July 2011

Since I am so far behind on blogging I was lazy and put most of our July activities in one post so lots of pics.
The end of July Ken's family had a family reunion in southwestern Colorado where Ken's dad was raised. Because of the timing Lexi was our only child able to go with us. She thought it was great to be the only child for a week. On the way home she told us it was kind of boring being the only child. Easy way to learn the grass isn't always greener. Anyway, we drove to Colorado which was about 16 hrs from our home. It was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed the cooler weather and mountains. You don't think about what you miss until you're in the midst of it. We got to meet quite a bit of Ken's family who we (Lexi & I) had never met. His dad's brothers, cousins and families. Lexi was one of the few "younger" ones. There was time to ourselves as well as activities as a group.

Ken, Lexi and I just before taking off back to Texas.


One of the group activities was going to see Summitville. This was a mining town that Ken's grandpa worked at. It is no longer operating but amazingly many of the old structures are still standing. Ken's dad spent several years here as a kid and is a great storyteller of his experiences and tour guide. This is Ken, his sisters and dad. One of the events of the weekend was Ken's dad was celebrating his 80th birthday.

We stayed in this cute little cabin while in Colorado. It had a kitchenette even.

One day Ken, Lexi and I went hiking. At first Lexi wasn't too excited about the whole idea, wanting to know what the purpose of walking up a mountain was, but gradually got into the whole experience. It was beautiful along the way and we had a goal to make it above 9,000 feet elevation. This was at the highest point we went.

On July 21st Ken celebrated his 46th birthday. Luckily Paige only put enough candles to spell out the numbers, we would have needed a fire extinguisher if there were actually 46 candles.

We spent a day down at Galveston with good friends. It was nice and relaxing and the kids all had a good time. Jordan got to make good use of his skim board. Taylor was in California so he missed out.

The girls and some of their friends just hanging out.

Jordan on the skim board

Lexi decided that she wanted to cut her hair off after seeing a girl in the airport with a haircut she liked. She had been growing it out and had been aiming for the middle /bottom of her back. The stylist was a bit hestitant to just go for it, but Lexi assured her she wouldn't cry when she was done.

Before

After-I think it's a great cut and looks really cute on her. You can see-no tears

One of the things we worked on this summer was teaching Lexi to sew. I had taught Paige a couple of years ago and even bought material with Lexi last year but hadn't sat down and followed through. So this was the year. She did a great job, made herself a pair of pj shorts-of a modest length, of course. She is anxious to try something else soon.

The finished product.

The beginning of July the girls and I headed to California. We had planned on being there with my sisters to go through some of my mother's things. A big job became huge when the plan changed to my youngest sister and her husband and 3 children moving in with my dad while my brother in law attends nursing school. They had to take their full house and add it to my parents already full house and make it a place where everyone could still function. There was LOTS of packing, rearranging, and purging and we did a huge garage sale at the end to sell much of the excess. My sister and her husband had already done a ton, but there was still lots to do so we got busy. It was not only the sheer amount of things to go through but also the emotions tied to my mom's things. One of the positive results is it makes you reevaluate the "stuff" we keep and if we need to do our own purging of the extra.

Sara and I going through papers. I thought the paper would never end.

We did take some time off for fun-the girls and I as well as my sister's family went to a concert in the park. It is free and offered a couple times a month with different musical themes. That night was a tribute to patriotic music and to those who have served our country.

One of the things we went through was my mom's Madame Alexander doll collection. Each granddaughter got one, this is the girls with their dolls. My mother loved dolls and we hope the girls will enjoy their doll and it's association with grandma.

All the cousins enjoying the hot tub at my sister's in-laws. They're so kind to welcome our family, not only my sister but us all. They didn't know what kind of package deal they were getting 11 years ago when my sister got married but that's what family is all about.

As part of the garage sale we had, the kids decided to sell fresh orange juice. They all pitched in and did a great job. No help from the adults and they ended up making over $50.00. And that was even with lots of sampling.

This is the prep crew in charge of cutting, juicing and straining the pulp-Lexi, Tori and Emily (not pictured).

This is part of the selling crew-Mackenzie, Abby, Cori and Paige. It was a job they rotated in and out of. They were all good salespeople.

We even got in a awesome day at the beach while we were in California. I know it's kind of known for the beaches but many times the beach is foggy and cold, no matter what the time of year. This was a perfect day. Sunny, breezy and lots of friends. The girls even got to boogie board.

Paige and Lexi being goofy, they didn't want me taking pictures, they wanted to play!!

