Girls Camp Overnighter

This past Thursday our Young Women had an overnighter to celebrate the last day of school and to take care of some of the Certification prior to heading off to Girls Camp in late June. Here are a few of the girls as we begin the hike to our campsite.

We stopped along the way at the boat dock to eat our lunches.

Once at camp, the first order of the day was to gather firewood. Here are Alexis and Ruby using their heads--or their feet--to move a log along.

The wind was blowing fiercely and it took several tries to get a fire started. We used vaseline on cotton balls, as well as flint & steel to make a spark--but couldn't get it to "take" until we used matches. We made a windbreak with our bodies to try to get that spark come to life.

We had the most posh of conditions at the location of our "sweet biffy!" The pink toilet seat was a real HIT!!

Along toward evening, the breeze across the water chilled us all. Here are two adorable girls huddled together, sharing a blanket and pondering the beauty of the Mighty Mississippi.

The campfire was great, but too dark for pictures. I'm not sure how many hours of sleep anyone indulged in, but they all look a little groggy first thing in the morning sunshine!

Things didn't brighten up too much, even with breakfast to cheer us!

These three, Elle, Katrina and London, are NOT sun worshippers--they are just EXHAUSTED!

We had a terrific time! Thanks to all whose time was invested to make our Pre-Camp so successful.

ROSES!

This morning I was practicing the piano for a number to accompany two of "my girls" for Seminary Graduation next week. The doorbell rang, and a woman stood at the door holding out a bouquet of colorful spring flowers. On reading the card, though, I had to send her to deliver them to the correct recipient--the flowers were for Pat Moon, my next door neighbor. I sighed inwardly to see their brightness walk down my steps.

But a couple of hours later the UPS truck drove into our cul-de-sac and stopped at our house. The long green box was from Pro Flowers--a very recognizable presentation, since that's the company Jeff used to send me flowers while I've been away in Provo at BYU.

These roses are FOR ME, from Valerie and Janyse. Happy Mother's Day!!! I didn't tell anyone (except Marci saw the small box) that chocolates accompanied the flowers. I am going to indulge myself without sharing a single one! Thank you, sweet daughters, for your thoughtfulness.

Flowers!

When we lived in Redmond, every Mother's Day I asked for (and got--since I DID THE SHOPPING!) annuals to plant in the front of my house. This year, true to form, I have planted 40 or more impatiens and other colorful flowers in planters on both sides of our front steps.
Imagine my surprise when I drove into the driveway one day and saw that I had a Bleeding Heart plant near my house. You recall that last year I was away at BYU during this season of the year and I totally missed this beautiful bush.

I remember someone in Manti having this Bleeding Heart flower growing in her yard, and I LOVED this flower. It instantly took me back to being a small girls in a small town.

We have Hosta which will sprout a very TALL flower later in the season.

These starts will blossom into a flower that is periwinkle in color--with a pentagon shaped blossom that looks like a mylar balloon--and then it opens up into a five-petaled flower.

Finally, lest you think my flower beds are weed-free, I purposely included this dandelion next to another plant. In spite of my taking a tool to purge those hearty weeds from my garden!

I love to see the flowers brighten my front yard. I'll shoot photos again when the impatiens and dianthus have grown a bit more!

Mormon Prom

Our cover photo is of the Seven Nauvoo Beauties who broke the hearts of hundreds of Missouri young men when they returned home on Saturday. Before the dance in Columbia, we see: Ande, Natasha, Alexis, Sarah, Amber, Bryce and Amanda. We drove two cars (both Nauvoo Ward YW Presidents--I followed Lisa who had GPS in her Prius!) and spent a fabulous time together, connected by walkie talkies. Such a giggly, hyper group, and So Much Fun!
At the entrance to the dance, our Beauties pose under the balloon arch.
Eventually we met up with the three "guys" from our ward: Josh, Rick & Joseph. They truly are not as serious as this pose would suggest!
The back view of Bryce's beautiful dress--she looked MARVELOUS (though she really wasn't feeling very well!)
And the back view of Amber's lovely gown. Aren't they all the picture of modesty and virtue?
Close-ups of the four girls from Nauvoo 1st Ward: Ande
Amber and Bryce
Amber and Amanda (catching them "normal" is difficult--silly is always fun!)
And one shot of the driver taken from the back seat as we pulled away from the gas station. The ride home was much more mellow, with about an hour spent joining Inside Out in many successive renditions of "I'm Peanut Butter and You Are Jelly" and "Once There Was a Snowman." The girls may decide to choose one of those for our upcoming Lip Sync night!
I'd go again. Loss of sleep and 24 hours away from home is more than made up by the closeness developed with "my" girls. Working in Young Women is THE BEST!!!

What Have I Been Up To?

You'd think I could come up with some great topic to blog about--but my thinker's sore. I seem to run constantly but am I making any progress? Here are a few things I have been filling up my hours with lately:

1. I watched 8 hours of General Conference on Saturday and Sunday....does that count for anything? Probably not, since many others did exactly that

2. I got out the crystal, china, linens and silver to feed four Priests and Laurels a nice dinner this evening. I purposely made the menu to consist of things a little difficult to eat (Chicken Parmesan over angel hair, and cream puffs) and set the table with multiple forks and spoons. We had a great time taking some dating/etiquette quizzes during the main course. The YM president wore a towel over his arm and was the waiter while I put food onto the plates. It turned out fabulously!

