Winter Camp Out 2011

This is what I call roughing it! But I guess they are scouts and what is that motto they are always touting? Oh yeah - Be Prepared! Well, looks like they are prepared! Gigantic tent, stove, wood - Yep all set! Aack - wait a minute - where's the grub?

I mainly included this next pic to show the trees in the background. Please remember them. And yes - Kael is looking especially macho too!

I honestly don't know what the licorice has to do with this pic - but I liked it so here it is. I wonder if he is sizing up that stove to see how it will stand up to roasted licorice! I wouldn't put it past them - they do love roasted starbursts. Whatever happened to just good ol' roasted marshmallows?

Have scouts - have fire!

Fare for the night - dutch oven potatoes and chicken. YUM!

I don't know if you can see it, but the boys burned their troop number into this piece of wood - T680. (Troop 680)

Last year it snowed almost 2 feet on the boys. We wondered if they would even be able to get home! This year when it started snowing they wondered if they were in for it again! Remember the photo earlier with the snowless trees? Well - Garrett told me that this shot was captured in the wee hours of the morning. Notice the trees!

Breakfast in the snow - so scoutish right!?!

AM Snowball fight. Still not as much snow as last years campout - but I don't see anyone complaining!

Best Troup 680 scouter ever! Glad you had a great time Garrett!

This last shot is from a bon fire the scouts held after they picked up neighborhood Christmas trees. Don't know if there were many marshmallows toasted that night - but again - have scouts - have fire!

Kimber's 10th Birthday

Our wonderful Kimber turned 10 years old on January 26th. Wow, I can't believe it! When we moved to Panguitch she was just a little over 1 year old! Happy Birthday Kimber - We Love You!
Addison getting a boost from McKenna to drop the present on Kimber's head!

All Kimber really wanted was Just Dance 2 for the Wii. It came in handy later that week...

...when Kimber invited every girl in her grade over for a sleep over! Out of the 15 girls in her grade all but one showed up! Addison took the place of the girl who was out of town and staked her claim on the goods from the party! The girls were really great to include her as one of the "big" kids. After they all showed up - they played the afore mentioned Just Dance 2 downstairs while pizza was cooking. Then then party really began. Over the course of the next 10 hours these girls devoured 4 pizzas, 2 bottles of pop, 1 gallon of ice cream, 9 bags of popcorn, 1 cake, a quadruple batch of pancakes and 3 batches of orange julius! Who knew!?! You would have thought they were teenage boys!

Leighton was often the center of attention - whether she wanted it or not!

Unwapping presents didn't take very long considering the number of girls there!

Left to Right: Kimber, Jessica, Abbey, Addison, Brooke, Jessica, Kendra, Karli, McCall, Kelsey, Brittney, Corryn, Tahna, Kapri, Kathleen

McKenna had a ball game to cheer at that night. When she came home, she brought some re-inforcements to help do the girls' hair - all 15 of them! What life savers! The girls all loved being pampered by teenage girls!

After their hair was all done, the girls all lined up on the couches and got ready for the show.

Baylee, McKenna and Cassidy performed 3 or 4 of their cheer dances for the girls. It was the most quiet the girls were all night!

At 12 pm I went down and tucked all the girls into bed and retired to bed myself...only to be awakened at 3 am by giggling, squealing 10 year old girls! I went down and found 12 out of the 14 girls WIDE AWAKE and told them they were all silly and TO GO TO BED! About 4 am I finally couldn't hear anything! They all wandered up the stairs around 8 am for breakfast and crafts.

All in all it was a great night! These are such cute girls and they all got along so well, even with all their different personalities. No tears, no one went home early or sick. They all bragged to their parents (much to my embarassment) that they all stayed up until 4 am! And their parents reported back later that they were all busy that day and very good. (Whew!) Kimber is such an important part of our family. I am so thankful for her, for her example, and for all her help! She is a smart, beautiful daughter and we LOVE her to bits!