First Time to Church!

Like I said before, Cohen has been under lockdown for the past three months so we have haven't been taking him to Church. Jeff and I have been taking turns going while the other stays home with Cohen. Today was his first time to church! We got him all dressed up for his church debut!

It was a long day for him. He was OUT by the time we got home.

Girls Camp 2013 - Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I know this is totally late, but better late than never, right?

In October, I was released from my calling in the Young Women's presidency. I was sad to leave the girls, but I'm now a youth Sunday School teacher so I still get to spend time with them (once I start going back to church)

I didn't go to the full week of Girls Camp again this year. Sleeping up there with the bad mattresses and having to walk to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night didn't sound fun to me while being three months pregnant. I did get to spend a day up there with the girls which of course was a good time.

The theme this year was "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" It was such a cute theme! The girls decorate the cabin with little direction signs and lights. Our center pieces for our table (every ward makes a centerpiece to mark their table) was supposed to be a bear dressed as a Lorax, but I have to admit it turned out creepy :) I can say that because I made it! I think it looked better in theory and not so hot in execution.

I just love these girls! They are such a good time and love camp so much.

On the day I went up they had the Bishopric races (Maybe it's suppose to be Bishop races. I'm not 100% sure). Basically they have a member from each wards bishopric come up and compete in a series of water games and then generally a big water fight breaks out. A member from our bishopric couldn't make it, but luckily the spanish branch sent two so they shared with us :)

Trek 2013

Every four years the youth in our stake go off on an adventure that we affectionately call Trek. Basically the youth dress up as pioneers and push/pull handcarts for several miles as a little reenactment of the Mormon pioneers that migrated across the United States to Utah.

I never hat the opportunity to do this as a youth so I was very intrigued by the trip. Jeff and I were thinking about being a Ma and Pa (leaders of one of the groups of youth), but we had to turn down the chance after we found out I was pregnant. I don't know why but walking for several miles in the heat of summer while being 24 weeks pregnant didn't sounds like a good time to me.

However, I was able to convince Jeff to go up and visit the kids last Friday. I was a little disappointed when we showed up and most of the youth were no longer in their pioneer clothes. I really don't blame them since it was like 100 degrees and humid and they had walked over 10 miles pushing the heavy handcarts. We spent the evening up there watching their evening entertainment. All the families took some time to sing a song about their travels. It ended up turning into a little open mic night with a few jokes, Shakespeare, and dancing. It was a really good time and I'm glad I went.

I'm just so impressed by these youth! It was such a hot and long trip, but when we saw them they were in good spirits and most glad that they made the trek. :)

Young Women Celebration of Excellence

Yet another late post.

In December the Young Women had their Celebration of Excellence (I think it's technically Young Women in Excellence, but we called it Celebration of Excellence)

We had a little lunch and program after Church in honor of the Young Women. The girls served their families lunch (soup and salad) and then presented the value experiences they worked on during the year. The girls did such a great job! I just love them.

Palmyra Trip: Camp and the Peter Whitmer Farm

I know this is probably a little out of order, but I figured I would show you a few pictures of the camp we stayed at. The camp is called Seneca Lake Camp. It's an LDS owned camp and is located only 45 min south of the church history sites. While working with the Missionaries running the camp was slightly difficult (They messed up our reservation, then denied that we had one even though we had email communications...Awesome). I would recommend youth groups staying there!

On our way home we stopped at the Peter Whitmer Farm. It was a quick stop, but I'm glad we did.