Winding Down

Summer vacation is winding down, and we are finally getting the hot August nights (and days).  This summer has been BUSY!!! What with the Navy summer session, football camp, Cub Scout camp, Boy Scout Camp, 11 year old Scout Camp, Aaronic Priesthood Encampment, football practice, den meetings, pack meetings, and throw in there our trip to Florida to visit Jennifer, and it is amazing we are all still functioning.  It may have been busy, but it has also been FUN!!  This week, Aaron and Ed took the pop-up tent trailer to the Oregon coast to try it out while they did some crabbing and clamming.  The verdict: it is wonderful!  Thank you Lindsey for giving the trailer to us.

It is hard to believe that school will be starting soon. Edward will be a Senior this year, Andrew a Sophomore, and Aaron will be starting 7th grade. Jennifer will continue with her college education by taking on-line classes through BYU-I.  She will stay in Florida and continue to work for Disney until January 2013.  She is having the time of her life down there.  Mean while, Ed continues to look for employment and I try to get myself better organized.  There are too many projects that need to get done around here.

Cubs in Shining Armor - Day Camp 2012

Well, after months of preparations Cub Camp is fast approaching!  I only have one more day to make sure I haven't forgotten anything (at least for Monday anyway).  This afternoon I loaded up the van with boxes for each of the 15 classes we'll be teaching next week.  Then I spent a couple of hours making up a song book this year of camp songs I want the boys to learn.  (We, as leaders, got tired of "Bazooka Bubblegum".)  As soon as camp is over I will try to post some pictures.  For now, I want to thank my boys and husband for putting up with me and my preoccupation with Cub Camp these past few months.  And to thank them for all their help this week and next.  It's a lot of work, but I love it!!!

Disney World Vacation

Oh what fun we had!  Even though I'm not sure where the money is going to come from to pay for this vacation I took that leap of faith and decided that we couldn't pass up this chance to visit Jennifer down in Florida and Walt Disney World.  She was able to get the 3 boys in to the park for free on the 5 days we visited the parks.  Ed and I had to buy our own tickets, but I think she was able to get us a discount.  She had planned every minute of our adventure from the moment we arrived in the parks to the time we left.  She made sure we saw and did everything!

Youth Conference Trip

This past weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As Bishop, Ed takes the priests and laurels down to experience conference from Salt Lake. As his wife, I get to go along. This year we made the trip with 24 youth and 10 leaders from the Evergreen Ward. We left Friday morning at 5 am and our first stop was Echo, Oregon where Sister Hullinger's parent's house is. She was there waiting for us with breakfast. Then it was on to Mountain Home, Idaho where most of us stopped for lunch. When we arrived down in the Salt Lake area we went to a local school where Brother Hullinger's sister had prepared a dinner for us. The youth enjoyed being able to stretch their legs and play some basketball.

We end up staying the nights at Brother Hullinger's parent's house along with a couple of their neighbors' houses. Saturday we drove to temple square and some were able to get into the conference center to see the prophet, while the rest of us watched from various other venues on temple square. During the men's priesthood session the girls all went shopping. Afterwards we all met up for dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I think they lost money on us.

Sunday was like Saturday with the exception that we ate our sack lunches between sessions and then went to the Hullinger's stake center where we were treated to a wonderful potato bar dinner and a testimony meeting. The Relief Society room in the stake center has a beautiful mural of the Saviour painted on the wall. We of course had to get a group picture in there.

Spring Break is this week, so we didn't head back to Vancouver on Monday, but instead went back down to temple square so we could visit other places that we might not have had time for earlier. The wind was something else, but we managed to not get blown away and get another group shot standing in front of the temple. From there we drove down to Provo to visit the BYU campus. Thanks to Eric Glem, we were able to tour Cougar stadium (press box, booster club, walk on the field, and locker room). We then went to the Marriot Center where Mr. Marriot himself was practicing for a speech he was to give the next day. We also were able to quickly chat with the Cougar basketball coach. Dinner was another all-you-can-eat buffet at the cafeteria. They have some good food there.

Tuesday was the long ride back home. At least this time we had good weather (the trip through the gorge on Friday was horrific! what with all the rain). We got home around 7pm. We had such a good time. I can't wait to do it again in another 2 years.

I have the BEST husband EVER!

Ed sent me down to Florida so that I could help Jennifer celebrate her 20th birthday with family. I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and drove over to "Mama & Papa Rap's" where I was going to be staying. I got to meet Toni (Mama Rap) and have a pizza with her before driving over to Hollywood Studios where Jennifer works. From there we drove to Downtown Disney to run around for a few hours. I didn't get back to "my place" until after midnight, and then it was up again by 7:00 am to get back to Jennifer's apartment to meet up with her friends for our trip to the Magic Kingdom. I ended up driving us since Jennifer could get us free parking. The weather was gorgeous - around 80*. We had a lot of fun going on the rides, before heading off to Hollywood Studios to watch the parade and Fantasmic, and then racing back to Magic Kingdom for the "Wishes" fireworks show.

On Friday it was just the two of us as we went to the Animal Kingdom (Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Bug's Life, and Kali River Rapids), Magic Kingdom, and then Epcot. My feet had taken a beating by the time we were done, and I have the blisters to prove it. I had such a good time with Jennifer though. It was all worth it. Ed had gotten me a new camera before I left, so we took a ton of pictures. I am looking forward to the whole family going down to visit later this year. I miss Jennifer so much it sometimes hurts. I am glad that I have a husband who can see that and does what he can to help.

I'm going to go see my baby!!

My baby girl will be turning 20 in just 2 days and she is clear across the country so I can't celebrate with her. Boo hoo. Then my husband, the loving, caring man that he is, says to me, "How would you like to surprise Jennifer for her birthday?" He then proceeds to buy me an airplane ticket to Orlando so I can spend some quality/fun time with our daughter. Things really worked out great, in that she has both Thursday and Friday off from work so we'll get to spend those two days together doing Disney "the way it is supposed to be done" (according to Jennifer). Since she doesn't have to work until 4pm on Saturday, we'll have the whole morning together too. I am so excited to see her and where she is living for the next 6+ months.

I Love my Family!!!!

Before Jennifer left to head down to Florida, we decided that we needed to get our family pictures taken. A good friend offered to use her talents and they were done. I can not believe how grown up they are all starting to look. It was just a few years ago when they all had those cute "baby faces" with the puffy cheeks and dimples. The boys are looking more and more like my father and brother. When they were younger they looked so much like Ed it was scarey, but now I finally see my side of the family showing through.