HUNTER

Who's the leader of the club that's made for me and you?
H-U-N-T-E-R C-O-M-T-E!

I love Hunter. Everything about him makes me smile. Deedra has been great to let us have him over for sleepovers quite a few times this summer. He is such a joy. He is really funny too. He says the cutest things and I always forget them before I write them down. He got to stay with us this weekend. Hunter thinks it is great to watch movies on my laptop even though he could watch them on a big screen. I told him the night before that I would make him caramel popcorn and so I did. He picked out "How To Train Your Dragon" for the movie to watch. He LOVES his Grandma Clea and at one point during the movie I looked over at them on the couch and he had his foot under Grandma's arm. It was so cute!
On Saturday, mom went off to do errands which left Hunter with me. The Utah County Fair was going on just a few miles away, so I decided to take him. There wasn't a whole lot of people there. It was nice to just leisurely stroll through and see everything there was to see. Hunter's favorite parts, I think, were shooting off rockets and making a marshmellow gun! He thought Grandpa's belly was great target for his mini marshmellows. Hunter made a rocket out of paper and then got to shoot it off. We did this twice because he loved it so much. When we were coming home he groaned in the back seat. I asked what was wrong and he replied "I should have yelled fire in the whole when they shot off my rocket." He was really disappointed that he hadn't done this!

Throwing a tomahawk

Launching off his rocket!

Nashville Tribute Band

The band sang Acapella for the first song

On my mission I was introduced to the Nashville Tribute Band. This band is comprised of multiple people and they are an LDS group. There first C.D is entitled "Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith." I love this c.d. Every song is tied to a memory from my mission. I cry during most of the songs. I have gained a greater testimony of the prophet through this music. It is simply beautiful. There next C.D is entitled "Trek: A Nashville Tribute to the Pioneers." I love this c.d as well. I feel like dancing to it. It has given me a greater understanding of what the pioneers did for us.
On my mission we use to always say that they should do a tribute to the missionaries. Well, they did. A Bishop from one of my area's knows the band really well. He said he would take our picture and that we could be in the pamphlet of the c.d. We didn't know when the c.d would come out but I couldn't wait to see if my picture was really in it.
A couple of weeks ago I saw an ad for the release of their new c.d. The band would be doing their release concert on August 4th. I bought tickets as soon as I could and invited Deedra to come along with me. Deedra had never been to a concert before and was pretty excited. The concert was the most amazing concert I have ever been too! I loved everything about it, even when we got rained on. Their new c.d is entitled "The Work: A Nashville Tribute to the Missionaries." I love the new c.d even though I am not in the cover of the album. My favorite part of the night was when they sang one of their new songs with a missionary choir behind them. It was beautiful and I cried through all of it! The choir sang Called To Serve after the song. I couldn't sing because the spirit was so strong. Deedra loved it as well. I am so glad that I went with her. It was so much fun to be together. We got to meet the band afterwards. I had a very bonding moment with the lead singer of the band. He has a great spirit about it. We cannot wait to go to the next concert! If you want more info on this great band for your family to listen to, visit their website. I can't remember it so just google the band name.

These two little girls sang a duet. The oldest one started the concert with "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission." It brought tears to my eyes. Their dad is a member of the band

Deedra and I after the rain. We weren't too wet.

Jason Deere is the lead singer of the band. He is awesome!

Deedra and I with our yummy ice cream bars

Billy Dean (who isn't a member yet) sings a song on their new c.d

The missionary choir that sang with the band

Apricot Picking

My least favorite thing in the whole world is picking up gross apricots off the ground. We have an apricot tree in our backyard. I have hated it since I was a child. Why, you ask? Because we have to pick up the bad ones that have fallen from the tree. Some are rotting, some are so soft they squish when you pick them up, some have bugs in them, some have been stepped on, all of them are disgusting. Well, it's that time again. This year our tree was very full. I was putting it off till the last minute which makes the apricots even worse on the ground. We were able to get a ton off the tree though before they dropped. I gathered up the neighborhood kids to help me. Our neighborhood kids are AWESOME. They are so willing to help with whatever needs to be done in the neighborhood, with no pay but usually a cookie! So we went to work. We covered a lot of ground in about an hour and a half. We picked a huge box of apricots and picked up all the nasty ones on the ground.

