Fishing Trip

Report from the boat:  water is pretty choppy.  Jared almost threw up.  Caught a lot of sharks and some black bass.  Hoping to go farther out, catch more fish and have warmer weather tomorrow.

I think that means it's a two thumbs up kind of day.

fishing trip

the view from R's room.  Pretty sweet. I'm not going to talk about our weather here in frozen southern MD.  I will say that today Lu and I watched "Teen Beach Movie", which helped us feel a little warmer. 

Abba flew down and joined the men for some fishing fun.  I hope everyone has a great time and catches lots of fish.  I talked to R this evening and asked how it was going.  He's having a good time.  I asked him what he and Rich and Wade talked about on the way down.  Among other topics they discussed scouting, which I found funny because between the 3 of them they have 13 daughters and only one boy. 

In other news I found out today that Grace's brownie leaders are not coming back to lead the troop next year.  Lu really loves scouting and I am thinking about taking the troop.  Pros and cons.... what to do? what to do?

It snowed today and much to our shock and amazement we still had school.  

This afternoon I helped Ethan with his scrapbook homework.  He had to make a scrapbook of space camp.  So, this may not be a surprise to anyone but 11 year old boys do not love to scrapbook.  It took a lot of prodding but we got it done and I thought it turned out nicely.  I wanted to get all space themed paper, that would have been cooler.  However they didn't have any.  When I picture a product, or piece of clothing, in my head that I want to buy and then there is no such thing I find it most annoying.

Our ward had New Beginnings tonight. It was really fun.  Hannah spoke, she did great.   R got to help out with Ethan's group and Lu had activity days as well. 

Grace is super excited because she got another dog sitting job.  She has been saving her money since she had her iPod stolen last summer and talking about getting another one, and asking how much we would chip in.  If she earned half would we pay the other half she wondered?  Well, after this next job she will be up to $200.  I am real pleased that she's been saving and working.  Now that she's getting so close she is wondering if an iPad mini would be better.  I told her it's up to her but keep on working and saving.  That's how you get to buy what you want. 

dentist day

8:45: leave the house and make the rounds of three schools picking up kids to take to the dentist.
10:00 arrive at the dentist, right on time, with everyone's teeth brushed and it starts to snow.

between 10 am and 12 :15 we are tortured, although the children don't seem to mind.  I hate going to the dentist.
At one point I hear the hygienist talking to one of the children about a cavity..great, now we have to come back.
Later Hannah asks if she can see her mom, she walks in and asks why I am crying.  I am not.  But when I reach up I feel that tears are in fact puddling in the corners of my cheeks.  Still hating the dentist, always have.  I'd rather get any other kind of a check up.  Need some blood? no problem.  A quick look under the hood? have at it.  Squeeze my girls between cold metal plates? sure.  But the dentist?  no thanks!

12:15: we are done.  2 cavities between us, and one is mine!  One boy who needs sealants on his newly erupted big teeth.  A little girl who did just fine and doesn't have to come back until September. And a warning to "stop brushing like that, it's like you are sawing down a tree with the ruts you are putting in your teeth" and I won't even say what they said about my gums but I was instructed to buy an electric toothbrush, which I am not happy about because I do love to brush my teeth.

1: 30: home, whew! that was painful….and it's still snowing.

Sunday

 I just wanted to throw in a couple more pictures of the dance, mainly because it was so fun, and also because we are still cleaning up and wrapping up the event:)  It was really nice.

 Anyway, Sunday was great.  The weather was nice and sunny.  Julia Smith gave her coming home from her mission talk and she did a wonderful job.  Those are always my favorite Sundays.  We had a camp meeting and a stake youth committee meeting in the evening and they were fine too.

Today is a debris removal day.  Lots of mess around.  Tomorrow might be too, but I hope to get a lot finished today.  Tomorrow is also family go to the dentist day :(

World Thinking Day/ Merit Badge College

Grace, Kylie, Katie, Fiona, Julia

It was a scouting day at our house today. Also it was a beautiful sunny day! So nice.

Rob and Ethan spent the day at a merit badge college. He completed citizenship in the world and citizenship in the nation. He's been working on a list of pre reqs for a couple of weeks. We were very happy he got them done.

