Girl's Camp 2009

As soon as we moved into our new ward I was called into Young Women's. This is my first time being in Young Women's and I absolutely love it!! I have been wanting to go to Girl's Camp forever and I finally got my chance this year. Taylor, Mom, Melody and Heather helped out watching the kids while I was gone for 4 days at Camp LoMia. The theme this year was "Once upon a time....Heavenly Ever After" which was right up my alley. It was a blast. Here are some pics from camp.

All the beautiful ladies right before we left the Stake Center.
The lovely Heidi our amazing camp director

Hailey in her skit costume.

Moriah all dolled up for the skit

Emily stiking a pose

Jaricka dressed up as Ella from Ella Enchanted for the skit.

Nicole

We convinced ALL the girls to go on the second year hike (the 5 miler) They were all champs,

Just call me Robin Hood

Bishop's Night picture with all the stake leaders from our ward.

Me, Maddy, and Moriah

Hailey and I

Emily, Nicole and I

Our awesome Coat of Arms. Our was the best!

All the leaders (minus Julie:( ) The most fun group of ladies ever. Disclaimer: We didn't wear makeup or do our hair at camp.

4th of July

I love the 4th of July!! Ever since I was little it has been the highlight of my summer. When I was little my Uncles would get a huge arsenal of fireworks and have a big fireworks show and we would have a big BBQ with a bonfire and party! Here in AZ fireworks are illegal (even sparklers!) so we can't really have a firework party but we still can have a BBQ! This year we had the BBQ over at Dave and Heather's house and all the kids swam like little fish until dinner.

This is the pic of what Wes looked like before I instructed him to smile.
After dinner we went a fireworks display. I had bought some glow bracelets, poppers, and the growing snake things for the kiddos to play with while we waited for the show to start.

Uncle Mike was playing with Lucy and making her laugh and smile.
Here is the pic of the Proudift Family.

Emma, Jaidyn and Lucy. Those girls are so good with Lucy. I seriously think that she gets the most love of any child in the world.

Another the Proudfit Family

Dagen playing with Lucy.

James was of course terrified of any and all 4th of July festivities and was being consoled by Daddy.

Mommy and Wester playing with poppers. Do you love the crazy face I am making?!?!?!

Collin and a half asleep Weston.

The REAL Proudfit Fam complete with 4th of July outfits (did you really doubt that I would buy the kids outfits for the occasion?) Poor Lucy looks like she is falling

Momma's little sparkler (get it - I know I'm hilarious)

Grandma Helen's Funeral

A few months ago we went to Utah for the funeral of Tay's Grandma Helen. Grandma Helen was the sweetest lady in the world and was so cute with our kids. The first time I met her she told me all these funny stories and Tay and I literally sat on her couch for hours listening. She was a spunky fiesty lady who lived a really full and exciting life. The family decided to just have a graveside service for her and keep things simple. But what is simple really while you are trying to wrangle three antsy children in a cemetary on Memorial Day! We kept the kids quiet but all the kids were starting to wonder to the outskirts of the pack and by the end of the service they were wandering all over the place. Jameson was really good and quiet and found alot of fun in an otherwise uncomfortable place. These are the pics of James playing his favorite game- Monster.

After the excitment of the monster games was over a contemplative mood came over him and he just laid down and talked to himself (on top of a headstone) for the next 15 minutes. Thank goodness Mel had her camera at the ready and caught all these moments. James is a little dreamer and although this may sound strange while he was laying on these graves hanging out I thought the people who were laid there were also getting a kick out of our little Jamers.

Are we done yet??

After the service we all piled in the car and went over to Uncle Matt and Aunt Holly's house for a Helen themed luncheon complete with Grandma Helen's favorite food - KFC chicken. It reminded me of my own Grandma's funeral where we all went and got Dairy Queen after in honor of my grandma. At the luncheon all the cousins had a blast playing together. Here is our awesome nephew Malcolm laying around with Lucy. This boy is so awesome with kids and they all adore him.

Next Mel and I decided to kill some time and do a photoshoot of the little Lucy girl. Mel is the designated picture girl ofr the family and never lets us down. Seriously if it weren't for Mel we would have missed so many moments on film (or digital?). Thanks girl.

By the end we were all tired but stopped for one last picture of all the grandkids. That is 21 in all and that's not counting the step-cousins who weren't there. That's one one side people!

It was a great day honoring Helen and we miss her.

Rattlesnakes

After coming home from girls camp I heard the story about the rattlesnake in Mike's yard from Weston. He is now fascinated with rattlesnakes and when we went to the library this week he picked out a book about rattlesnakes. This book is nasty and complete with lots of gross pictures which Weston loves. There is one picture in particular Wes is fixated on, it's a picture of a rattlesnake giving birth. Although the spawn is in an egg the egg is translucent and you can see it. Wes always say "Mom looks at this it's scusting (disgusting)!" After see this picture a million times and explaining to him for the millionth time that it's a baby snake not poop, something clicked in Weston's head about me giving birth to baby Lucy. Many questions followed. Long story short Weston now knows the real story about how babies are born. Thanks alot stupid rattlesnake book. My little boy is growing up to fast.