Youth Conference 2012

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend our ward's youth conference. Their theme was "Living Waters" based on the scripture John 4:14, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." All of the activities for the conference had to do with water.

We met early Friday morning and traveled to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple so the youth could do baptisms for the dead. Next we took them to a water park to play for the afternoon. Then we drove up into the mountains to spend the night in a cabin. At the cabin we just let the youth (and leaders) play games and mostly just spend time getting to know each other better. In the morning, we had a devotional from the bishop. Then we packed everything up and headed to a lake where they could enjoy boating, tubing, canoeing and just playing in the water and sun.

Needless to say, the youth had a great time and the leaders came home exhausted. (Actually the leaders also had a great time and the youth might have been even more tired than we were.) I've been to plenty of combined mutual activities, but this was the first youth conference I've attended with our ward. After being with them for over 30 straight hours, I was definitely reminded how funny (i.e., twitterpated) youth at this age can be (especially the young women). But we have such great youth that I would do it all again without hesitation (except for the part where they blasted out the radio playing teenie-bopper music-I could definitely do without that part again!).

Luckily I got to come home and get plenty of rest since the rest of my little family had gone to Nevada for the Miller family reunion. Ross and Leah went with his mom and uncle. They stopped in Elko both ways to visit Grandma Mary. Leah was SO EXCITED to go to Grandma Miller's again. She still remembered our visit in April and was looking forward to seeing all the clocks again.

While in the Reno/Fallon area Ross got to go to a Reno Aces baseball game and "Hot August Nights" (a car show). At the reunion they got to go swimming and spend lots of time visiting with family. They had a great time, but when it was all done they were happy to be out of the car and back home again. And as much as I was enjoying the peace and quiet, it was nice for me to have them back too.

Sierra's Sealing

On August 4th we got to witness and celebrate our niece, Sierra's, sealing to her parents in the Provo Temple. We've got to know Sierra quite well over the past year or so. And we were so excited when her adoption was finally official at the end of June. But we were even more happy to be there for her sealing. The sealing ceremony was so great. The sealer (who knows them because he is in their ward) taught some wonderful things before conducting the actual sealing. Sierra looked beautiful in her little white dress. What a special experience!! I love the temple. Afterwards, we went to a nearby park for a little family dinner and then her neighbors and friends came for a big celebration complete with cake and lots of yummy watermelon. Sierra is such a sweetheart. We are glad to have her as part of our family.

Last Week of July

So to finish up our busy July, we celebrated the 24th of July (Pioneer Day) by going to the "Days of '47" parade with some of my family. I didn't get many pictures at the parade, but here are a couple of Leah enjoying the parade on her Aunt MoMo's lap.

After the parade, we went back to my parents' house for some much needed naps. Then I tried to set up the kiddie pool in the backyard so Leah could beat the heat in the water. But someone had borrowed my parents' pool, so I had to improvise with the little sandbox. However, that didn't keep Leah from having a great time playing in the water. I even used water from the hot tub to fill it up. So it was a nice and pleasant temperature for her to play in.

She had a ball playing, but didn't always want to stay in the pool. She often ran over to the slide for a ride down. Which would cover her bottom and legs in grass and dirt. But she didn't seem to care in the least. (You'll see from the pictures that Ross also enjoyed soaking his feet in the water with Leah.)

Before long, Makynlee came out to join Leah in the fun. These two had a blast splashing together and chasing each other around. By the time they were done, the water was full of grass and dirt and who knows what else. They were two dirty girls in much need of a bath who didn't want to stop playing.

Here they are later on all cleaned up and playing on the bench swing. I know I say it a lot, but these two have so much fun together.

The next night we went to the Bees baseball game. We had a great time and, overall, the little girls did pretty well. They didn't care much about the game, but they definitely thought it was a fun place to play. They especially liked when Aunt MoMo bought a snocone and shared with them. This picture of Melyssa (MoMo) was actually taken by Leah (with a little help from me).

These two were on the go the entire game, but they were having such a great time. We have since gone to another game with them. They were both looking forward to going again and were both sad when it was time to go home.

During this week, my parents were with the youth in their stake on a Pioneer Trek in Wyoming. So my mom wasn't around to take care of Kynee during the days while my sister worked. So I offered to come back up and take care of her on Friday. Leah was more than happy to join me on a trip back to Grandpa's house. The girls did pretty good playing together that day. There was only one major cat fight that ended with both of them in time-out. One of their favorite things that day was playing in my parents' new free-standing pantry that didn't have stuff in it yet. They opened and closed the door while they were inside a countless number of times.

That evening after people were done with work, we met up with Ross and went to dinner at Texas Road House (yummy!) and then went to Trafalga to play. Trafalga is a local fun center with games, rides, miniature golfing, etc. We weren't sure the girls would be big enough for any of the rides, but they really wanted to try them and the workers let them ride. This frog hopper ride was one of those where they take you up about 30 feet in the hair and then drop you back down a little at a time on a bungee system, then take you back up to do it again. Both little girls wanted to try it. It was funny to see their different reactions to the ride. In the first picture, they are getting ready for the ride to start. So both are happy just waiting. But the next picture is taken about half way through the ride. Leah is clinging onto both of her aunts' hands with a look of uncertainty, while Kynee has a huge grin on her face and is loving every minute of it. But don't worry about Leah, she did have a good time and even rode it a couple more times before we left. Even though it involved a lot of panic on her part each time, she still wanted to do it again.

We thought the girls would enjoy the miniature bowling. They have little lanes with small balls, perfect for these small ones. Kynee got more into it than Leah. But I got a picture of both of them rolling the ball with MoMo's help.

We tried to all go miniature golfing, but by hole 3 it was obvious that Leah and Makynlee were going to make it a very difficult task. Both were enjoying it a little too much and we couldn't get them to leave anything alone. So I took the girls to find other things to do while the other 4 adults finished their golf game. Their favorite ride was a miniature pirate ship that rocked back and forth. We rode it over and over (with Leah clinging to me each time, of course - funny girl) and we even convinced the others to ride it with us when they finished their golf game. It was about 11:00 pm when we left that night, but everyone was having such a good time, that it was hard to pull away any sooner.

So that pretty much concludes our busy July. August is already a third of the way over. Our summer is slipping away so quickly. Ross has to report back to work next week. We've done enough fun things that we really can't complain, but it is still so sad to see it coming to an end.

Another Visit and Mom's Birthday

So things did slow down a bit after having the kids with us for a while. Our next adventure came the very next Monday when we went back to Ross's mom's house to spend more time with Kyle, Amy and Jackson before they went back home to Louisiana. We enjoyed the afternoon with them playing games and visiting while the little ones played. Visits like that are never long enough, but we did enjoy our time with them while they were here. We just hope that it is not another year and a half before we get to see them again.

That evening we went to my parents' house to celebrate my mom's birthday. We had to drive through what felt like a monsoon to get there, but we had lots of fun once we were there. My dad made some Mexican food for dinner and we had homemade ice cream for dessert (among plenty of other treats). We got back home really late that night, but it was great to be together as a family to celebrate our amazing mom and grandma.

Here's a picture of us singing happy birthday to her. (You can be glad you can just see it and not hear it!)

And of course, it just wouldn't feel right unless all the kids got a chance to blow out the candle. So here's a couple more pictures of the kids blowing out the candle too.