Independence Day 2024: Murray Parade

We got up and got out of the house nice and early to get to our spot at the Murray Parade.  We went over to my parents' house the night before to get the chairs set up.  Dad had put out a rope a couple days earlier.  

 We were going to pick up some donuts at the donut shop right by where we sit, but the shop had closed.  So Tony, Tyler, and Megan walked down to McDonald's to pick us up some breakfast.  With State Street closed, he figured walking would be a lot easier than driving.

My dad was already there when we got there, and everyone else slowly trickled in.  It was a nice parade and fun to have more family in town this year.  Wendy and Benje were there as well as Julie's family.  Kevin and Sherr's families were also there.  

It was a nice parade.  The weather was mild and that made it so much better.  The kids all got tons of candy, a handful of popsicles, a few squishy balls and a couple sunglasses.  It was an impressive haul.  Tyler and Josh sat behind us with the teenagers.  Tyler had fun trying to get people to throw things into his small bag.  It was super fun to see the teenagers get into the fun and be silly.  

We love the tradition of going to the Murray Parade and are thankful to my dad for getting our spot saved each year.  

Bear Lake 2024: Crafts, S'mores, & Lake Pics

On Saturday night after all our boating fun, we cleaned up and ate dinner.   After dinner the adults went to see a play at the Pickleville Playhouse.  It was a fun show, and it was nice be able to leave the kids at the center and go out as adults.

On Sunday morning our family got ready and went to church.  Bear Lake now has a visitors center church that is manly a huge chapel.  They fit 900 folding chairs in the room, and they filled every seat.  We went to the 9:00 am sacrament, but they also have it at 10:30 and noon.  It was such a neat experience to go to church with so many likeminded people who take the time to go to church on vacation.  We were very glad that we went and valued that experience.

After church we got changed and went on a fun hike.  After the hike we came back and made some lunch while the other adults went out to lunch.  Tony and I then got our crock pot potatoes ready for dinner.  

When they got back, we then did crafts.  Julie had gone to the craft store the week before and got us all crafts to do.  I think that they turned out really cute.

After crafts it was time to finish getting dinner ready.  Boyd brought a smoked brisket, and I did the potatoes.  We also had veggies and fruit.  It was a good meal.  

After dinner, Tony and Tyler packed up their car to go home.  Tony had to work the next morning and Tyler had a seminary council thing to go to the next morning.  

The rest of us hung out together that night.  Kevin made a fire and we all had s'mores together.  It was a beautiful evening and so nice to sit around the fire.  

We then got the kids ready for bed.  The girls went to bed while Josh and I stayed up a little longer.  I didn't last too long and went to bed pretty quick.  Josh played some games and had a good time.

The next morning, we all got up and ate breakfast before cleaning up the center and packing up our cars.  

We stopped at Gossner's on our way through Logan and picked up some yummy dips.  We then stopped in Ogden to drop off Logan at the train station because he is currently staying with a friend in American Fork.  Our next stop was home.  It was hot and we were glad to be home.  We all had a great time, and we were very thankful that we were able to go to Bear Lake again.

Bear Lake 2024: Fun Hike

We decided to go on a fun hike that we had done last time we were in Bear Lake.  It is about 10 minutes from the center and is only about a mile and a half long total.

My dad, mom, and Boyd didn't want to go, so they stayed back with Gavin and Jenni.  Betsy and Logan went back to Wellsville to go to a homecoming and farewell.  

It is a pretty easy hike that has a really cool tree in the middle of the hike.  The kids love climbing that tree and it holds a lot of kids.

We all had a lot of fun on this hike and probably could have done made the loop again, but it was starting to get pretty hot.  So, we all went back to the center to cool down and have a rest.

Bear Lake 2024: Boat Day

Tony and the three kids went up to Bear Lake on Friday.  They went up to Logan and did the grocery shopping that we needed for the trip, and he even took them to get some Aggie ice cream.  After they did all the shopping, they then drove up the canyon and got to the USU training center where we were all staying.  

Once everyone got there that Friday night they had a pizza night.  Most bought Papa Murphy's pizza, but Tony doesn't really like that pizza, so he got pizza for our family from a local pizza joint.  He said it was much better.

The next morning, they all ate breakfast and enjoyed the morning before going over to the RV park where my dad rented a boat for the day.

This is the morning that Megan and I drove up to Bear Lake. We woke up Saturday morning and finished packing.  We then drove to Bear Lake without any problems.  

When we got there everyone, except Betsy was already at the beach.  Megan and I unloaded our van at the center and then we took Betsy and Gavin with us over to the beach where everyone was.  

We hung out for a little while before it was our turn on the boat.  When we got there, my parents and the little kids were taking their turn on the boat with Julie.  

Tony and I got on the boat with Megan, Josh, Tyler, Julie, and Kevin.  The kids got on the tube first.  Megan was really nervous, but she still tried it.  We put her in the middle of the boys and Kevin went really slow at first.  He then slowly went a little faster. They had fun.  

Then it was mine and Julie's turn on the tube.  We were a little nervous about being on our tummy's, but we were brave.  We got on and had so much fun.  We liked the sit up tube better, but we had a good time.  We were doing really good until we leaned too far forward, and the tube nosedived into the water, and we went under.  We were done after that.  

