Oh the Places You'll Go...

Girls camp this year was on a ward level and so we had the liberty of picking where and when we went to camp. It was a little crazy because we planned it for the week after trek, but it all turned out and we had a marvelous time! We had 22 girls there and they were all WONDERFUL! No drama! We went to Blue Springs State Park and stayed in nice air conditioned cabins. That is my idea of camping :) The theme was "Oh the Places You'll Go" and we talked a lot about setting goals and then taking the necessary steps to get there. I love Young Womens! (Thanks to Amy Lopez...I stole this picture off her blog! )

While Daddy was at trek...

I got to watch the Lopez boys during the day while John was at work and Amy was at trek. The kids had so much fun doing the slip and slide!

TREK

This year Matt had the opportunity to plan our Stake Youth Trek. It was an amazing experience and hopefully I can talk Matt into blogging about it. I didn't get to go because of my "condition" (wouldn't want to be passing out or puking along side the trail or hurt our baby in any way). It was neat because they collected letters from the parents and then the "Pony Express" came on horse and delivered the mail. It was quite an undertaking trying to collect 27 letters from the parents in our ward, but we did it! We had to run around quite a bit. My kids were stuck in the car running from house to house one night with me and Emma said "Mom, all the kids get letters, but what about Dad???" So the morning of trek, Matt had already left at 4:30 a.m., but around 8:30 a.m. we RAN to the site and took letters to the man that was collecting them. We got there right as they were lining up the wagons to head out. I think it really meant a lot to Matt. Thank goodness Emma is so thoughtful and came up with the idea! Luke's letter was so funny and said "I hope you don't get ticks".

The other neat thing they did was they invited the parents and families of the kids to meet up with them the last 1/2 mile on the last day. So we got to help push the carts and be with them. The kids were so excited to see Matt. It was fun because he got to be on horse most of the time, so he was in Heaven! Luke, Emma, and Gavin took the pushing very seriously and pushed the handcart the rest of the way back without letting go once! They were saying they couldn't wait until they could go to trek! I hope they still think that when they are 14 years old!

The ferry

The anti-mormon experience


All the people from our ward that went as either youth or leaders

School is OUT! Bring on SuMmEr!!!!!

It was a hard year to say goodbye to Mrs. Lipsit after Luke has had her for 2 years! She was such a wonderful teacher and Luke LOVED her! The end of the year award ceremony was a tearful event. All the class went in on a beautiful bracelet and each kid picked out a charm. My friend Marissa had which charm each kid picked out written down so Mrs. Lipsit would know who gave what. Luke picked an "L". Mrs. Lipsit wrote the CUTEST poem about the class that had everyone laughing and crying...Here's how it went...

The Can-do Kids are on their way to third grade, don’t you know?
Mrs. Lipsit is going to miss them and doesn’t want to let them go.
They’re smart and they are well-behaved it’s obvious to see.
But, even more than that, this group is like a family.

At reading time she loves to see the light in David’s eyes.
And Santy’s love for learning—his excitement he can’t hide!
She loves that Bailey always takes her time to do her best.
And the kind, sweet heart that Luke has, anyone would be impressed!

There’s Logan who is so polite and is the nicest friend.
And Abby who will help the teacher right up ‘til the end.
Kaden is a student who wants the teacher to be pleased.
Austin’s smile just warms the heart—he really likes to tease.

Ethan is a cool guy who really loves to learn things.
His buddy, Grant, is artsy and you ought to see his drawings!
Edgar likes to learn new things and always follows rules.
Amanda works so hard and she is always good in school.

Taylor is a sweetheart and her laughter makes us grin.
Lauren is exuberant and her stories never end.
Ashley works so hard and her teacher is so proud!
Neilsen learned our language and is loved by the whole crowd!

Maggie is the fastest reader you have ever heard.
Jurnie reads with expression in every single word.
Parker is a showman with a personality plus!
And Chandler organizes every single one of us!

The Can-do Kids have laughed and learned and had a lot of fun.
They learned to work together until the day is done.
Mrs. Lipsit loves them and is proud of what they know.
She hopes that they’ll be Can-do kids no matter where they go!

What a great year!

Emma's Cartwheel Addiction!!!!

Emma CAN'T STOP cartwheeling! You will be walking behind her and BOOM, you will get kicked in the face because she had the sudden urge to cartwheel right in front of you!!!! Well the other night it was late and the kids had been asleep for quite a while...I heard someone get up and thought I would make sure everything was ok. I started up the stairs and there was Emma in the play room walking around in circles. I could tell she was still asleep. Then she started doing cartwheels, then she would walk in a circle, then cartwheel again!!!! She was cartwheeling IN HER SLEEP! She stopped and I asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom and she nodded yes and then headed the wrong direction. I had to redirect her to the potty :)


So there you go, you know you are addicted when you are doing it in your sleep!