Meanwhile Grace and I had a Girl Scout event. World Thinking Day. It was very nice. Each troop chose a country, they made a poster and displays, made food to share and a swap and a craft. Our country was Spain and Grace and I made nonalcoholic sangria, which was a hit!

Once we got her settled with her troop Hannah and I went to Target and had a great time wandering around for an hour and a half until Lu was done. We had a nice chat;) 

Then I took a nap. Nice.

Tonight is date night, yay! And then tomorrow is our "day of rest" ha!

Priest/Laurel Dinner Dance (PLDD)

One of the very fun events we get to plan each year is our annual dinner and dance for the laurels and priests (ages 16-18 ). Literally while we were cleaning up last year I knew what theme I wanted to do this year.  Based on the fabulous tall flower vases we have.  I knew I wanted to fill them with fish and have an "under the sea" theme.  I thought it would be so fun to watch them swimming around on the tables.  This is a fancy-shmancy night, we go all out.

We had a jazz quartet that were amazing. Heres the thing that I think is so interesting, at our other dances during the year we play modern music and the youth dance some, they really like the line dances and other fun things that they do all together but there is  a lot of standing around and talking and watching, or jumping in groups but when we bring in our jazz group they love it.  They dance a lot and it's so fun to watch.

This year Kim Sakai did our flowers (with her crew of helpers).  I told her I wanted it to look like a coral reef and she did the most beautiful job.  Each year the flowers are break taking and make the whole event look so special.  This year was my favorite though, I think the colors were striking and cheerful, maybe particularly so because we've had such a gloomy winter, they just seemed like a promise of spring and a hope for warm days ahead.

Jocelyn Denyer heads our food committee.  She chose a Brazilian theme this year and it was to die for.  Her beef was sooo good.  She had fresh fruit platers for appetizers with star fruit, mango, papaya, guava, and a couple fruits I did not recognize.  The dinner was rice and beans, beef, kale, something I didn't recognize and salad.  For dessert we had passion fruit mousse and these amazing little chocolate balls.  She really outdoes herself.  I am so happy she loves it because she is fab-U-lous!!! In fact last night at the end of the evening, 16 hours after our day started, we stood  among the mess and started planning a theme for next year!  I love the joy that comes from serving together.

We spent all day setting up.  The stake YM help us, and our high council members. I have to say our men are such good sports. We come up with these crazy, hard to execute plans, that are labor intensive.  We tell them and without a complaint they slave away all day long and let us boss them around and be picky (I am kidding of course, I always feel a little bossy but they ask and really want to execute our vision).  They are heroic in their efforts and we have a great time laughing and working together.

We had the surprise of the company of three Elders and they helped us blow up 500 balloons.  They were so funny and cute to work with.  I took this picture to send to their moms! (both moms texted right back and said how fun it was to see their boys!)
 

one of the tall vases with the fish

My faithful presidency taking a "better than a nap" power rest and stretch before the kids arrive.  For the record I joined them as soon as I snapped the photo.  I can not even say how much I love these women, and what great friends they are and how wise and hard working and wonderful they are.

Oh speaking of photos, we also have a photo booth and a photographer.  This year Paul Milani did it and I am super excited to see the pictures.

So now a little story, we do a lot of gearing up and then devote the whole day to the event.  Obviously. Still I have my little family to care for (as we all do) and so in the morning I got up and started getting the children up and ready to get their day started.  We had a very compressed schedule as I needed to get out the door quite early.  and of course it was my carpool week but whatevah.  When I got to Hannah's room she was upset at being awoken and really really wanted to skip seminary and have me drive her to school because she was tired, needed to shower, not ready, ___________…  I said no way, it's too busy a morning, blah blah blah.  I am okay normally with missing a couple of days of seminary.  It is a huge sacrifice to go to early morning seminary.  It is a tremendous blessing and well worth it but I get that it is really hard, and I decided early on that if they girls went 90% of the time cheerfully and willingly that I would let them have the occasional pass when they asked.  It's worked well for us.  Sierra and Jenna both graduated and missed a few days here and there but mainly never complained and were great students and their teachers loved them and I know they learned so much.  Dani the same, she did decide to stop going after 3 1/2 years…so close.  but I digress.  This morning was not a good one to pass on though.  Well she cried and was upset and I was getting mad and then the Spirit whispered, "really Lana, you can't take 20 extra minutes?".  So I took a deep breath and said okay (through gritted teeth). 

