Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Fourth of July

REMEMBERING OUR ROOTS
CELEBRATING OUR FREEDOM
LEAVING A LEGACY
For as long as I can remember I have been a part of the tradition of sleeping outside, following the parade of cars as they fire off the Anvil around town, playing in the Jennings Band, attending the Patriotic Program, eating Navajo Tacos, going to the night Rodeo, watching the fireworks, and if you're young and have any energy left there's always a dance!!
Hope to see ya'all there!!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

My neice
Addelyn
Doesn't she make a cute little cowgirl?



Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Trek

Monday Alex, Denver, and others spent the better or worse (113*) part of the day and most of the evening loading handcarts, dutch ovens, tables, and etc. When Alex got home I was the bearer of bad news with "I think something is wrong with the AC.?!" Yes the fan had gone out due to the extreme heat of the day.

Tuesday Alex's Dad and I rode with him up to Forest Lakes to deliver the handcarts. When we got to "Base Camp" we found a few people, tons of food and a lot of equipment (canopys, huge generator, freezer, refrigerator, bread proofer, camp trailers, and ect.) These were all donated by the generosity of those in our two stakes. I was told that there were many miracles big and small that made this trek possible.
Wednesday after about 2 hours of sleep we took Shan to the church at 4 a.m.


Doesn't she just make the prettiest pioneer?


This is what she could take~pad, sleeping bag, coat, pillow, and a bag of clothes and other items.
Elissa, Ashley, Heather, Karly, Shan, and Amanda.


Our ward trekkers and their fearless leaders.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

A Dad Like Mine

If you have a dad like mine
You would think back when his hair wasn't so gray,
And try to remember the things he used to say.
If you have a dad like mine
You would reminisce about all the family vacation fun,
And the Alaskan drive that was a most adventurous one.
If you have a dad like mine
You would see broken things get fixed,
Without him being sure what did the trick.
If you have a dad like mine
You would watch him treat his spouse,
Like you want to be treated at your house.
If you have a dad like mine
When a priesthood blessing is what you need,
He is ready, willing, and worthy to do that special deed.
If you have a dad like mine
You would be glad to be a branch on the tree
Of his awesome family.
I hope you are lucky enough to have a dad like mine
Because your life would be real fine,
To have a dad like mine.
As you can see I'm proud to have a dad like mine
There is so much more I could say:
But, Dad, just know I love you in so many ways.
Love,
Mayann
Written Sept 07

I know 6 siblings, 7 inlaws, 26 grandkids, 2 grandkid inlaws and 1 great grand baby
that are lucky (blessed) to have a dad JUST like mine!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

WeGoToGiRlsCamp


*
2
0
0
8
*
Castlegate Ward Girls Camp
The Carroll Family Cabin
Strawberry, AZ
Tues, June 3rd...Shantae (YCL) and I (camp cook) went up to Strawberry with the 4th year girls. They went horseback riding and I took a long nap since I had stayed up until about 2 in the morning to finish getting ready!! Real smart~~I know.
Wed, Raenell arrived and Shantae welcomed her with a flower headband. We had skit night, the group got a bag with a variety of items then we had a "beauty pageant".
Thurs, we had a "Iron Rod" walk. Blindfolded and silent they had to walk up a hill, through the forest, holding on to a rope with the leaders taunting them to let go or encouraging them to hang on. Molly (Camp Director) had set up a slide show and then women from different time periods (Bible times up to a recent convert~Sarah Merkley) told their stories. We borrowed old costumes from the Easter Pageant. It was really neat.
Fri, was the hike and Bishop's night. I love it when the girls bear their testimonies and have had something during the week that touched or changed them. That makes it all worth it!!
One of the hightlights was "Grandma" Carroll (cabin owner) gave us a notebook to use during scripture study. She said that every day we need to Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R). Each day she came for DEAR time and gave another idea for studying, writing, or reading scriptures. She was awesome:)
Of course we had GOOD FOOD... french toast, (and yes my homemade syrup was a hit) salad bar, tinfoil dinners, s'mores, pancakes, potato bar, eggs, toast, and bacon cooked on a buddy bunner, navajo tacos, donuts, hootanany..YUM YUM
They did cute crafts, a big service project (raked around the perimeter of the cabin), alone time, and more...
Oh yeah, the laugh of the week happened later Friday night when the girls decided to play the woopie cushion trick on Bro. Rimmasch... See video on Tiffany M's Blog. (begins w/ empty couch)
The girls gave me an award for Best Mother Figure...I guess they do miss their moms just a little when they go to camp!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Our Neighbors Cactus