We then let the boys take another turn without Megan so that they could go faster.  They had lots of fun.  We then decided to all go back to the center to eat lunch.  After lunch the three younger kids decided, they didn't want to go back on the boat, so just Tony, Tyler, and I went back with some of the others.  

Boyd took the teenagers and Betsy out on the boat and gave them all a good time.  Then Kevin took the rest of us on a ride.  Julie and I got back on the tube.  The workers had changed out our tube to a smaller one (I don't know why) and it was not as good as the larger tube.  We didn't stay on the tube as long, but we still made it fun.  Tony, my mom, and I then went back and packed up some of the stuff on the beach and then went back to the center.  It was fun to have a boat for the day.

Stake Girls Camp 2024

Megan and I got to go to Stake Girls Camp this year. 

We stayed at the same campground that the boys stayed, but on the other side away from the pond.  So, we didn't have as big of problem with the mosquitos as the boys did.  It seemed like the mosquitos came out in the cooler morning and evening hours and it was the flies and the bees that bothered us the most during the day.

We met at the church on Tuesday after lunch.  We then prayed and got into the cars and drove to the camp site.

We then all got in and set up the tents and got all unpacked.

We then had an evening devotional and then dinner.  It was very nice that the stake provided all the meals, so we didn't have to worry about that.  We just helped as needed and on our assigned meal.

On Wednesday we went on our hike.  It was a good hike with some good hills that got our hearts pumping.  We hiked passed the boys camp and saw where they stayed.  We then got to the top of our hike, and it was beautiful.  The girls were then asked to journal about their experience and what they were feeling being in nature.  

I was so proud of Megan and how well she did on the hike.  She didn't need to stop and take breaks.  She had fun talking with some girls in the ward who were making up fun stories to help the time go by.  It was nice seeing her in this new experience of girl's camp.

The stake gave everyone a shirt with their ward colors and ours was pink.  It was so unifying to see everyone in their shirts on the hike, at meals, and then around the campground.  I liked that it helped everyone know which ward everyone belonged to.

The stake had lots of fun activities for the girls.  They did a large game of capture the flag, an obstacle course of sorts, different crafts, and one morning they did lessons.  They had ten people presenting on different topics and each girl got to choose six lessons to go to. 

They asked me to do a lesson on missions and what to expect on missions.  I talked about my mission, but mostly about the spirit.  I talked about the fruits of the spirit and how you can tell what the spirit feels like.  I thought that would be helpful information no matter if you want to serve a mission or not.  I think that went well.

The stake had devotionals each morning and night.  They also had a skit/lip sync night that was fun to watch.  Everyone is very creative.

Becky Okelberry made me a shirt to match her, and we wore them on the last full day at camp.  We looked so cool, and everyone loved it.  

Megan got a pretty good sunburn on her arms on the first day.  We were so busy setting up everything that we didn't think about sunscreen.  Luckily it didn't bother her too much.  

A stake leader brought her baby to camp, and the girls just loved taking turns holding the baby.  Megan waited very patiently to hold the baby and was very happy when it was finally her turn.  She did a good job holding him.

The stake would hide a gnome and whoever found it would get a prize.  Megan found it one day and was very excited about that.  She got a coloring book with color pencils.  She was happy about that.

Megan and I had a great time at camp.  It was hard for me not having certification and not signing any of the songs that I sang growing up, but I still had a good time.  We had to leave early because we wanted to get to Bear Lake as early as we could on Saturday, so we left Friday night after testimonies.  We got home safe and got some laundry started and got the van cleaned out.  It was a good experience, and I am glad that I got to go with Megan.

Grandma Camp and Family BBQ

Grandma Camp has come and gone.  The girls had so much fun.  My parents picked up the girl on Thursday afternoon and took them to get McDonald's for lunch.  They normally take them to get McDonald's breakfast, but since they were later, they did lunch.  So nice of them to do that.

They then drove up to the cabin.  The girls helped my parents get things all ready and set up for the camp to start.

The other kids came at different times during that day and night.  

They did the usual fun activities.  They learned about gun safety while shotting guns and they did bows and arrows.  They gave service by washing windows and made many different meals and snacks.  They did the big hike and then a treasure hunt after with compasses.  They learned how to make treasure boxes.  Drilling and sanding the wood and then nailing the sides all together.

My mom bought all the girls matching shirts and they looked so cute.  She also bought all the participants a water bottle.  She asked me to put names on each of the water bottles with vinyl cut with my Cricut.  I think that they turned out really cute.

The rest of the families all came up Saturday afternoon.  We went on some four-wheel rides before having a family BBQ.  It was nice being up there with so much family.  We got a picture with all the grandkids that were there with grandma.  I am so thankful that my mom is a good grandma who likes to do these fun things with her grandkids.

Stake Boys Camp

The boys got to go to Stake Boys Camp this year.  They said that they had a really good time.  Their camp was located close to a pond, and it was just infested with mosquitoes.   Tyler and Josh just got eaten.  Tyler is especially delicious and his whole back was covered in bites.  Those little buggers went through his shirt to suck his blood.  Josh got it bad on his ankles and his face, neck, and ears.  

They only were there for two nights and after getting totally eaten, they were pretty glad about that.  They did have a good time, despite the bugs and said that they were glad that they got to go.

It was nice of them to go the week before us girls go up there for our girls' camp.  They let us know that we needed to be a lot more prepared for the mosquitos.