In contrast, Grace woke up, and she was so cheerful and cute.  She said "mom, I made a list last night to help you out.  I took a shower and got dressed in my clothes and just slept in them to save time.  And I did my hair already and packed my lunch and got my backpack ready".  I hugged her and said thanks Then when I got back from the carpool run she was waiting for me with a special breakfast that she made just for us to enjoy together.  Her own recipe: banana and cool whip sandwiches.  When I saw that I totally groaned on the inside because I didn't have time for breakfast…and also, yuck!.  But again the gentle reminder that this was much more important, and these girls are my highest priority, so on the outside I said "oh Grace! how wonderful, you are so helpful and kind and thoughtful" and I sat with her and we had breakfast. 

and I was a little late getting there, and even though I value punctuality and really don't like to be late it was fine.  My girls had the best mom I could be for the 1 hour of the day I had with them yesterday.  That was important. And the dance was great, and I relearned a lesson that is so important and that I try and live my life by which is this: that is my job, #1, is to raise these kids and to love them.  That's it. 

The time goes too quickly.

1am: We drove into the driveway and collapsed in bed.  I could not sleep last night.  I do not know why.  I was up at 2 and 3 and 5, dozing in between but awake a lot.  Which is atypical.  Then the boys had to get ready for  merit badge day and R and I had to unload the car at 6:30, then Lu was up and we have a full day ahead …so I guess I will be yawning a lot today.  But it's all good. 

"There's no Place Like Home, Come Unto Christ"

What a week it's been.  We have had a sick household for many days. Ethan was home from school for 2 days with strep throat, finally he went back to school on Wednesday but still wasn't 100%.  Poor R had the honest to goodness H1N1 and was in bred for the good part of 4 days and still isn't back to himself, although he is back to wrk too.  It's not good when the boys are sick.  

Other than that it's been the usual.  Grace had horseback riding on Monday after school, French and Brownies on Tuesday after school and chess on Wednesday.  She's a busy girl.  Today she came home and wanted a friend but I had to leave soon after and we had to have dinner and get out the door. 

Ethan had scouts on Wednesday, he's preparing for a merit badge college on Saturday and has been working on citizenship in the nation and citizenship in the world this week. Today he was supposed to bring 5 empty 20 oz plastic bottles to school for some sciencey thing.  He forgot so "best mom in the world" got to drive 30 miles to his school to drop them off, also I went in and gave him a kiss ;)

Hannah has been catching up on all the homework she missed last week when she was sick, with what I am pretty sure was the flu.

Z ate some chocolate cookies, causing quite the commotion last night.  She survived.

Today Vicky invited me to go ride with her.  It was at a different barn and it was very nice.  Dixie, a large Tennessee Walker has a lovely gate.  We had a good time.

R has been reading lots of church history. 

Tonight was our camp kick off meeting.  Our camp theme is "Camp Oz"  so of course we had to dress up and introduce it.  Very fun! Our camp leader is amazing and she does all the heavy lifting, we just do the fun parts!

Space Camp, some more pictures

illness

Besides the very cold weather we have enjoyed this winter we have also had quite a few rounds of illness.  Hannah missed three days of school last week, tacked on to two snow days meant she didn't go at all.  Ethan missed a few days the week before that.  And he was sick starting on Friday, missing a soccer game and all the way through today, although he is still coughing he will go back tomorrow. Update: turns out he has strep, getting meds tonight for him and Tamiflu for Rob. Rob got sick Saturday night, missed church and now is in bed with a cough, fever, sore throat, headache (in other words the flu).  Today I stared with the headache and cough and I refuse to let it progress, there is too much to do this week.  Ugh!
Besides our family I know of many, many other families in the neighborhood, at school and at church who have been similarly afflicted.  Yuck!

In other news the weather today is gorgeous! and we may be warming up.

