Girls Camp

Oh how do I even begin to describe my first year as Girls Camp director?

What is that  mud on their faces?  I love that teenage girls are just crazy and silly and they just go with it.

Our bishop and some of the girls taking in the views.

Oh the fingernail polish.

Jimmy rigged slip and slide

And of course our Pajama Fashion show was a hit!

cooking

candy cannon....actually more fun than I thought originally.

And of course there are always those "trying" moments, like when a girl gets her finger stuck in pole and it begins to swell and we cant cut it out.  Girl starts going into shock a little bit cause she is nervous about how long it is taking.  But the medic at camp ultimately pulls out windex, yes windex, sprays it on the finger and it slides right out.  Who knew?  Turns out butter and oil increase swelling and there is something in Windex that they use at hospitals when pregnant women cant get their rings off, that helps the swelling go down.  *shrug?  Also, we had a girl widdling a stick that sliced her hand open needing 6 stitches.  And two girls that got lost momentarily on the hike that had the rest of the girls in tears within seconds. :)  But those are the things girls remember at girls camp and you cant plan them or plan FOR them.  :)

lost of sitting around, hanging out around a "campfire."

The first counselor in our bishopbric created this awesome pavilion.  Seriously took him like 30 minutes and he had collected wood, drilled holes, staked everything down and tied it to the tarp for some wicked sweet amount of shade.  Amazing!

Our theme this year from the stake was Under Construction: Building Me.  But as a ward we had to make our own "signs" and choose our own individual theme. So our theme was "BUILDING UP: others, ourselves, and our testimonies.  So these are some of the things I made up for the girls.  It was fun to come up with some creative things, but ultimately I think next year I want to put more time in the spiritual and less time on the fluff! :)  Turned out cute though.  You live and learn.

St. George Splash Park

THE HELMET!

3-8 months!!  That would have been nice to know!!!

Ahh the stress of my life right now.  So months ago the pediatrician mentioned to us that Collin's head was a little flat. So we continuously rotated his head away from the flat side and turned his bed so he could look outward from the other side.  I almost never put him down on his back or swing.  But to no avail, it didn't get much rounder.  So we went in to a specialist down in St. George who proceeded to tell us that it was little flat (not terribly bad) but that because he was almost 9 months old, if we did decided to get one he would have to have it on for 6-9 months instead of 6 weeks because his head growth has dramatically slowed down.  Well Mr. Pediatrician, that would have been nice to know!  Who knew we were on a time sensitive matter here?  Anyways, I could tell by the weird doctors response that it was a little flat but clearly not the worst he has seen and I think if he wasnt trying to make money off me and this helmet that he probably would have just said its not too bad and his head will probably round out on its own.  Thats kind of the uncertainty I got for him.  (Note to doctors, if you going to suggest a treatment, SOUND CONFIDENT).  Blah.  Anyways so we went home only to find out weeks later that our insurance will not cover it because it is considered cosmetic.  What the?  So it was going to be $1800 out of our own pocket for a helmet that he maybe didnt need?  Would it grow out on its own?  Probably.  Will his hair probably cover it up?  Probably  So we basically decided no.....for a few weeks.  Then one day I am online and I suddenly decided to google search if there are grown ups that wish they would have had something done to their skulls when they were young.  This was  bad idea.  Of course I find all these people cursing their parents for not fixing their misshapen heads and that they cant wear hats or certain hair-do's because of their head shape.  Well this starts giving me anxiety.  Time was running out, he was getting older, and the time to act while his head was still growing fast has really already past but will peak at around a year.  And now I dont want him to have some life long insecurity about his head that I could've prevented somehow.  Anyways, so I change my mind again and want the helmet for him.  Cordelle thinks I am nuts but caves and just says, "Lets just do it or we will always wonder "what if."  And I know he was right.  So we go down to St. George for a fitting, but now I start second guessing myself.  I am looking at the pictures of the other babies and then looking at Collin and his head really wasn't that bad.  Was I jumping the gun because of my paranoia?  UGGHHH!  Why am I so indecisive and why does this time it have to be over something that is $1800???  So long story a little less long :), we ended up getting the helmet and I cried all the way home regretting it!  Am I bipolar or what?  Weird.  I was so emotional about it.  He was screaming and sweating in it.  And I was kicking myself and really having buyers remorse about the whole thing, but I was committed to it and like or not, he had to wear it. And in all reality, he actually adjusted to it really well, and ironically slept better than he did without it.  It did get stinky and sweaty and so we had to get in the habit of washing it 1-2 times a day but he really didn't mind.  Matter of fact I think he liked the fact that he could fall, run into walls, corners, whatever and almost not be phased.  When he would get his one hour off for the day, he would get so many bumps and bruises cause he was used to be invincible.  :)  Turns out though he only had it on for nearly 2.5 months!  Although I still think he probably should have left it on longer, the weird doctor said it looked pretty good and would continue to round out by the time he was 3.  Secretly, I think he was blowing smoke out of his ears most of the time, but it did round out a little and I honestly had to get to the point that I believed it is what it is and if he's insecure about it one day, I can at least say, "hey son, we tried." I do get a little nostalgic when I see other babies with them now.

