June 2021, Part 2 - Girls Camp

Our ward’s Girls Camp was held in June the week after the end of school. The Young Women’s president planned it all with the help of the YCLs (youth camp leaders). I was asked to be the camp cook so I was able to go and be there for the whole week too. They got an AirBnB in Anthony, Texas which was a guest house on a ranch. They planned on doing activities on the property, camp in tents, hike in the area, and learn about the farm animals that are there. The leaders and the YCLs went up the first day to set up camp. Here are the YCLs - Eve, Anna, Abby, Braelinn, and Devry.

 

All the plans got changed that first day. The girls and leaders spent the first couple hours setting up tents only to be told by the owners that workers were going to be there with large equipment to lay down gravel all over the property. They were behind schedule which was why they were having to do it while we were there, but our leaders were pretty upset because we didn’t think we could have all of these activities with young teenage girls while huge construction vehicles were roaming around. So they moved all of the tents only to be told that they’d wait until we were gone for the workers to come. The other big issue we had was the ground. It was basically sand, so trying to stake tents in the ground was not working. The ground was not sturdy enough to hold anything down, but the girls did their best and got four tents up before the other campers showed up at lunch time. Each girl was in charge of a class through the week and Abby started by teaching all the girls the camp songs. Here’s a picture of Abby teaching the girls and one of all of the girls that came to camp.

Another unexpected event that happened on day one was the goats. The owners of the property have a bunch of farm animals including goats. The goats were free-roaming which we didn’t know was going to be the case. They were mostly friendly but there was one goat that would kind of chase you around. Usually it would stop when it got near you and if you pet it, it just stood there. However, that first night the girls were “playing” with this particular goat and getting it to chase them, which was fine until it started chasing Aubrey who didn’t want to be chased. She started running away and the goat just kept chasing her. It ended up ramming her in the side and knocking her to the ground. It did it multiple times as she would get up, try to run away, and then get knocked down again. She was screaming for help, but the other leaders were too far away to be much help. I was inside trying to prepare dinner, so I had no idea what was going on. Aubrey finally got away with Sis Kener’s help, and made it into the house. She had scraps on her ankles and huge bruises on her hip from where the goat kept ramming into her. She was crying and begging to go home, but after some ice and rest, she was ok with staying. After dinner the girls did some skits with props and idea suggestions of characters and scenes. The girls were very creative and did a great job. They liked it so much, they played a second round with new teams and new props. Aubrey’s team even replayed the goat ramming incident in one their skits, so that helped Aubrey cheer up even more.

Here’s one of Abby’s skit groups. They all had a lot of fun and did a great job coming up with fun and silly skits. Another game that the girls played a lot all throughout the week of camp was Big Booty. They all played it together which was a great bonding activity for them to do without excluding anyone. They all had fun playing it and they played any time they had enough free time to circle up and get it started.

 

Another animal on the property was the peacock. They had a male and female peacock, but the male peacock was everywhere. It was pretty cool to see him and his feathers whenever he opened them up, but he was the loudest animal you’ve every heard. He cawed and called all day and all night long. And it was loud! The first night of camp was the only night we got to have a campfire. We built up the fire pit and had s’mores around the fire. The girls told scary stories and they practiced the dances they had learned earlier in the day. The little barn behind the girls in this picture is where they keep their chickens, roosters, and rabbits. We got to see and feed them later in the week.

 

The girls did multiple crafts during camp. They made Endure to the End arrows which was the theme of the camp. They got to paint and mod-podge the arrows, glue on the pieces, and add the vinyl letters. Another craft was a painting craft where the girls used sticks and q-tips to paint lavender flowers. 

 

Tessa actually taught the painting class and she did a great job explaining what to do and showing the girls  the steps. The girls got to choose what color to use for the flowers, so they were all the same picture, but very unique. Aubrey’s class was to teach the girls line dancing. They were good students and listened to her as she taught them dances that they mostly already knew, but they let her be in charge and she did a great job taking the lead and teaching them the steps. 