In other very exciting news it's only 55 days until our cruise! I am super, super excited.  Sometimes living so far away from our family I feel like this is an expat blog :)  I miss out on all the birthday parties and reunions, and watching each other's soccer games, and lots and lots of stuff.  Last night was my youngest sister, Emily's birthday and we weren't at the party :( Today is my BIL Ryan's bday, again all he got was a Facebook "happy birthday".  I haven't met little Scarlett and didn't go to Deo's first birthday party. The list is endless. I try not to focus on that, or on the people we miss and the distances between us and family and friends.  It makes it all the more special when we do get to be together.  This year we have two chances, which is great.  In April Alec/Kelly, Val/Ryan and Rob/I are going on a cruise together.  We have tickets bought and have cabins paid for, a spa day reserved and excursions chosen.  Well, 3 out of the 4 days of excursions.  When we are in Jaimaca we are going to ride horses, on the beach! and then go tubing down the White river.  When we are in Grand Cayman we are doing a dolphin encounter and sting ray city.  When we are in Cozumel we booked an exciting excursion to Tulum with Helaman Tours.  Haiti is still being decided upon.  Yay!!  The only thing that would be better is if they rest of the sibs/spouses could join us…hopefully another year!

The second chance will be in August when we have the first ever Arhets Family Reunion (and many Idiarts too!) in Lake Tahoe.  It will be great!! Can not wait!!

Now I'm off to push some vitamin C likes it's candy!  and hope to dodge the flu quickly.

"im not going to the dance" party

Last night I went with Hannah to the YW fundraising dinner. They did a lot of work and the evening was quite nice.

Ashley, Hannah and Lydia

R didn't come because Ethan was supposed to play soccer, however Ethan is sick again and missed the game:( poor guy. We are hoping he doesn't have strep.
Tonight is the Snowball. We don't want Hannah going to the high school dances. The last one was pretty inappropriate.  30+ kids left the dance in the back of a squad car for drinking, 1 left in an ambulance for alcohol poisoning, lots of twerking etc goes on there.  It's sad really.  So I don't know that she will never go because frankly the kids want to go.  They say it's nothing they don't see at school and they don't participate and I get that, really I do.  And I know we can't shelter from all that is ugly and immoral and dangerous but for this dance she did decide to stay home.  We had told her after the last dance that during dance nights she could have a party, or we could go do something fun that she would like to do.  This night she chose to have some friends over.  I think they are having a good time.  We made some delicious burgers and home made french fries and had candy and chips and soda and they have been talking and laughing.  They are watching a movie in the basement.

Holly, Alyssa, Shannon, Allison, Julia, Jenny, Melissa, Hannah, Hannah

We also made cookies and brownies and put the little kids (read: Grace) to bed so they could have the run of the place. I hope it is fun,

In other news I have been working on a "mural" for the PLDD, mural is sort of a fancy word for poster board with fish painted on them.  It's about half way done and I think it's turning out okay so far.  

desserts

Anniversary

16 years ago these two crazy kids got engaged!

Tonight my honey and I went out on a date.  We went to Sakura and then to CVS.  Whoo Hoo!  As we sat down at the table I reminded him that it was our anniversary. 16 years ago tonight Rob was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Dad baptized him and lots of my friends, and family were there.  It was an exciting night.  Shortly after the closing prayer he whispered to me that he needed to talk to me so left everyone and walked down the hall.  The whole time I was thinking "oh my goodness, he's already changed his mind??!? What will I say? What will I do? I know I'll just bear my testimony…" when we got down the hall though he got down on his knee and pulled out a small box with a beautiful ring and asked me to marry him.  I was momentarily shocked and then said yes and we kissed and went back down the hall to share the good news! Everyone was even more excited!!

After we went to Marie Calendars and had pie with mom and dad and the girls.  The next day Nellie called me and we planned the wedding and thus began the whirlwind engagement that lead to the last, happy 16 years. 

snow

The thing that is so irritating about snow is not the snow itself, it's the disruption to the schedule that we suffer every time a flake falls. I love a surprise day at home as much as the next girl!, I love having the kids enjoying their friends and their childhoods, I love making hot chocolate and playing games, …I do not love the extra laundry and the wet floor, I do not love having to rearrange orthodontist appointments, meetings and what not, I do not like make up days for school.  It has snowed here in MD every year since we moved here.  Some years quite a lot, others less so why the big surprise?  Why not give the department of roads in the state of Utah, Maine, or Alaska (to name a few) a call and say "hey, how do you do it??"

That said the kids are having a great day.  Gracie has been playing with Arden and Ashby. They've been running from house to house tracking a trail of wet clothes and bread crumbs everywhere they go.  They built a snowman and have been sledding.

