Flaming Gorge

So we went to Flaming Gorge a few weeks ago... OK maybe a month ago. We had a great time with my family. It was beautiful, not crowded and clean. We had so much fun on the boat and cliff jumping. We also floated down the Green River and it was so pretty.
The cousins had a blast. My nephew, Brendan told his mom that it was more fun that Disneyland! You never say anything like that to Kristy. She loves Disneyland more than anyone I know! The cousins ran around together all day everyday from condo to condo. They loved being on the boat together too.
Talon got up on waterskiis!! He was so excited. His cousin Brendan did it first and set the bar. I couldn't believe he wanted to do it. My sister-in-law Kristy was so awesome. She got in the water with each kid and got them set up and held them upright. She did this for all the kids. I think I would have been terrified waiting in the water....remember my fear of water? She was so great! She waited in the water while they skied.
Talon was so funny. Once he got up on the water skis, we all started to cheer for him. So he started waving and giving thumbs up letting us know that he was "good". He had this self-confident grin on his face that still cracks me up.
This was fun, oh except for the pounding in my head from jumping. It still makes my head hurt. Of course Eric loved it...no fear. In fact everybody loved it...

Kristy always makes it a party by bringing fun things for the kids. Um, Kristy...need some help?
The boys made it out on a ride...or two. Don't they look cute?
Thanks mom for a great trip!! We loved it!

GIRLS CAMP 2008

What can I say. Girl's camp is always fun. I think it's even more fun for me because I only attended one year when I was a girl. I still lament over it. I really missed out. I, of course, thought I was too cool for such things. Now I wish I could have a do-over. Lucky for me, I got to have some of the fun experiences I missed out on. We went up to Heber Valley Girls Camp and it was beautiful. The cabins are so nice and we even got to take showers! We were lucky that the weather was a little cooler than usual so that the cabins didn't get too hot.


I LOVE these girls! They are such an inspiration to me. They have simple faith and they are so intelligent. They are always asking great questions about the gospel. They have courage to ask questions about things that they don't understand. I remember feeling confused as a young girl, but too afraid/embarrassed to ask. I love that they have confidence to ask those questions. Most of us leaders have similar questions. Enlightening discussions always follow those questions.


Being with the girls makes me feel like I am 12 all over again. Everything is very well planned and scheduled at Heber Valley. That meant that we had very little responsibility which was great because we were able to hang out with the girls. I found myself acting more goofy than usual. Man, I used to be so goofy and fun. It's a bummer when life gets so serious. The girls brought out the fun and crazy side to me.
The girls had challenges on the 3rd day and we went to watch. We thought we were going to be involved, but we weren't allowed to help them. It was so frustrating. All the girls were trying to figure out how to accomplish challenges like how to get across wires without touching the ground and having everyone get across together. Teamwork, right? It's amazing to see what happens when people don't listen to each other. A few of the girls had great ideas, but no one would listen. They kept trying the same thing over and over. At the last challenge they figured it out. They asked each other for ideas instead of shouting over each other and tried each idea one at a time. Interesting how that still happens in teams/families/groups everywhere.

Climbing, Climb on...The leaders were able to do one of the challenges. We had to climb up a tree and cross a wire to another tree and then repel down. I found out it was more unstable than it looked...and I usually love these things. I was a little uneasy but I had no time to think about it because they said we had to hurry so that all the leaders could get a chance. So, that made me do it without having time to get scared.
Here I am getting suited up for the task in a very flattering harness and helmet that really accentuated all my best areas.

I stayed for 3 days and it was great. It's always hard to work out babysitting for my kids while I'm at camp, but it's worth the effort. Next year I would love to be there for the whole thing. As a bonus, I come home with immediate blessings. Case in point...I usually get really stressed before and during vacations, but as soon as I got home from girls camp at 6 PM, we started packing up for Flaming Gorge. We got everything ready and left the next morning at 9:30. I wasn't stressed and I felt pretty relaxed the whole trip. Blessing.