 

We spent the majority of the time in the covered patio. Abby had decorated the area with the big colored lanterns and it was the coolest spot since it was shady even though it still was very hot every day. There also were a ton of flies, which made eating outside difficult. After the first couple of meals, we started eating inside to try and stay clear of the flies. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking and preparing the food, but a lot of that time was actually spent swatting and killing flies trying to keep them out of the house. We had other crazy events happen dealing with the food. The grill on their patio was actually filled with old oil or grease or something because the first dinner was supposed to be hamburgers. Tyler was there for camp as the priesthood leader and he was in charge of grilling the burgers. As he was cooking the burgers, the flames came up and a fire started in the grill. Tyler ended up having to unhook the propane tank and pull the entire grill out and away from the covered patio and wooden half wall because we were afraid it was going to catch their house on fire. Our burgers were ruined so we had to quickly readjust and cook the rest of the meat inside on griddles and in pans. Another funny food story happened the next morning when I was trying to bake muffins. I turned on the oven to preheat and it started smoking too. Apparently whoever used the grill and left it full of grease must of used the oven too because it smoked and smoked like it was full of grease as well. The entire house was smoky and we ended up opening windows and doors to try and get the smoke cleared out. 

More crazy events included the tents. Remember how the ground was sandy and the stakes didn’t hold the tents down? Well, the first night as the girls slept in their tents, it got really, really windy. That wind caused the tents to blow around and basically flip over. That first night, some of the tents held, but the YCLs tent didn’t make it and they ended up sleeping in the living room of the house. It really was a comedy of errors when it came to the tent situation. But then to add to that, the smoking appliances, which  caused the girls to wake up to a smoking house was just too crazy after getting blown around from their unsteady tents. It was just so wild all the bad stuff that just kept happening to change our original plans. But we made the best of it. On the second day, the girls were supposed to do farm chores with the owners, but they never showed, so after waiting for awhile, we decided to move on with our schedule which was a hike. I took a picture of all the girls while we prepared to leave for the hike.

The hike was uneventful once we got going, but it did take us awhile to get started. We walked to the edge of their property which backed up to BLM land, but their gate was locked or so we thought. We stood around trying to decide if we were going to have to climb the fence that was topped with barbed wire when someone finally tried the lock at the gate and realized that it wasn’t actually locked. So after a 10-15 minute delay, we finally headed off on the hike. The girls did good hiking without too much complaining. We basically hiked for 30 minutes one way and then turned around to hike back for another 30 minutes. The view was beautiful and we kept looking at a hill in the distance and saying “we’ll just head to that hill and see how long it takes to get there.” It was a fun, easy hike. We saw a horse carcass and some broken, abandoned egg shells, but that was pretty much it. The girls chatted as we hiked and we all had a good time.

 

That afternoon, the owners’ kids came out and showed us all of their farm animals and let us help feed them. We saw the roaming goats and the rabbits and chickens that I already mentioned. We also got to see pigs, a cow, a deer, sheep, and horses. The goats followed us everywhere since we had bags of food to give all of the animals. Here’s everyone as we saw the animals and learned about them and got to feed them.

Here’s a picture of Tessa with most of the YCLs: Devry, Abby, Tessa, Anna, and Eve. The sunset and sky was really pretty this day too. Audrey, who just weeks before this was called as the new Stake Young Women’s President, came for most of the days of camp and just helped where needed. We took a picture together with the pretty sunset behind us.

 

They also had llamas and alpacas, a male and female of each. They were closest to where we hung out by the house. Their fenced area was right next to the covered patio where we ate and had our classes. They were another reason why there were so many flies around. We liked this selfie with the alpacas in the background. I also had to keep this one I was taking of the alpaca because Abby’s face is just so hilarious.

They had some full size horses and also some ponies. They use the ponies for parties and little wagon rides. The owners let the girls go into the pony pens to feed and pet them. Here’s Anna with Tessa and Aubrey as they got to go in the pen to pet the pony. He was a pretty pony. And one more picture of the alpacas all on their own. They were the coolest animals to see, but we had to keep our distance because the owners kept warning us that they are pretty mean. We just took our pictures from afar, but they were fun to watch.

 

Audrey helped me with most of the meals. She was my sous-chef. We worked on a spaghetti sauce one night and we had a little issue with the can opener. She was trying to get the lid off of a tomato sauce can and it just popped off and splattered everywhere. It was on her face, in her hair, all over her clothes, and all over the kitchen. We laughed and laughed, took a picture, and then cleaned up the mess. We made a crockpot spaghetti and meatballs and it was yummy. All the girls loved it. Another camp adventure besides the wind was the rain. We had this random rainstorm on our second night, so the girls quickly ran out to the tents, brought in all of their duffle bags and belongings and stuffed the tents in cars to try and keep them from washing away. Now everyone was in the house instead of the tents, so we separated the girls by year and had them sleep in the bedrooms, living room and dining room. Here are most of the girls as they came into the house drenched from the rain that probably only lasted like 10 minutes, but it was a lot of rain and the girls got stuck in it as they hauled out their belongings.

