them outside of their comfort zone - especially people like Tessa who can be shy when she's around people she's not comfortable with. She came home with lots of stories of how much fun she had, so I know it was a great experience for her.
One of the nights while the girls were at FSY, we made one of their favorite meals, enchiladas; so we hade to take a picture and share it with them. They were sad that we ate it without them, but they were happy to hear that we had made enough to save some for when they got home. During the summer we went and visited Abby at her work, Formula. She made Tessa one of their fancy ice cream desserts and Tessa wanted a picture because it was so pretty.
Aubrey was able to participate in a dance camp that the school district put on during the summer. It was free, but she was only able to attend one day since it was held the same week as Girls Camp. The district posted some pictures, so even though I didn't get to see Aubrey perform anything, I was able to find her in this picture they posted from their rehearsal that first day.
I helped drive up YCLs to girls camp. They go a day early to help set up camp and get ready for all of the young women campers. I gave a spiritual thought to the YCLs before we left the stake center and we had fun on the drive up to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. I didn't get any pictures while it was just the YCLs since we were all busy setting up the lodge and preparing activities and campsites; but once the rest of the girls made it up there, I was able to be there for the first full day of campers and get lots of pictures. Aubrey's 2nd year girls did a dance and skit that was really cute. And I was able to get a picture of most of the girls from our ward. Here's Anna, Aubrey, Braelinn, Sy, and Abby.
There was a Photo Booth that I made sure to get some pictures at before I headed back down the mountain to go home. I wasn't able to stay the whole week because I couldn't miss that much work. But I was happy that I got to be there for the time that I was. Tessa wasn't able to attend camp at all because of drumline and cross country practices. Abby was super sad because she decided to be a YCL of the 4th years because she wanted to be Tessa's YCL.
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