This is the only picture I could find to really show the shape of the back of the head.  You can see the top back part is pretty flat, so I guess it was a good thing we got the dreaded helmet!

LG Conference continued....

Kada, Trace (Melanie and Ryans), Jaq, Seth, Jori and (Aaron is not in the picture).  The kids at BRIO, a super yummy Italian restaurant in Scottsdale.  Everyone brought their kids so we decided to just bring them all along to our Media Center Dinner out.  We made a kid table and an adult table which was fun for us and them.  They all just kept to themselves, giggled, played, and ordered on their own like they were grown-ups and I must say they were all pretty well behaved!  Again, thanks to my mom, Collin was well taken care of and Cordelle and I could enjoy dinner with the Johnsons and the Kelly's.

We came back late one night and found the kids like this.  Is this not the sweetest picture ever?  Poor Seth looks like he's having a traumatic dream though!

I believe the rest of these pictures were actually taken by my mom.  The last night she took the Kelly's kids and our kids while we went to the closing banquet dinner. They had a blast!

Going out for icecream!

Playing fuzeball at the game center!

Rolling down the hills at the golf course

Listening to the bagpiper who played next to the giant fireplace every night at dusk.

Seth being silly and posing on the water fountains outside out room!

They could have played in this for hours! Love them!

Overall I was glad we brought the kids.  It was definitely not as RELAXING for me this time like it normally is at Cordelle's conferences.  But I am glad we didn't have to leave the kids again and I think they loved the vacation away.  The 8 hour drive was another story....:) "No, we're not there yet, we're only to St. George....."

on the way home....with a quick trip to Sedona, Arizona

So on our way home from Scottsdale, we really wanted to take an extra day and do something fun as a family WITH Cordelle, since the conference was really not "fun" for him.  So Cordelle found this cute little town called Sedona just outside of Pheonix.  This town was beautiful.  Kind of Disney Pixar's Cars-esque, but greener.  The surrounding mountains were incredible and I was thrilled to have been able to really see more of the town as I went for a morning run.  We stopped and stayed a night wanting to do some hiking or something with the kids around the outskirts of town.  Only by the time we got going in the morning it was already burning hot (duh!  We are still in the middle of Arizona!)  Anyways so we opted for playing in a little creek we found and called it good!  Then back for the 7 hour drive to Enoch!

Stuff like this is hard with a baby!  But we managed okay and missed only a few naps!

posing.

throwing rocks.

Took a pit stop and stopped to walk across this huge bridge (cant say quite where its at) but remembered why we don't sight see stuff like this very often...Cordelle and heights are not very compatible.

Learned once again just how afraid of heights Cordelle is.  Literally he stayed this low the entire time we were on the bridge.  He would not let go of one of the kids the whole time, I think more for his stability then theirs.  He could not stand up next to the railing.  Poor guy. Sad and scary! 

Granted, we were up pretty high! But its beautiful.