On our final full day the girls were able to spend some relaxing free time in the pool. We debated going back to town to swim in the Anderson’s pool since this pool was kind of cloudy, but that would have taken over an hour in travel time, so the girls decided to just enjoy the water that was there. They played games, did dances, and just had fun in the water. 

 

We took pictures in their camp shirts which were color coded by camp years. This mauve color was for the YCLs. These girls did such a great job leading the other girls and really taking charge of the classes and activities. They were great at making the girls feel included and having a great time.

 

Tessa was one of three 3rd years. She, Rachel, and Olivia were the 3rd years. Rachel was visiting for the summer so she was new to our ward, but the girls included her like she’d been in the ward forever. They had a fun time learning about each other and helping the younger girls stay focused and on task.

 

Aubrey was one of three 1st years. It was her first year of girls camp with Rianne and Amber. They loved learning the camp songs and being involved in everything. Besides the goat incident, Aubrey had a great camp experience.

Lola was the only 2nd year, so she had her own colored shirt, but here are all the girls from camp from the Mesa ward. These girls were great and I loved being a part of it.

We had to get a leader’s picture too. From left to right it’s: Tyler, me, Niki, Audrey, Kristina, Emily, and Susie. Tyler, Kristina, Emily, and I were the leaders that were there for the entire week. The other ladies drove back and forth and came when they could or when they didn’t have work. It was a great group of people to work with.

We planned a service project while on the property. Kristina talked to the owners to see what we could do for service. We ended up clearing brush from a large area, so we were clearing branches, dead cacti, rocks, and weeds from their main area. Here’s Abby with Rachel and Amber as they cleared out branches. You can see all of the sandy ground behind the girls. This is where the tents had been located until they were blown over and rained on. All of the girls were good about doing the hard labor service project. They all worked together and accomplished the project in a timely manner.

The main activity of the camp was an Amazing Race theme obstacle course to go along with the camp theme of Endure to the End. Kristina planned different puzzles or obstacles in each “continent” for the girls to complete as they competed. The girls were put into three groups of four. Here are two of the teams, the ones with my girls in them. Abby and Aubrey were with Braelinn and Rachel. And Tessa was with Lola, Amber, and Eve.

 

Kristina had even found the Amazing Race envelopes for the teams to tear open to get their clues at each stop. Here are the three teams as they started off on the race. They did different obstacles like shooting slingshots, building a raft to carry a teammate, digging for puzzle pieces to solve a cryptogram, and using teamwork to pass water from a bucket to a tube at the other end of the line. The girls were good sports and they had fun racing and trying to get through all of the obstacles as fast as they could. The most funny story of the race was at the obstacle where I was. The leaders had mounded up some of the sand by the fence and buried bags of puzzle pieces that the teams had to dig around and find to solve the puzzle. The owners were around doing work too and at one point they saw our kids digging in the sand and they tried telling us that wasn’t a good idea. We kept saying, “it’s okay. We buried stuff here.” And then they told us where we were digging was where they buried their family pets. It was basically their pet cemetery. He mostly spoke Spanish so we had a little language barrier, but we figured it out and decided to not tell the girls about it until it was all over. It was another funny story to tell about this year’s girls camp.

Even with all of the unknown adventures that occurred, we still called our girls camp a success. On the last night, the bishop joined us for dinner and devotional. After his devotional we had a testimony meeting. Most girls bore their testimonies and everyone felt the spirit so strongly. They were crying and hugging and sharing their feelings about how they know they’re daughters of God and loved by a Heavenly Father. It was a great experience to see three of my daughters have such a spiritual experience together. These young women are great girls and they became very close during this week of classes, activities, service, and work. I was happy to be a part of it.

June 2021, Part 1 - End of School, Albuquerque Temple Trips

I worked on a quilt for one of Abby’s volleyball teammates, Sophie, who turned 16 in June. Her mom brought over all of her old t-shirts so I could turn them into a quilt. I worked on it for a couple of weeks and I had Abby hold it up for a picture before I delivered it to Sophie’s mom. They were super excited about it and they loved how it turned out. Abby helped me with the layout of the shirts and she helped me pick out the back fleece material to make sure it was fit for a teenager. I loved how it turned out as well.

 

Our stake had its seminary graduation in June. They spotlighted the seniors, but they had all the seminary students come up and receive their certificate for the year, so Abby went up with the other sophomores. We took some pictures after it was over. Here’s Abby with her friend Celeste, the one senior girl from our ward. And another picture of Abby with Gracie and Amelia, two of her friends from another ward.

