Going to Oakcrest

On July 3rd, I got to go up to Oakcrest girls camp. This is a camp that the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has where the beehive age girls get to go. Some of you may also know of Brighton Girls Camp which is the same thing about. Well, I used to work there. I worked in the kitchen the summers of 2001 and 2002 and then in 2003 I was a counselor named Pixy*. I was so heart broken to hear that they were doing an Oakcrest 50 year reunion and I wouldn't get to go because we were at our Youth Conference at the same time. I decided to go up the week before the reunion when my young women went up for the week. This was so much fun to go around and see the grounds, zipline, archery, the craft houst, Tree Hut (oh man, good memories there), and to see my camper, Madison, who is now working there as a counselor..."Frizzles." We stayed for a short program where the staff sang some songs, my favorite being "I Am A Child Of God" Oakcrest style (if you don't know what I mean, ask someone around you the is 12-14 years old to sing it for you) and then they sang their staff song that goes along with their theme for the summer. It was beautiful. Afterward, we split up into stakes where our Stk. President spoke to the girls and then all the bishopric members and Stk. Young Women's Presidency bore their testimonies. It was nice and it was great to be back. I got really home sick for camp and wished that I could be there. There us such a nice peaceful feeling there and you truly feel loved by those around you and our Heavenly Father. We then said goodbye to our girls and left them a treat bag-thanks to Jeff Buchanon (hey anyone looking for a date and is single, this is the guy to date-i'll set it up. ha,ha). I love Oakcrest...that's how I met my husband....good times.

Names with an "E."

No, no, we are not expecting baby number three quite yet (don't panic mom), but we have been talking about what kind of names to name our future children. We started with Emma, and then Ellie came along and we are going to name our first boy Ethan. What is going on? All "E" names. Wow, not planned. So, we decided to keep this pattern going, but are lost on names for the rest of the kids. Some we like are Edward (thank you Twilight series for that name), Elise (but can't touch that one, little sister, Robyn, gets that name), Eleena, Eli, Embry, Evian...but of course Andrey isn't liking most of those. So why am I posting this? I am wanting to hear some great and awesome "E" names from all of you and maybe the lucky winner will be able to have our kid names after their suggestion. So, start suggesting.

P.S. Emma's middle name is Elizabeth, so that one won't work.

"I Want A Big Mac!"

Andrey and I were going to scrap some metal to get money for our week long vacation/reunion and to also pay for a boat that Andrey reeeeeally had to HAVE. On our way home, we stopped by a Home Depot for Andrey to pay some of his workers when we saw a "homeless" guy or a man standing holding a sign (by the McDonalds) that said something like, "Please get me a Big Mac...". Andrey said, "Oh, man, poor guy-we've got to get him a Big Mac. If that 's all he wants. Should we?" I was all for it...what would it hurt? Pay it forward, right? We bought the number one meal and hoped the guy would like Sprite. ha,ha. As we got up to him, I rolled down my window and held the bag out to him. What do you think his reaction was? Well, here were my worries....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple of years ago, my family and I were at Denny's, yearly family tradition. On our way out, there was a man holding a sign that said he would work for food, and that he was hungry. So, being the great nice guy that my dad is, he bought him a big meal. We were so excited to see the man's face. To our surprise, when my dad gave it to him and said enjoy, the man gave him a look of disgust and said, "I don't want food, I want money!" and with that, he threw the food away. My dad was so mad...as were the rest of us....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back to present time~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, thinking back to that memory, I was afraid of this Big Mac Man's reaction because I was the closest one to him and really didn't want fries and Sprite all over on me...well, I thought wrong. The guy looked at us really shocked and said, "No way. That is awesome! You guys actually bought me a Big Mac. You are great. Oh, this is great!" He kept going on and on as he was digging into his food and his drink. We said see ya and went on our way with big smiles on our faces. We started talking about why people can't work and get money, why they have to beg for it-that they make a lot more money than we think...but then we stopped and just enjoyed the happy feeling we had for getting this guy a $5 meal. Fun experience. PAY IT FORWARD!!!

Drive-In Movie

My mom is now 47....but she looks like she's 30....=0). To celebrate her birthday, we went to Fazoli's (I think that's how you spell it) and had a wonderful dinner, where Ellie ate everything in site and Emma picked at everyone else's dinner but her own. We had my mom open presents. We got her a book that is 21 days with Christ...or some title like that, and then we all put our testimonies in the inside of it. I sure do love my mom and the example that she is to me-she's amazing.
We then went to the drive-in movies-a first for Emma and Ellie. We unpacked our chairs, blankets, radios, and alllll our yummy junk food and enjoyed watching "Journey to the center of the Earth." And...oh, I can't remember the other title. It was so stinkin' hilarious. It has Anne Hathaway and the actor that's on The Office...anyway. We were up till about one in the morning laughing our heads off. It was a lot of fun doing that with our family. Ellie only made it through the first movie and Emma kept fighting it but didn't last through the end of the second...niether did I. ha,ha. I missed the last 10 minutes of the movie, but Andrey was kind enough to fill me in on how it ended-good ending, but as usual, the guy is too old for the girl, but they're in love so I guess it's okay. Drive-in movies are the best I have come to realize. You get double the feature for the price of one, so if anyone ever goes out to the movies, we're in!