It blooms only in the Spring
It is AMAZING

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Cambria goes to Utah for the summer

Cambria left Memorial Day, Monday, May 26th for Utah. She and 4 other EAC young adult women will be working for 10 weeks as camp counselors at Trefoil Ranch. It is in Provo Canyon and the girls that come are Girl Scouts. She will be working every other week with the girls on horseback riding and then she will be a regular counselor the other weeks. Also she will have kitchen duty for a couple of weeks out of the summer, FUN FUN. She's making new friends, doesn't call often enough and having a blast...but, missing Jason.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A Storm of Conflicts

It has been almost three weeks since school got out and I'm going to do some catch up postings.
When we got out of school on Friday May 23 WE (Alex, Me, Cambria, Jason (Cam's boyfriend), Stacie (Cam's roommate), Shantae, Raenell, and Ace) headed up to Vernon for the Rothlisberger Reunion. We went to Taylor first so that Shantae could go to Snowflake 8th Grade Promotion and High School graduation. It had been raining so we were going to stay at Mom and Dads house, but it looked like the weather was clearing so we decided to go on up, however when we got past Vernon, headed up the mountain, it was snowing and it got harder and deeper the further we went.
When we pulled into camp there was one tent set up. And then the fun began!! We got stuck on the culvert that crosses the road. Thank goodness, Jake had a four-wheel drive to get our trailer out (we had to unhook it to get the truck out). And as things go, the trailer got high centered on a stump that was covered with snow. Then Jake's truck got a little high centered on the same stump. Eventually, we started to "pop up" the trailer, but a bolt was stripped out so it wouldn't raise up. To no avail, Alex and Jason did all they could to get it to work. Paula and the kids, Uncle Paul and Aunt Thedie, Johnny and Teri's bunch were braving the storm.
The kids wanted to stay at
"Snow Camp" but it was getting dark, there was about 10" of snow all around us, we were hungry, and Alex was cold and grouchy. So we headed back to Taylor.
Needless to say...we had our tinfoil dinners from the oven about 10:00 Friday night.
As it was Memorial Day Weekend we spent a while Sat morning at the cemetary in honor of our Caremee and others. Then we were TRYING to get parts for the trailer and get back out to Vernon. We went back to camp thinking we would set up a couple of tents because the trailer part had to be ordered. But yeah, you guessed it, one of them didn't have any poles. So it was get the trailer popped up or go home. The snow was melting like crazy and we really wanted to stay.
All the men helped lift up the trailer top until Alex could fix the cables to hold it in place. We camped smack dab in the middle of Uncle Pauls bunch. It was Great!
The Sanders family was the only other ones of Patsy & Veldon's kids to enjoy "snow camp".
We built snowmen, ate lots of good food, had fun visiting, sitting as close to the fire as possible and getting better aquainted with Uncus' family.
Jason and Stacie getting initiated into the fam.




Jason got revenge by smearing lipstick and pudding on Cambria.

Cambria, Stacie, Shantae, & Raenell


Jason and Cambria
Aren't they cute together?






Saturday, May 17, 2008

Today I became a Blogger

Well, it seems that in order to keep connected to fam and friends I need to learn a new skill...blogging...SO bear with me as I figure out how to put my thoughts into words.