 

The girls’ last day of school was June 15th. We took the obligatory pictures outside our house. It was such a late end to the year. We’ve never gone to the middle of June before, so the girls were done with school and ready for the summer. Here’s Aubrey and Abby on their final day of 6th and 10th grades. 

 

Here’s Tessa on her last day of 8th grade and one of the three girls together. Abby had already left for school, so I didn’t get a picture of all four of them.

Here’s Taryn’s last day of 3rd grade picture. Luckily, I was able to get a few pictures from Taryn’s teacher, Mrs. Orton, that she took on the last day of school. I was very happy to have a picture of Taryn with her teacher to keep.

 

Tessa had an eventful last day of school. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the usual 8th grade celebration events didn’t get to happen. We didn’t get to do an 8th grade party or an 8th grade graduation like they normally would have done. Tessa did find out during the last week of school that she was awarded the spirit award in band. She got a medal and her name was engraved on their plaque that stays in the band hall. She was very excited to get the award and to be recognized for the hard work and dedication that she’s put into the three years of band at the school. On her last day of school, I asked Tessa to get a picture by the school sign since it was her final day there.

 

The school posted some of their signs on social media, so I saved the pictures to remember Tessa’s school. They had the Congrats Tornados sign right outside their parking lot and the Class of 2021 sign right outside the main entrance doors.

 

Even though they didn’t have a typical graduation or celebration, they did plan a drive by parade. I was at work so I didn’t get to see it myself, but Tessa met up with some friends and I got some pictures from other parents. Tessa was in the back of the pickup trip with her friends and they took water balloons and water guns to spray the teachers as they went through the parade. They had a lot of fun.

Tessa also spent the first couple weeks of June going to drumline practices at Franklin. She wanted to audition for the marching band and they had to audition on the snare drum and marimba to determine if they made the drumline (marching) or the frontline (pit). She was very nervous about the audition, but she went in there and played her best. She found out a couple days later that she had made the drumline. She was so excited because even though she loves playing the marimba, she really wanted to be able to march. The band directors at Franklin are new this year and in the past Freshmen weren’t even allowed on the drumline. Tessa was the only Freshmen who made the drumline this year, so we like to say that she’s the first ever Freshman on the Franklin drumline. Either way, we’re super proud of her. She practiced a ton for her audition and she’s been working really hard ever since to keep up with all the new things she’s been learning.

 

We participated in a lemonade stand that the Activity Day kids put on from our ward. We were all so excited for summer. The kids love to get together and play. Audrey caught these kids playing and took this picture while they climbed on each other.

 

In June, we scheduled an appointment to go to the Albuquerque temple. We haven’t been able to go to the temple in over a year, so it was so great to be back at the temple. We went with the Kasallis family and the kids got to do baptisms. Tyler ended up staying home with Taryn and Teagan because he was not feeling well. He and the three older girls had gotten the second dose of their vaccination the night before, and it had really taken a toll on Tyler. He was not up for the four hour drive, so he stayed home and slept while the rest of us headed to Albuquerque.

We got there early enough to take some pictures before our scheduled appointment time, so I got some with the girls in front of the temple and then some of just Aubrey since it was her first time getting to go to the temple to do baptisms. 

Ryan and Brandon Marshall came along too, so we had a lot of young men there to do the temple work. Everyone brought their own family names and they were able to do 5-6 baptisms each.

We took more pictures after our appointment up closer to the temple. I got a picture of myself with the girls and then one with Aubrey and Sam after their first time serving in the temple.

 

This was the first time I had been to the Albuquerque temple, so I wanted pictures of everyone. Here’s Abby and Tessa in front of the temple.

 

We took some pictures by the water fountain too. We loved how they turned out with the sun setting behind us. 

 

We had an amazing time and were so happy to be back in the temple. I’m so grateful to know that families can be together forever and I love my family very much. 

I’m also so thankful for good friends. We love being able to go to the temple together. And I love how my girls have these boys to grow up with who are like brothers to them. I love these pictures.

We took some more pictures of the kids with their friends. Here are the older teenagers: AJ, Abby, and Brandon. And then one of the younger teenagers: Logan, Tessa, and Ryan.

We asked one of the temple ground workers to take a picture of our entire group. It was a great experience. I love the temple.

The following weekend, our ward had scheduled a temple trip at Albuquerque too. Tyler and I went with one other adult leader and 9 youth from our ward. I was happy to have Tyler with us this time and the kids had a great time. I took another picture of Aubrey by the temple, from a side view and we took one with all of the youth who came on the trip. We stopped by Five Guys for dinner before heading home. We have a great youth group and we’re happy to help them serve in the temple.