Paige being buried and made into a sea turtle by cousin Emily, Lexi and friend Paige

The girls were having a great time catching sand crabs. They were on the hunt for the pregnant ones that had their egg sacks just under their hind legs. I thought it was gross, but whatever. A great lesson in marine biology.

This is the 4th of July in Houston. We had a great day swimming with friends, bbqing, and just visiting. The fireworks were put on hold because of the fire ban. Houston hasn't had any significant rain since March and there was too much of a risk. We did have sparklers so that was the best we could do for the pyro Taylor. Although he had the job of the official lighter.

Hard to see but that's Taylor on the right with the kids lined up for their sparkler. As soon as it was out it went in the bucket of water to prevent any accidental burning.

The fireworks that weren't. Taylor goes to Louisiana with a fellow pyro Mike and they get the "good" fireworks. You can see they were all ready for a awesome show. Since fireworks of any kind were banned throughout the area they are all patiently waiting to be lit.

One of our main entertainments and a must have in the Houston summer is swimming. We are lucky good friends have a pool down the street and are so generous to let us swim. The kids have made frequent use of it and it's nice to not have to travel too far.

Lexi getting some "help" in from Taylor

Paige and friend Andrea showing off their shade style

Lexi with friends Andrea and Quincy

I got all four to pose for a picture. Not an easy feat, but I love it.

Jordan and Taylor showing off their flip form

Paige's Girl Scout Silver award

Paige has been in Girl Scouts since 2004. She joined with a friend as a Brownie and has been active in two different troops with great leaders. She has been able to camp, learn new skills by working on badges, be a program aide for younger girl scouts, and serve others. Paige has worked these past two years on completing the requirements for her Silver award which is the 2nd highest award for girls in Girl Scouts.

Her troop participated together in a Take Action project of writing the script and filming a video for younger kids on bullying, internet safety, individuality, and being a friend. Each girl was then responsible to do a project accumulating 50 hrs. of service. Paige chose to work with a local in house treatment facility for abused and troubled youth 11-18. She did whatever was needed and was often complimented on her willingness to help and for doing a good job. I went with her each time as youth cannot volunteer without a adult if they are under 18. Paige helped with organizing donated clothes, cleaning out a storage facility, filing, preparing for a "prom" held for the residents and even made fleece blankets for the resident's store where they can buy things through their good behavior. It was awesome to watch as she learned from this experience.

This was a storage area of old residents things and donated clothing Before


There was many hours of sorting, organizing and throwing away


The closet After. The items were easily accessible to the residents and counselors



The 9 fleece blankets Paige made for the residents.

At the end of it all the troop had a bridging ceremony since they were moving from Cadettes to Senior Girl Scouts and they received their awards.

Paige and the girls in her troop

Paige and her leader receiving her awards

There was a actual bridge where the troop meets, which was perfect for the bridging part of the ceremony

Paige with her display board showing some of the things she did to accomplish her Silver Award

Paige and her leader Martha MacRae-she is awesome. She and her family have just moved to London for her husband's job and the troop is going to stay together through Skype

Paige and her Silver award. Awesome job Paige, now onto Gold

2011 Barker's Ridge Swim team

Paige swam on the community swim team again this year. Lexi decided she did not want to. They started their practices in April after school-We actually had cool weather until then so the pool was a bit frigid. Paige did well and even made it to the Meet of Champs in freestyle and breaststroke. She is the fastest 13-14 girls in breaststroke on our team.

The goofy girls-Paige and Quincy waiting to swim

Paige waiting for the starting signal

Paige ready to go

A close up -fresh out of the water. The night meets were nice because we didn't have the blistering sun the whole time. The kids were more lively since they were fully awake.

Several of the 13-14 girls waiting for their time to swim at the Meet of Champs. There's a lot of down time at swim meets so the kids learn to bring things to entertain themselves. At this age is usually the ipod.

Paige after the awards ceremony.

End of school year 2010-2011

To finish up some May happenings. The end of the school year is always crazy and it seems like there is something happening every night. This year was no exception even though I'm down to two in school.

Paige was given a special award for her accomplishments in Principles of Human Science, it's a expanded Home Ec. type class. They not only cover cooking and sewing but also things such as budgeting, self-esteem, bullying, interior design. Paige loved the class and did very well.

The end of the year Band concerts. Lexi plays the bassoon and just started last August. It's amazing how much they learn and progress in just a short time. She has done really well and also got an award for her accomplishments.

Paige on stage ready to go, she enjoys the xylophone and marimba the most in percussion and will play those in high school. It's hard to believe this was her last jr. high performance.

This year Paige participated in Volleyball and track. She enjoyed the challenges each presented and did well in both. She received her certificate at the athletic banquet where all the athletes are recognized for their participation.