Early this morning we got a knock on the door and there stood 3 jacket clad, glove wearing, boys looking for Ethan.  He suited up and ran out the door.  A couple hours later he popped back home for a sandwich, pear and hot chocolate and changed his clothes (leaving the wet ones in a pile on the wood, just saying) then ran out again.

Hannah has been playing the ukelele and reading.

Yesterday it was kind of funny.  We got a phone call from the school confirming the rumor that two of our holidays (presidents day and something else random in may) were going to now be school days to make up for the days lost…then a few hours later we got a call "no school tomorrow".  It struck me as funny.

Nana made this cute sweater for Ziva. At 5 pm I got in my car and drove around the neighborhood picking up my popsicle children.  Night has fallen and it's time to quiet down. Watch some tv and get ready for dinner and bed, maybe it's a good night to make some pancakes for dinner.

playing hooky

Today Bub was "sick".  We spent the day doing some requirements for his citizenship in the nation merit badge.  When you live in the shadow of the nations capital it would be criminal to not visit the actual capital building.  I had never been before and it was quite nice.  We didn't know how to get in at first, tried to get in at the back…and then tried to walk by the secret service cars and enter the Senators entrance.  We were clearly lost but fortunately the nice, and armed, folks posted on the roof tops and at the entrances and all around really were very helpful and we finally did make it in.

boy behind the capital building

We saw a movie about the capital building and then took a tour.  Congress was in session and we didn't have gallery passes (much to Ethan's relief) but we did get to enjoy the rotunda and the old senate room and other neat sites.

On our way home we decided to stop in Waldorf and see the Lego movie.  We had the entire theater to ourselves.  This meant that Ethan got to try out almost every seat and climb on the bars and I got to snap a picture and take a nap.

Lego bad guy

Tonight we are expecting a snow storm.  I hope it doesn't come. Lots of plans for the upcoming days and none of them include being snowed in the house.  

Tuesday

Hannah is still sick. I hope she'll be back to school tomorrow. Today she did go to Michaels with me in the afternoon. She has a headache still but of course is not drinking enough and is probably a little dehydrated.

Grace starts French class today after school. She has been pretty excited and looking forward to it for several weeks. She found an little online course and finished all the free lessons while she waited for these to start. 

Han and I got to FaceTime with Penny and Dani today! So cute!!

no one ever says "I wish summer would just end"

Winter gets tedious.  This year in particular has been rather cold, like you step outside and the air hurts your face cold.  I remind myself that I am grateful for a warm home, boots for all my children's feet to keep them warm, a delicious hot dinner to serve each night, the best jacket in the world for walking the dogs with, and many many blessings that help us better endure the harsh season.  That said I still long for summer.  I love summer.  We actually thought about naming Dani Summer.  We had a short list: Summer, Amber and Dani.  Summer where are you??

In more cheerful news I can now say I love my calling.  I do. The first year was hard.  I didn't know what I was doing and felt awkward and worried.  Now I really look forward to the different events we have and the visits we get to do.  I still worry that everything will go well and that all the work will be done and that I will be wise and do/say what the Lord would want me to do/say.  Of course, we can do nothing without the Lord's help and I worry about, no that's not the right word, I strive to, and fail to, and through the grace of God somehow still, though it is completely unmerited by me, get His help, it's a miracle.  It's His work, and He uses the flawed tools He has.  
Anyway, the second year was much better and I loved it. Loved to serve.  And now starting our third year I am excited and grateful for the opportunities and am hoping, and praying and working for a great year.  It helps that I seriously have the best presidency in the world.  They could totally do everything without me even there so I'm just along for the ride and the blessing of wonderful friendships.  
When we were called Pres Volk, or Sakai, I don't remember which, told us it was often busy but punctuated by lulls.  This time of year is not a lull.  I think the lull is the first 3 weeks of August and most of December. Right now we are going to New Beginnings and Ward Conferences, and getting ready for camp and trek and our volleyball tournament and stake youth activity and the PLDD.  Yesterday I went to the Calvert Ward's conference.  They have a remarkable choir, it was so great!  They have fun and excited YW and a wonderful Bishop. I love to visit them.  So fun. I enjoyed the talks very much.  It's so interesting to me going to the ward conferences because the theme and talk topics are the same for all the wards, yet each one is so different.  Our stake theme this year is "Act in Doctrine", and we have received some wonderful training.  Yesterday as I was looking at the board and listening to the comments during ward council I couldn't help but notice that the beginning of doctrine is "DO".  We need to do the work, do the things the Lord has asked and do it now.  One of my challenges is that I intend to do it, want to do it, agree to do it but sometimes don't do it right now.  For example I intend to read the scriptures each morning.  I think this is the best time of day to do it, "seek the Lord early in life and in the day" and all that, but do I actually always do it?  and if I don't then it's too easy to get busy and forget and even though my heart was right and I wanted to do it ...I then might not.  Do it now. Another example that pains me truthfully is with our PLDD coming up, late in the fall Pres Sakai made some suggestions for us to consider, some small changes.  We reviewed them and shared our thoughts, which were mostly that we didn't want to change but would if he wanted us to, then he got back to us and asked for one of the changes in particular to be made, which was he wanted more time for dancing and socializing and so he wanted us to give the wards the responsibility to teach dancing and etiquette ahead of time.  We agreed. …then the holidays hit and I didn't do anything, then the new year.  Finally we I did get around to following through but it was on the late side.  This put the wards in a crunch.  They had only a little over a month to change an activity.  Some did, some emailed out instruction, or gave shorten versions of it.  We could have done much better and made it easier for the wards and for that I feel bad.
So the dance is in 2 weeks, at the end of the night I am sure we will feel it a success and that the youth will have had a wonderful time but I do not want to be one who waits to act.  If I have an assignment I want to do it right away, it is better that way.  I hope I have learned a good lesson here.  We will see next time I have an assignment I guess :)

