June 15th- Thursday: I woke up around 3am thinking about youth conference. I woke up a little after 5am to shower. We went to the Moulton’s by 6:15. We ate and got on the road and made it to camp by 8:30. We got slowed down by some cows too. We waited around a little bit and then started setting up our tents and unloading food stuff. We started prepping the lunch tables by 10am and had it ready by 11:15. The first meal went very well! After cleanup, we set up and decorated for the luau which would be catered by another company. We went to an orientation meeting with the missionaries and then the kids had classes. I wandered around to a few of them. John Alexander and the other stake YM leaders taught about how a testimony grows like a fire and starts with a spark. I also attended the Farnes' whole class which was about the Atonement and was powerful as always. The food committee distributed snacks in between the classes. The dinner luau went very well! They had a fun photo booth set up. The dancers and entertainment were amazing! We were lucky enough to have a devotional that evening by Bonnie Cordon. She spoke more about the theme, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." She had 1o kids come up and explain why their one word from the theme was most important. It got pretty chilly towards the end. We went back to our campsites and got ready for bed. I used the small sink in the kitchen to wash my face at night. My own personal "bathroom." I got to talk with McKenna a little bit. Cari Mitchell and I stuck together most of the day and slept in tents right by each other.
June 16th- Friday: I got up at 5:15am and got dressed. All the food committee helped Bart cut potatoes and fruit and crack eggs. Everyone came to eat around 8am. After breakfast, everyone packed their sack lunches for the day and they went to their morning devotional and classes. I hung out at the pavilion and chatted and then walked around a little bit. I went to the whole young men’s class this time about keeping our testimony burning! I hung out at the pavilion again for a little bit. The class McKenna helped with was "The Price is Right" where they had everyone guess the value of some things that were auctioned off, and then asked what they would pay if McKenna were being auctioned? They tied it together talking about our infinite worth to Heavenly Father! I went on the faith walk, which was a beautiful experience. You read quotes along the way all about how Jesus loves you, then when you reached a mural of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane, you received a personalized letter from Him. It was a definite spiritual highlight! I ate my lunch, and then the committee helped Bart prep dinner things: potatoes, cobbler, and the salad. We had a little mishap with the cobbler mix spilling on the ground, but we recovered by making more and moving some gravel around to cover up the spill. I felt a headache coming on, so I took some pills and laid down for a bit. The tent was actually a little too hot. We prepped more dinner things and still ended up having the food be about 20 mins late. Everyone loved it, though. We went to Pres. Farnes’ final devotional where we did a balloon release! Everyone tied a piece of paper onto a balloon string with something written on the paper that said what they would do to draw closer to Christ. Releasing the balloons connected heaven and earth. I said I would study about Him more! The food crew cleaned up more, then we went to our own wards and enjoyed a testimony meeting. I shared the experience we had during planning where we talked about the things the camp had to offer as far as the spiritual activity goes (like an iron rod, etc.). I said that we should focus on the stories from the New Testament, and maybe even look up what the lesson would be in Come Follow Me the week we would be at camp. The study for the week of youth conference was set to be about Gethsemane! The person on the committee over the spiritual activity at camp was an artist in our stake named Lena Philips, who happened to be working on a life size painting of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane!! This testified to me that the Lord’s hand has been guiding the planning of this conference since day 1! I was also touched by several of the youths’ testimonies. They loved the faith walk and the workshop about relating our testimony to building a fire! Afterwards Brennan Koldewyn led the youth in a funny chant. Other things to remember from camp: Kevin DeAngelo accidentally tripped on a rock and fell onto the fire ring and burned his hand. Scary, but he was very lucky it wasn't worse!
June 17th- Saturday: I woke up around 6:15am. It was so hard to wake up! We got breakfast ready by 7:45. They had muffins, yogurt, granola, berries, and we set out lots of the other left over food! We cleaned up and Cari and I drove home by 9:30am with McKenna, Korie, and Brittana. We unloaded and texted all the Bishops to tell them they could come get food for ward members in need. Dan and I sat in the garage for a couple hours, snacking, distributing food, talking, and putting camp stuff away. I started laundry and showered. I worked on unpacking. Anna and Bethany played with Ellie, Clara and Mia. Ben played with Oliver. Dan took Ben to clean the van. Hazel came to play with Alice. McKenna showered, did laundry, and worked on her summer gym class assignments. Dan and I talked with Jeanne Voehl about Max’s surgery when she dropped off Luke. Caleb over to hang out as well. We had pizza for dinner. I also got some pictures of what Dan and the other kids did while McKenna and I were gone. They went to a car show (got to see a burn out), went to his work, lunch at Costco, Ben got a haircut, and did some Saturday cleaning chores.
June 19th- Monday: I got up at 6:30 to exercise. Then I got the three girls ready for their WX city camps. We got there by 8:30 for McKenna to work. I did the girls’ hair and they played a little before their camps started. Bethany went to yoga and Alice went to Park Pals. Anna played and I listened to my book. The second hour, Anna went to her basketball camp and lots of friends started showing up for their camps. I saw Kylee Behunin, Meghan Johnson, Mariana West, Lucinda Wade, Jordan Ames, Emily Hartvigsen, Rachael Alexander, and Chelsea Chadwick. Dan had work off for Juneteenth, so he and Ben came later and tried to play Pickleball, but it was super windy and the courts weren’t available. We got Keva Juice and GH bread for lunch. We all went outside to weed and Dan trimmed bushes. I made some phone calls, emails, and napped. Dan helped the girls dust and fold laundry. We had grilled cheese for dinner, then went to Ben’s first tournament game for baseball. They won 13-8! My parents came too. I left early to take McKenna to Adrie’s, then I went to book club at Laura Lewis’s house. We discussed the book “The Girl With 7 Names.” It was about a girl to defected from North Korea.
June 20th- Tuesday: Dan and I went walking from 7 to 7:30. I ate with the girls and then we headed to the park with Adrie for summer camp. When we got there, we found out it had been canceled because the ground was too wet. It had rained, AND they ran the sprinklers. Once we got home, I went in my room and worked on planning some things for Anna’s birthday. The kids did piano. I went to Costco to make food returns, then took my receipt to the Vandenberg’s for youth conference reimbursement. We had lunch. We fed Desi, and McKenna, Adrie, and Bridget ordered door dash from McDonald’s. I cleaned up lunch, and practiced voice with Ben. He helped me try to figure out how to record my Tab Choir audition songs and merge them into one file. I worked on my YW lesson as well and tried to nap. I took the three little girls, plus Desi and Kaysen to Hatch Park. Laura Lewis, Danielle States, and Chelsea Chadwick all came as well. I made dinner. Anna had gymnastics. Dan took Ben and Truman to their bike ride in Park City. I ate with Bethany, Alice, McKenna and Adrie. Bridget came back over as well. The primary presidency came to visit the three girls. I moved pictures off my phone to the hard drive. The girls got ready for bed, then practiced piano again. Dan and Ben got home. We got everyone to bed. I kept moving pictures the hard drive and started uploading videos as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment