Girls Camp 2011

Surprise, surprise I was asked to go to Girls Camp. I was told a couple of months ago that they needed people to help out especially on the hikes, so I decided that I would help. A few weeks later I saw the staff roster and I was assigned to be a level leader. Boy was I in shock! I was very worried about all the responsibilities that I would have. Thankfully I wasn't the only leader over the 3rd years. We had a great week that started out with backpacking to one of my favorite places on earth, Blue Lake. We had a lovely dinner and a warm fire to battle the cold wind. We made it safely to Treasure Mountain the following day to a camp full of girls. I forgot how wonderful Girls Camp is. The spirit is so much stronger when you can get away from all the distractions that surround us. I couldn't believe the number of times adults thought that I was one of the girls or on Junior Staff. They were surprised to hear that I was a level leader and told me that I was lucky to have such a young looking face. One of the highlights for the week was when I realized that I was a Laurel when the Big Sisters were Beehives and that we were in the Sacramento Temple Celebration together. I loved spending time with the older girls especially since we were so close in age.

Why yes, I do blend in with the girls.

Hannah's broken down car.

The girls all gathered together for a devotional.

A beautiful sunset.

Gathering around the camp fire for 'smores.

Poor Hannah rolled her ankle, so Victoria and Maddy helped her back to the car.

Paper lantern chandelier for our cabin. 

"We ain't nothin' but 3rd years..."

Getting camp news from the magic mirror.

The Priesthoods' version of the Seven Dwarfs.

I am so grateful for this experience that I had. I love the spirit of Girls Camp and look forward to going again.

Independence Day!

I love the 4th of July. When I was young, my mother would always plan the best parties for us and our cousins. Her love of this holiday has definitely rubbed off on me. While my parents were out of town, Jonathan and I got to house sit for them and I got to decorate her house. It was so much fun!

Every kitchen needs some red, white, and blue!

Paper fans to dress up the mantle.

The library needed some pompom garland.

One of the many printables around the house.

Sparklers to play with at the Nelsons!

It was so strange not having my mom around for the 4th, but it was still so much fun! We had a wonderful dinner with the Nelsons and then found some fireworks in Roseville to watch. I am so grateful to live in a country that offers so much freedom. I love this country with all my heart.

Hermana Leshelle Hoer

I like to think that I'm a pretty good friend, well at least that I try to be. Before Jonathan and I started dating, I was in the Roseville YSA ward and met some wonderful people. I was able to become really close friends with Leshelle Hoer (it's pronounced her) especially since we were in the Relief Society presidency together. Before we finished our presidency meetings, I would have to give an update on what was going on with Jonathan. I would usually saying I wasn't sure about how I felt and Leshelle would always ask when are you getting married. At the time, it seemed like she wasn't listening to what I was saying. I was wrong! A few months later I was engaged and she was called to serve a mission in Chicago, IL. Leshelle left for her mission the same week Jonathan and I were married. I wrote a letter to her a few weeks later and it's still safely in my possession. Luckily, I found out today that she has a wonderful blog and now I can send her that letter and many more. She is an amazing woman and great story teller.

This is from Halloween 2009.

It is so great to read about her wonderful experiences in Chicago. I am so grateful for her friendship!

Good morning!

Nothing like cake batter pancakes for breakfast! By the way, can you tell that I'm so excited for Independence Day this year?

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Orange Fish

Since I don't have children of my own to brag about, I like to brag about my nephews. I had the opportunity to take Ryan and Tyler to their swim lessons and boy was it fun! They are both really good swimmers thanks to their wonderful teachers.

Ryan working on diving into the pool.

That orange thing is Ty swimming by himself!

 

Ry showing his excellent form.

                                        Both boys love jumping off the diving board.

During class yesterday, I heard a little voice shouting my name. I looked up and saw that it was Ty. He asked, "BJ, am I a good swimmer?" and I told him he was a great swimmer. I just can't help but love that kid!

I love that smile!

It is so much fun for me to see all that my nephews are accomplishing even though it still feels like they should be babies. These guys are the best!

This is so us!

My sister Hannah found this on etsy and thought of Jonathan and me.

I wonder why she thought of us?

This describes us perfectly! He's a nerd, I'm learning how to be crafty, and we love smooching {just ask my dad}! I want to make these!

This Kid

I love all of my nephews. They are the funniest group of little boys ever. I am especially close to Tyler because I was really bad at sharing him with the rest of my family when he was a baby. He comes up with some of the funniest sayings and ideas. He recently went through a phase with saying I never not. Everyone thought it was so funny, except for his parents of course! Tyler also wanted to name his baby sister Toilet Captain America for a while. He has since come to his senses and is stuck on the name Sharpay {yes from High School Musical}. I got to go to his preschool a couple of months ago because he was the star of the week. He could invite his favorite person, so he invited me! I got to look at his poster all about him. The two things I remember are that he wants to be a daddy when he grows up and that if he could wish for anything he wants a hot dog to eat.

