Utah Trip - Week 1 - Strawberry Days & Father's Day

Right after camp, we headed to Utah for our annual visit.

We love being at Grammy and Grandad's house. Grammy's poppies were dug up, but they didn't die. They sprouted up like wildflowers!

It's always an adventure to see what comes out of their food storage.

It cost 11 cents in 1973!! I was 5 years old!

We joined Grandad on a visit to Pioneer Book - a used bookstore. The kids were wowed over so many books! It came in handy later as Grandad and Baylie got into their reading competition.

Grammy and Grandad go to the temple twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus Grandad works in the temple on Fridays. It was nice for me to go to the temple with them because I usually go by  myself.

There were ducks in the fountain!

We went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo. We hadn't been since the kids were tiny.

Grammy and Grandad invited all of us to go. It was fun to be such a big group of familiy.

 

Behind the scenes.                                                                                                                                     

National Anthem                                                                                        

Bronc Riding

The next day the kids went to watch the parade at Erik and Shanelle's while I went to the airport to pick up David. He was supposed to come in the night before, but the flight got cancelled.

He had Monday off for Juneteenth and it was perfect because Sunday was Father's Day. Mrs. Cavenaugh's was giving free ice cream to dads.

We got David a BYU lunch box. We had celebrated a bit more the week before when we were all in South Carolina.

I love my dad.

The kids decided they wanted to learn how to carve, so Grandad got them carving gloves and knives. It was a lot harder than they expected!

Baylie sold cookies to help pay for tennis camp. We were able to deliver cookies to Katie Jensen Bigalow, one of my former young women and seminary students. She is such a beautiful person and is doing a wonderful job raising three little girls.

I got a screaming deal on a hat at Forever 21 ($4!). It reminded me of my granny.

Apparently, Baylie liked it too. She goes selfie crazy every time she gets my phone.

Erik and Shanelle invited us over to make t-shirts. They have a Cricut and love to make things.

The final products! We all loved our shirts.

Camille Cowley was another of my young women/seminary students. She had a wedding reception while we were in Utah and I was so excited to be able to go.

We were even more excited to see that the reception was being held at "the Castle." What a beautiful location!

The first person to greet us was her sister, Caylin. She looked so lovely and it was wonderful to see her.

We felt like we were in a Disney movie. So amazing!

Jalen's favorite thing about being at Grammy and Grandad's is the nightly ice cream!

We don't get to see family often enough, but we cherish every moment we have.

Girls Camp - June 6-10, 2023

I had the amazing opportunity to go to Girls' Camp as the assistant camp director. I was especially excited to be with Baylie. The girls in the Irmo Ward are so sweet and we had a wonderful time. There were 12 girls: Baylie; Natalie, Kaitlyn, and Allee Bailey; Olivia and Rachel Chorey; Bella Howe; Belle Adams; Olivia Fuller; Alyssa Mills; Journey ?; and Talia Stroud. Audra Deal was the camp director and two young women leaders came with us - Liz Anderson and Taryn Duff. We had different priesthood leaders come up every day.

Olivia C., Journey, Allee, Liz, Natalie, Rachel, Olivia F., Talia, Taryn, Kaitlyn, Me, Baylie, 
Elder & Sister Johnson

It wasn't exactly "camping." We went to a home on the lake. It is owned by the McHugh family - members of the Church that let us use the home for free. It was the perfect location!

The home is huge and mostly one big open room so we could all do different things while still being in the same place. The younger girls slept on the floor downstairs.

The older girls slept in a loft upstairs.

The girls got a lot of use out of the ping pong table. (Not as much out of the air hockey table.)

We had a game table and a craft table - both of which got a lot of use

The lake was fun at all times of day.

Me and Baylie with Natalie

Sister Bailey came the first night to teach us how to make and toss pizzas.

Olivia F., Alyssa, Sister Bailey

Sister Bailey and Natalit

Allee, Olivia, C., and Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn, Alyssa, Belle, Gideon, Sister B

Baylie and I are not master pizza tossers!

Eating our labors!!

Rachel, Taryn, Baylie, Bishop Bruno

Audra, Liz, Taryn, Bishop

Allee, Kaitlyn, Baylie

Baylie and Natalie

Audra

We had a movie night with a big screen. We watched Enchanted. I thought there would be more singing along, but they enjoyed the movie.

Sunrise at the lake house.

Can you see the deer?

Yoga

The girls had workshops. Sister Bruno taught them about mental health and social media. There were also workshops on physical fitness, finance, and sscripture study.  

Each morning and evening, the girls put on devotionals. I was so impressed with the quality of their messages.

Brother Contini taught some of the girls how to fish.

Such a fun group!

Back: Liz, Olivia F., Natalie, Allee, Taryn, Belle, Baylie, Kaitlyn
Front: Journey, Olivia C., Bella, Rachel, Alyssa, Me

The girls spent hours on the lake every day. It was so fun.

The waves kept pushing the girls back to shore so I kayaked ahead of them and pulled them out.

I then kayaked around our part of the lake all by myself.

The McHugh's let us play with all their lake toys.

We had a tea party activity where we made British fascinators, learned about etiquette, and then ate sweet treats.

Baylie and Kaitlyn

Ready for the tea party!

Delicious!

There was a landscape painting class with Sister Chorey.

Dance party!

The bishopric joined us for a formal dinner.

We had a testimony meeting to end camp.

Back: Liz, Audra, Taryn, Rachel, Natalie, Allee, Olivia C. Bella, Sister Brusin, Sister Bruno
Front: Journey, Belle, Kaitlyn, Bailey, Olivia C., Brother Brusin, Bishop Bruno, Brother Hunlow

It was a great camp and I was so glad I got to be there with Baylie.