FAMILY

Jazzy, Skye, Diana, Paje, Me, Aunt Donna, Mom, Tessa, Shane, Aunt Cindy, John, Dad

Most of my dad's family lives out East. We don't get to see them very often. The day I got home from MAT camp my Dad's family came into town! I was so excited to see them since it has been 20 or some years since I last saw some of them. There were nine people that came: my Aunt Cindy and her three daughters (Paje, Jazzy, and Skye), my Aunt Donna and her daughter Diana and her husband John, and their two children Tessa and Shane were all on vacation and stopped in Utah. Our house was full and it was wonderful. We had so much fun! I love them and hope to get to see them again soon!
The first thing we did was have a family BBQ with all of them, Ryan, Sam and Marley, and Deedra and Hunter. The food was so good. We laughed so hard as a family. Diana, John, Tessa and I then went to Spanish Fork Fiesta Days and walked around the craft fair. We bought flower headbands for the girls. The next day we went up into the canyon and had watermelon. I think we went through 3 watermelons in the three days that they were here. On Monday we went to a parade and the carnival. We then went back up the canyon to have dinner. It was so sad to see them leave the next day. What a lovely weekend it was!

Jazzy with her new headband that we bought at Fiesta Days!

Skye with her new headband

Paje with her new headband

My cousin Diana and her husband John

Sam made this amazing dessert for our bbq

My Dad and Aunt Cindy

Deedra's arm, Shane, Aunt Donna, and Diana eating at the family bbq

Tessa and Paje

Marley with dessert on her face

Jazzy helping Marley eat

Jazzy eating watermelon
Cindy and Skye

Me, Jazzy, Paje, Tessa, Skye

Paje up the canyon playing in the water

Skye enjoying the ride!

Skye, Jazzy, and I rode the swings at the carnival!

Skye and her pouty face

Watching the parade

Paje LOVES watermelon!

MAT Camp

Two days after I got home from Florida, I left for Music, Art and Technology Camp in Wyoming. My aunt is the executive director of this camp. When I was a young girl and teenager I went to this camp but it was called Music Camp back then. I taught 6 craft classes a day from Kindergarten to 5th grade. It was awesome! I loved every minute of it. There is seriously not one minute that I look back on that I didn't enjoy.
The Saturday before I left my family was great to help me gather all my supplies. My mom and Deedra went to one store and ran errands in Payson. Hunter and I went to Provo and did the errands there. Scott helped gather everything that was at home. Their were supplies all over our front lawn as I organized everything into bins and into the car! I am so grateful for my family and for their help!
I really have to give thanks to my neighbors the Barnum's. They were at camp with me. I took two of their kids with me up to camp and then back home because I didn't want to drive by myself. They helped me unload my car and entertained me for the drive. Norma helped me in my classroom and acted as my surrogate mother all week! I know I could not have down it without them. They have always been so good to me and I feel that they are more family than friends!



My first class of the day was called Ocean Commotion. We made all sorts of Ocean Crafts. My favorite was the Socktopus. We took a sock, filled it partly with rice and then cut the rest of the sock for the legs. I didn't get any pictures because I was busy doing the craft but trust me they were cute!

My next class was Comte's Corner. We would read a book and then make a craft. I loved all of the crafts we made. My favorite though was paper bag hats and pirate hats. I only had 6 kids in this class so it was easy to keep it under control.

After lunch I taught four classes in a row. My first was flower clips, then making musical instruments, my food class, and then a science class. They were all pretty successful. I loved seeing the kids faces light up! I think the most successful projects out of these classes were volcanoes, geyser, and fake sushi.

All in all it was grand. I can't wait till next year. If you read this blog and are interested in maybe bringing your kids or yourself next year, you can find more information here: http://youngmusicians.net/. The camp is for ages 4- 99. They have a wide range of classes and they are all great. I highly recommend this camp if you want something really fun to do in the summer!

Second Stop: Florida!

Florida was awesome! As we landed I cried. I felt as though I was flying home. We had a great time in Florida. The people were awesome. There were many that fed us, many that let us stay at their house, and many that open their doors for us to visit with them. It was great to see how the areas I had served in had grown. It was also sad to see how some areas had died. But for the most part it was really a happy time for me. I want to thank those that were so sweet to me and my mother. I really appreciate my Florida family. They give me inspiration everyday! I love you all so much! We didn't get to see everyone that we were planning on or that we wanted too. But that just means that we have to go back! Here are a few pics from the trip. The last couple of pictures are of when Mom and I got stuck in Denver for about 24 hours. Our plane was damaged in a hail storm. We slept the night on the floor and barely got home the next day! What an adventure!