This is Paige all dolled up for the 8th grade dance. She is a beautiful young woman and has so many exciting things to look forward to. The theme for the dance was Hollywood Nights. The kids had a great time and I enjoyed helping with the planning and being part of this fun night.

I had to throw this picture in. This is our carpool. I do the jr. high run and pick these kids up and take them with the girls. This was the last day of school and while they were excited to be done they weren't quite awake at the time.

YW girl's camp 2011

I'm going to do a big skip and maybe catch up with some other events later. This past week was our Young Women's girls camp. Earlier in the year I was called to be our ward camp director. There were things we did ahead of time to prepare for camp and pass off our requirements for certification. It was finally time to actually head to camp. The 2011 theme for camp was We Believe-the 13th Article of Faith. The shirts had the theme on the front and the whole article of faith on the back. This was almost all the girls from our ward. Two girls and one leader headed up on Mon for a special day of water activities for their age group. There were a total of 19 girls and 3 leaders that headed to camp this year. Several for their 1st time. We were ready to go. The camp was Camp Ta-Ku-La, it is about 2 1/2 hrs. northeast of Houston in the piney woods.


With all the stuff we brought we had to borrow the Boy Scout trailer. Good thing we had it because we would have needed a extra car just for "stuff" It was my 1st time to haul a trailer and I think I did pretty good. Just don't ask me to back it up.

Two of the big attractions at camp were the zipline and rock wall. I tried both and they were great!!!

I made it to the top of the "easy" side of the rock wall and got to sign my name . I tried the medium wall but only made it about 3/4 of the way up. Thank goodness for a harness.

The courtyard of our cabins. I was with the 2nd year girls and we had so many (36) that we couldn't all fit in one cabin. Unfortunately we had to divide them up but the girls did great and made many new friends. Our cabins were the 1st two on the right, Paige's was the last one in that row. The were basic with wood bunkbeds. It was nice that the bathrooms and showers were inside the cabin. The best part was they were air-conditioned. That may seem luxurious but when it was 100+ during the day and not a lot cooler at night it was a blessing to have!

Paige working on her craft-cross stitching. The girls each made a cross stitch that said "We believe" and then were able to put it in a frame they decorated. It was great to see the girls be excited to do the stitchery.

On the last day of camp the older girls organized water games for everyone. This was a relay to empty one bucket and fill another by way of large sponge. The full bucket was then dumped on the camp leaders. The girls had fun getting the leaders soaking.

Paige all set to go on the zipline. Ken did video on his camera but it would not upload here.

This was the outside of Lexi's cabin. This camp was originally a logging community. This building and a church on the property were originaly from the early 1900's. This was used for the 1st years. It was nicknamed the orphanage because there were bunks lining both sides and girls everywhere. I didn't get into it when there weren't girls in it so didn't get a pic but it was a sight to behold. The leaders then had cots down the middle of the area. It was a mass on humanity.

Lexi with two of the other 1st years from our ward. Their leaders gave them the little crowns to remind them they are daughters of a King and are blessed to receive all that He has to give them. A great reminder of our potential here on earth.

Lexi suited up for her go around on the zipline. This was definitely the girl's favorite thing to do, they just didn't like the wait. This guy was great sport to keep all the girls moving along.

Lexi heading down the waterslide. Behind the fence were the 3 pools. Two were shallow and set up for water volleyball and basketball. The other was deeper and had a diving board.

This is all the 2nd year girls. It was quite a feat to get this picture. It was like herding cats to get them all in one place. They were a awesome group of young women and the other leaders were great also.

My girls and I. It was a great experience to be there with them both, whether they liked it or not. The hairstyle they're both sporting is courtesy of moi. I would spend a couple hours each day with someone wanting their hair done. I love to do it and am always happy for the chance to play with someone's hair. I started this when I was the girl's age and was the camp hairbraider.

Ken was asked to come to camp as priesthood leadership. It was great to have him up there with us. We are enjoying the fine cuisine of the camp. This was actually one of the better meals. Chicken strips and mashed potatoes. That was the one drawback that the food was very "institutional" and we'll leave it at that. I appreciate that Ken was willing to come and hang in the heat with us.

This is all the girls, leaders and our bishop from our ward at Girl's camp. On Friday night the bishops are invited up and they come, eat dinner with the girls, participate in some activities and share some counsel with the girls. We are grateful for a bishop that is so supportive of the youth and always willing to do what he can to help them.

I haven't been to girl's camp since I was their age and it was a great week. What a great blessing to have girls and leaders that put so much time and effort into a great program that we can all benefit and grow from.