So one nice thing about winter?:  cheery instagram pictures of Tatum's valentines party!  Love to see the big girls doing well, being happy.

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"Let us resolve to follow the Savior and work with diligence to become the person we were designed to become.  Let us listen to and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  As we do so, Heavenly Father will reveal to us things we never knew about ourselves.  He will illuminate the path ahead and open our eyes to see our unknown and perhaps unimagined talents.  The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets.”

weekend end

waiting for their game

Last night we had a soccer game.  They creamed the other team.  So much so that at half time the ref told them not to score any more goals and they played keep away the whole second half with not a point made.  It was hard to watch honestly. I would rather have had them keep playing and run the score up than humiliate the other team that way.

Hannah went to Alyssa's birthday party.  She got her a tardis jewelry box and mustache socks and anti zombie gum.  She was a good gift giver.

cookie delivery

Today we had family cleaning hour, a favorite activity of all. In the afternoon Ethan had soccer try outs.  He decided to go back after our torturous foray into the world of baseball.  He got picked for a team mid season, which he was happy about it.  While he and dad were at the park for the try outs Grace and I went to do some cookie deliveries.  We got about 10 houses done, a few more days and everyone should have their tasty cookie treats. Poor Hannah is sick.  She stayed home and slept.

When we were done we went to Red Robin.  I love their burgers.   Then to Target to stock up on cold/flu meds, which we have been going thru in the usual winter speed.

After Bub and I walked the dogs we went to McD, Han wanted some french fries and the boy wanted a milk shake.  On the way there we had a cheery conversation.  He started with where do you think you'll die?  We moved on to when and how.  Then we chatted about what we would do if we found out that a huge meteor was heading toward earth, would hit in 18 hours and we would all be dead.  I think he's thought about this before because he had an elaborate plan in mind.  First he would go to Shell and stick his head under the icee machine and see how much of the sugary, freezy, goodness he can fit in his mouth.  Next he would drive my car…into a street sign, because apparently he's always wondered if it would bend the pole or crack it in half.  Lastly he would go to Wal-mart, where you could just take whatever you wanted and use it since the world was ending, and he would assemble an egg launcher and shoot eggs at the birds that always live in the ceiling beams.

When we came home we found dad and Grace playing Battleship, her new favorite game.

crazy boy

playground fun

I subbed today as an extra person, that means I went from class to class as different teachers had meetings.  My last class of the day was Lu's.  It was fun to be on the playground with her and to see her with her class and friends.

After school we had to go pick up our girl scout cookies.  That was pretty fun too.  Katie's mom is our cookie mom and so we met in her garage and sorted through the boxes and loaded up our cars to take home and deliver. 

Tonight we had a camp meeting.   I think our camp is going to be AmAziNg!! Can't wait!!