4th of July 2013

We love the 4th of July here in Huntsville.  Something about small town parades, carnival, and friends.  This year was especially fun because Morgan was cheering with her cheer friends on the Snowcrest Jr. High cheerleader float.  Michael was very kind to help get the trailer and drive the girls.  

 Cute Gracie Pack and Jessey waiting for the parade to begin.

 These two girls are peas in a pod!  Emily and her family were in the process of moving back to California which made this day a special one.Taylar and Emily will always be friends and hopefully we'll see her a lot through out the year....

 Yeah Morgan, you look so cute up there.

Love Michael's Duck Dynasty shirt.  We're always "happy happy happy" when we can spend time with family for a bbq.

Girls Camp 2013

Wow, did this just happen?  My stewing and stressing and countless hours on pinterest are behind me?  YEAH!!! I realize that delegating and organizing were not handed out to me on talent day in heaven.  This calling as "Young Women's Girls Camp Director" has haunted me for the last 10 months.  And then to see proof that it did happen.....Crazy!!  I also realize that I'm baby....looking back it doesn't seem so bad.  It was basically a no brainer for a newbe.  We went to Camp Browning, up by Causey Dam.  It's a boy scout high adventure camp, and they have every detail planned and taking care of.  From the food to the tents to the activities.  I did, however come up with the theme... "Brave" and Courageous Young Women.  I took the movie Brave as a jumping off point for the girls and added courageous.  I downloaded a couple conference talks focused on these two attributes and made a cd for each girl to (hopefully) listen too before camp.  Then when we had any down time we made bow and arrows and the girls worked on their archery skills.  

Here are some of the fun "high adventure" things we did.....btw, in the packing list I put, "no cell phones" and look who's child is breaking the rules?  Mine!!

Notice the lovely tents behind Taylar...longest three nights of..... my..... life!!!!! I could hear little critters crawling around and underneath me all night! I never have been so scared!

Above Morgan is doing the rope course and below Taylar is repelling down while Morgan climbs up.

We learned how to throw a knife and tomahawk.  Taylar was able to get hers to stick in the log...Good job Taylar!  I admit, I enjoyed this one :)

Taylar cracks me up in this picture.... below the girls are working on "team work" skills and she is obviously not into it!!

This snake was coming to say hi to Morgan while she was getting a drink of water....scared the heck out of her!!  We quickly got our bow and arrows to kill it...or at least scare it away... Which is what we did.

Time to pack up

 This summer will definitely go down as one of the craziest summers of all time.  It was over in the blink of an eye and I can't believe ALL that happened.  Main reason....we SOLD our house! Crazy huh? (and a bit unexpected)

Let me back up a little bit and help you understand what went on.   Okay so the end of June the girls and I had girls camp.  I happened to be the camp directer this year and was in no way qualified to be a leader (I know, I know, hard to believe...not really. Haha) Thank goodness it was suggested to try Camp Browning which is literally 15 min away from where we live and all of the food and activities are all planned and done for you.  It was so fun and I was so grateful I didn't have the added stress. Anyway within the first five minutes of getting home I get a call from my wonderful husband to shower and pack a bag.  He arranged a weekend getaway to the Oregon Coast (for my birthday).  It was so beautiful and we had such a great time.  (I'll post about that later)

While we were enjoying the our alone time we get a call from our realtor to see if he can show our house (we have had it on and off the market for about 4 or 5 years) Wait!  Back up....it was a second showing!  The first showing was while I was a girls camp and it was up to my hubby and kids to get the house ready....scary I know.  They must of  done a descent job because this couple wanted to see it again.  But again I am not home to make sure the house is cleaned and ready.  My sister and her cute family was helping with my kids at the time.  She was awesome to help rally everyone together to get it ready.  Did I mention she was 9 months pregnant.  What a trouper.  Long story short we settled on a price and sealed the deal with our signatures.  The only catch was we had a small window to pack up and find another place to live.  If I remember correctly we had about 2 1/2 weeks....which sounds insane.  But looking back I think it was a blessing to get it done fast.  And we found a wonderful home to rent that is in a great location for our family.  Hopefully it's only a year....we're in the process to build again right next door. 

Below are pictures of all the rooms (except an unfinished basement) we cleaned out and said good bye too.  It's really weird to see your home of 9 years....empty :(

 This picture breaks my heart because Bailey is struggling to say her last good byes....and then Taylar lovingly comforts her with a shoulder to cry on.

 Believe it or not but it was hard to say good bye to our trampoline....it was a favorite for my kids.

This was it.... the last time we would be a family in this home.  So many memories and love!!  And Michael gets a call....what do you do? 

Braces are off!!

It's hard to believe the last time I blogged was when I got my braces on.  That was probably 8 or 9 months ago.  Well time does fly and here I am with a new smile.  The change may be small, but I love it all the same!! 

Braces....at age 36?

I know what most if you are thinking.... Why?? You've already had braces...Your teeth are already straight. But what I say is, "why not!"
My teeth could use a little tweaking from the years and years of neglecting my retainer! (Let this be a lesson to all of you with retainers.)

I loved this moment together with Taylar and Michael watching the 2012 October General Conference!!!

Look at our cute little baby...she's watching conference with us.