Youth Conference

Andrey and I went to our youth conference this summer, July 10-12th. It was so much fun. We dropped the girls off at my parents and started the two hour drive to Fillmore with the music cranked in our new vans we rented. Girls in one, boys in the other-we wanted a little peace this weekend. ha,ha. We arrived and played some getting to know you games like categories where you splash water on the person that guesses what your favorite food, shoes, car, etc. is. We gave everyone a pile of Starbursts and went around in the circle saying something unique about us and if no one else had that certain thing in common, then they would have to give me one of their candies...so the objective is getting the most candy. We then had a gum art contest where all the kids chewed on some gum then spit it out on an index card and with a toothpick, we saw who made the best design/sculpter.
We then had free time where I gave the girls makeovers from head to toe because we were having a pioneer dance with the Fillmore kids---oh boy, cute boys were coming. The girls were so excited and we were all shocked to see the boys put deoderant on for once-those lucky Fillmore girls. We had the Camp family teach us the polka, waltz, and many other dances. It was so much fun to see our shy, quiet kids getting out on the floor and kicking up a heel or two. And good ole Andrey was such a good sport, dancing every dance so none of the girls had to sit out and watch. I got to dance one dance with him though-the Polygamy dance. I made sure he saved that one for me. hee,hee.
We stayed up skating in the Pod (where we were sleeping) and playing basketball or frisbee.
The next morning, we made our lunches and took a tour of the museum, we headed for Cove Fort where we watched a movie and took a tour of the Fort, Blacksmith area, bunk house and the Barn. It is amazing how many people and families were helped by those that lived in Cove Fort. They had shelter, food, and love-even though they didn't know who would stop by or when. It makes me realize that I need to be a little more compassionate and full of service. We ended our tour with one of our girl's uncle, Doug the Beekeeper, showing us one of his hives and anwering our questions about bees, honey, wax, and anything else we were wondering about. We drove back to Fillmore and went swimming. We all stood in a circle and tried to keep the beach ball up in the air-all of us occasionally getting wacked in the head, face, leg, or almost drowning. It was a lot of fun and nice to cool off after being in the sun all day.
We drove over to the Wildlife Park where, while the boys were chasing the girls with cockroaches and other beetles, had a barbecue and had the Komerick family speak to us about being "Steadfast and Immovable." We ended the spirit filled night with a testimony. It was great to hear from some of our youth-to hear that they do know they are children of our Heavenly Father and that they love this gospel.
We ended our fun day with Mafia and Murder in the Dark and played till after midnight. We finally went to sleep and were ready our drive back home the next morning. One thing we did that was fun, while eating pizza at our lunch stop/rest. Each of the youth took turns telling what their favorite thing was at Youth Conference and then telling something they loved about someone in the group. It's neat to know that their favorite things were when we did things together. This was a fun experience and I am so glad that I was able to go and to gain a better friendship and love for the youth in our ward.

Ellie is ONE!!!

Our little Ellie is finally one. We had such a fun party. We went to the Pleasant Green Park and had lots of family come. We barbecued. Played on the playground-Ellie loves the swings the most...and Emma likes the dirt ha,ha. We had a cute star cake made for Ellie that my aunt, Jennifer, made for her. We sang to her and with the help from Emma-and about 10 blows, the candle was finally blown out. Ellie didn't know what to do with the cake at first. She kissed it a few times, bit into it without using her hands, and then Emma stepped up and showed her how it is done. Ellie looked at me to make sure it was okay. I just smiled and helped her get her hands in the cake. About 5 minutes later, the cake was mostly gone and Ellie was COVERED with yellow frosting and loveing every minute of it. Kaycee, my sister, had to grab a fork and join in also. We cleaned Ellie up and then unwrapped presents which she loved-her rocking horse, her stuffed animals, farm animal toy that makes a noise, books, cute clothes, cow flashlight, etc. Ellie loves cows and loves to "moo" like one. She had a fun time and we had a great time taking pictures and videos. What a fun day and lots of fun memories. Now we just have to teach Emma how to share Ellie's toys with Ellie. Hee, hee.