Camping and Being released

We had a wonderful week last week. We spent Monday at Water World as a family. It was a great day to be there except for a short period of time in the early afternoon that we had a bit of wind and rain. Thankfully that didn't last long and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day. The water slides were a ton of fun and the kids had a blast riding the slides and playing in the wave pool.

I worked very hard on Tuesday and Wednesday to complete a slide show from girls camp. I attended 2.5 of 4 days at girl's camp this year and had a great time. Our Young Women are so amazing. The slide show included over 200 photos of our girls in their various activities. I loved putting the slide show together and it turned out really good. We had our camp awards night on Wednesday and had a great time reminiscing about camp.


On Thursday, Mike and I packed up the gear, trailer and the family and headed into the mountains for a camping trip. We camped with 6 other families and had a great time. The weather was wonderful and the campground was amazing. We camped at Dowdy Lake and everywhere you looked was a beautiful view. The kids played in the lake, went fishing, hunted for crawdads and just enjoyed being with their friends. For Mike and I it was a pretty relaxing camping trip. Now that the kids have gotten so big, they don't require quite so much attention and we let them run and play all day. On Friday me and all the other moms took a little walk around the lake. It was a simple little walk, but was very beautiful and so peaceful without any of the kids. Thursday night I made the BEST camping desert we have ever had. We made homemade ice cream in bags(which has become a tradition when we camp lately, thank you Mel) and I made dutch oven apple cobbler to go with it. It was sooooo good.


While camping we fished a ton, actually we cast out a ton, we never caught anything. Kyle loved casting out and reeling in his line. We saw so many fish jumping I don't know how we never caught anything, but we had a total blast trying anyway. Sadly, our camping trip came to an end and we headed home. Now the piles of laundry await and things need to be put away and I need to recapture my house. I got a good start on those things yesterday but have quite a bit more to do tomorrow.


Finally the last of my blog for today is to tell about my sadness over being released from my calling in church today. I have been serving in the Young Women's program for over 4 years. I have enjoyed serving in that capacity so much. I have worked with the girls ages 14-18 the whole time. I have sent numerous girls off to college, seen several girls get married, watched them grow and learn and mature in so many ways. I have also grown so very close to so many and have so enjoyed being a part of their lives. I have been confidant to some, a shoulder to cry on to others, given support when they needed it, offered encouragement when necessary, and I hope I have been a friend. I certainly consider them my friends and hope that they will all stay in touch. It is so hard for me to think about not being involved with them in this capacity anymore. It makes me sad and I have literally cried for a good part of the day. I know that the Lord will have some other postition for me to serve in and with time, I will grow to love those I serve there too, but it doesn't make this any easier right now. I love the Young Women's Program and feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful young women. I will miss them all so much!!!

Well, that is enough for now.