Anyways, tonight I was babysitting him and his brothers. After getting everyone into bed, I gave Tyler a cup of water and he pulled the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from his bed. I asked him if he wanted me to read to him and he said yes. So asked him what chapter to read and he said 6. So I climbed into bed with him and started reading. This is the part when the first 2 golden tickets are being found. We laughed at the children's names. I didn't realize that he had fallen asleep while we were reading together. It was such a sweet and wonderful experience. I love all of the fun memories we have together. I can't wait to have a kid like him.

I just can't help but love this crazy kid!

Confession Time...

I need to tell you that I am terribly addicted to a new website I found. It's pintrest. People post pictures of things they like. They have literally EVERYTHING from wedding ideas to kids stuff to party decorations to food to home organization. I see things that I want and also things that remind me of some of my family members. Here's just a few things.

These would be my sister Amy's shoes.

Soon my other sister Amy will have a little girl to do this with!

My brother Chris would have loved these growing up!

I can't help but think of my sister Mackenzie! She loves chocolate.

This is something my silly brother Thomas would say.

If my brother Taylor was a girl, this would be his purse!

My sister Hannah would throw a book party like this.

My niece Mercedes would love to eat this.

Adam and Christina are so in love!

This is my dream tree house when I grow up!

If Jonathan and I ever have a dog, it would need to be nerdy and geeky.

This is just funny!

This describes all 5 of my nephews.

As you can see, there are a lot of different things to see. No wonder why I'm addicted!

Our First Big Day Trip!

Jonathan and I got married in the middle of the spring semester, so we haven't been able to make any big trips together. A few weeks ago we decided the first Thursday after school was out that we would go to San Francisco! Then we had to delay it by a week because I was playing at my 9th Roseville High School graduation. Thankfully Jonathan was patient with me and this last Thursday we took off to the city!

We're ready to go!

Every time I go to the city the first thing I do is go to the wharf and get a crab sandwich from one of the street vendors. This was Jonathan's first time trying one and he loved it!

This guy was trying to be sly and eat some of our crab!

 After lunch, we walked further down the pier and saw a WWII submarine and Liberty ship. The Liberty ship is still able to sail and it is the last Liberty ship that is around that was part of the D-Day invasion. It is so COOL!

The D-Day survivor!

I was somehow able to convince Jonathan to do this!

Then we went to an old arcade and played a game of pong and I won!

Winner!

We also went to the Exploratorium, but on our way we had to take a drive down Lombard! It was really fun and we saw a great view of the city.

The beautiful view!

Driving on down.

This was my first time to the Exploratorium and it was so much fun minus the one million kids there for a field trip. There were so many cool things there that I know my nephews would love!

That's Jonathan way over there and we were holding a quiet conversation thanks to Physics!

We can both fit in a chair that's 4x bigger than the average dining chair.

We took a nice little walk outside of the building and it was gorgeous! I love the beautiful details in that building.

Enjoying the sunshine.

My handsome man!

Then we went to Union Square and checked out the Apple store and my favorite fabric store Britex! Jonathan even found some great fabric for a little boy room! By this time we were both exhausted and knew that it was time to go home. Jonathan was pretty sure that he had never been on the Golden Gate Bridge before, so we drove home that way. It was a great way to end such a fun day!

We have an amazing store that happened as the day was going on. We started out our trip with a prayer that the car would function properly. Then Jonathan, being the responsible handyman he is, checked all the fluids and tires. He noticed that his oil level was a little low, so he added some. When we got to the Bay Bridge and could smell oil, but there were so many cars around that we didn't think twice about it. Then as we left the Exploratorium, the car made a funny sound, but it didn't repeat so we brushed it aside. We pulled into a parking garage in Union Square and the oil light starts flickering on the dash. Jonathan opens the hood and sees that the oil cap is not on. Apparently he had forgotten to put it back on about 120 miles ago! He's already thinking of where to buy a new cap because his mind keeps telling him it's long gone. A thought keeps coming to his head to look around the engine. Even though his mind is sure it's gone, he looks around and is able to see this little circle thing. He dug around and pulled it out. It was the oil cap, just sitting there for most of the day. Jonathan even had just enough oil left to put in the car and he made sure that he put the cap on. We were so grateful for this miracle and that Heavenly Father is taking care of us.