3. I have made it to the Temple AS A PATRON 14 times already this year, as well as spending each Saturday from 5:45 am until 2:30 pm there as a worker. Add to that the time spent making the schedule and you will know that my heart is full to the brim with Temple Feelings. Our youth have a baptism trip next Wednesday, and I love seeing them in the Temple as well.

4. I drove a vanful of young women to a basketball tournament in Macomb, an hour east of Nauvoo. They took second place in the tourney, which meant we stayed until the bitter end--then I faced a near mutiny as the girls disagreed over where they wanted to eat dinner. Some pleaded for a Chinese Buffet. Others wanted Pizza Hut, but I hated the thought of waiting 45 minutes to get our dinner. Finally I ordered the girls into the two vans and told the other driver to follow me: wherever I turned in, that was my decision. I headed into town and saw a Taco Bell. I squealed into the parking lot and the girls trooped in behind Tina and Me--only to see two of the referees from the basketball games there at a table, still dressed in their black & white shirts. The girls all found something they could live with for dinner and I was proud of them: I did not hear a single complaint from the entire bunch

5. I realized I was out of balance and needed to read. So besides Aisling of Eire, I have read a half dozen other books in the past couple of weeks. I really had fun with The Bishop's Bride, and loved the volume 4 Fablehaven--though I read it so fast I am sure I couldn't tell you many details (my sister had it checked out from the library and I felt guilty short-stopping it before it was turned back in). I would like to re-read all four of them just before volume five comes out. Good Job, Brandon Mull!

Nothing earthshattering, right? Just life running a full tilt, and loving it.

I See the Light!

I have been very tired of late. Lots of reasons--but they don't matter much. I have figured out (again) how to beat the doldrums: PICK UP A GOOD BOOK AND READ IT! I mean a book where you get lost in the story and live in another world for a while. And it has made all the difference for me this week.

The book, you ask? Aisling of Eire by Dorothy Keddington. Traci went on a Dorothy Keddington rampage a few years ago, and I happened upon this book in a used book store a little bit ago. It has all the elements of a terrific airplane or beach read: a great romance, a bit of mystery (someone is trying to kill her--and though you know who it is, it's still a bit anxiety-inducing) and A TRIP TO THE FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY IN SALT LAKE CITY.

Aisling of Eire reminds me a little of the books by G. G. Vandagriff, whom I very much appreciate, with her Family History sleuths digging through family trees. One very appealing thing with Aisling is the Irish connection--and I spent a fair amount of time trying to find my Irish family, only I didn't get to travel there (YET).

Yes, I am feeling alive and well this morning. 'Tis great what a good book will do for you!

17,000+ Steps on a CRAZY MONDAY!

Sorry, no photos today. Just a sort of stream of consciousness report (See, Marci, how you rub off on me!).

First of all, according to my pedometer, I walked over 17,000 steps yesterday--that clocks out to way more than 7 miles. I started out at the church where I meet each Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday with several women for our "Walk and Talk" exercise opportunity. It accomplishes the same purpose as my walking on my treadmill, however, it is not in my freezing cold garage, and the walk is made much more pleasant by conversation with Betty or Annee or Tina or Rosemary or somebody! I highly recommend this!

My next thousands of steps were taken as I accompanied Jeff to the doctor's office to get back the results of his sleep test taken nearly 2 weeks ago. And SURPRISE!!! He has full-blown apnea (which I have suspected for years). The test also showed a heart irregularity, and since Jeff's dad had fatal heart problems at age 62, he opted to be strapped up for an immediate EKG test there in the doctor's office. This showed some arrhythmia.

Next stop: the hospital in Quincy where he was hooked up to a 24-hour heart monitor which he will return to our local clinic today just before it closes at 5 pm. Jeff is now out in the front yard chipping away at the ice and snow from Friday night's storm (don't get me started on how that storm sabotaged my Saturday!). He is hoping to get the monitor to register some of the strange things he has felt in the past, but never had a name for. He often has a shortness of breath when he works for even short periods in the yard, and goes ashen in color where my face goes so bright red on exertion. We'll keep you posted on the results. Lincare is coming tomorrow to bring a C-PAP machine to see if he can tolerate it and start getting a good night's sleep.

The last few thousand steps were taken as I bee-lined into stores in Quincy for which I save up my errands. Nauvoo, if you didn't know it, is bereft of much convenient shopping. I hit Hy-Vee (a grocery store), Ben Franklin, Hobby Lobby and finally Sam's Club (yes, we have been on Costco withdrawal, with the closest store 3 hours away in St. Louis). Everyone knows there is no way to get milk, sudafed, print cartridges and tomato soup in a warehouse store without walking miles and miles.

I hope not to repeat this any time soon. My goal is to walk 50 miles a month, hoping it will make a difference in my health and well-being. But I never intended to do 1/7 of it in just ONE DAY!