Hilton Head, SC

 Our week long beach vaca started today!  Yea!! It is so lovely here, really pictures do not do it justice.  The beach is beautiful! The trees are dripping with southern charm, I love the south.  I love southern literature, southern food, southern friendliness, southern plants...I have to admit sometimes when talking with southerners I feel like we are speaking different languages, which is confusing, but I still love it.

Cousins, Jess and Hannah.  I think they look a bit alike.

 Day One of beach fun!  So excited!  It's going to be a great week!

Busch Gardens

R and Lu at Celtic Fyre

For the last day of Grace week we went to Busch Gardens.  It's a few hours from our house, but on the way to our vacation spot so we thought it would work out perfectly to go there, stay the night, then drive down to SC the next day. 

We got there around 10am and it was already hot hot hot!

The heat didn't stop us from having a great time! We went on all the rides Lu wanted to ride, saw some great shows, my fav was Celtic Fyre an Irish dance and song production.

up close and personal with an owl

Lucy's favorite ride was the roman rapids, a water ride that got us super wet.  R and I were happy to go on time and time again because it kept us cool.    We ate pizza and funnel cakes and stayed until way past her bedtime!   She had a great day and so did we.  It's strange having just one little Lu to take care of and we missed our big kids, at the same time it was nice to have so much one on one time.  I hope she will always remember fondly the week she was an "only child" and more importantly how much her mom and dad love her. 

hanging out with the dinosaurs



Friends

 silly Joe

 Captain Pete

Katherine and Emily

Happy 4th

 This little girl loves water sports.  She loves tubing and is fearless, even at 41 mph she is thumbs up.  She loves knee boarding and wants to try skiing now.

 We went out with the Zawada's and had a really fun day on the bay, followed by a delicious dinner and then a stop by the new frozen yogurt place yokool, St Mary's first frozen yogurt establishment. 

Mr. on the skis.  He also tubed and knee boarded and captained the boat.  It was a happy celebration day.

grace week day 2

Lu catching butterflies while I looked at the fruit at the market

We had some errands to do.  We dropped our Flex off to get the headrests adjusted, we dropped off some plates at the MVA, we went to the farmers market for some produce, we went to the library and Target and the post office.  We went out for an ice cream cone, worked on her workbook, practiced the piano and cleaned the bedrooms.  In the evening we had the missionaries over for dinner, we made bacon/peach/arugula sandwiches which turned out very delicious, watermelon, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries and berry pie with ice cream.  She wanted to have a friend over but we were busy and I think at the end of the day she was happy with lots of one on one time.

Things I put in jars today

Lu and Maggs

cans :)

Sunday morning Nana and Abba left, they came to hold down the fort while I was at camp.  I am really grateful that they live "close" and that they are always willing to come.  The kids know them well despite the miles between us, and love them lots and lots and lots.  They took Ethan and Hannah home to Camp Grandma for the week.  From the reports I have been hearing a good time is being had.  Last night we got to watch (via face time) a lovely indoor golf course that E has set up with his new friend Dylan, Han went shopping (her absolute favorite past time) and there was some swimming and cheesecake eating.

Meanwhile back on the old homestead we are having "Grace week".  Yesterday we invited Maggie over for the day.  The girls played so cute all day long.  They played with dolls for a long time, watched a little TV, spent some time at the pool, helped me with a couple of quick chores, hung out in Lu's room giggling and at the end of the day we took them to Salsas.   I cleaned up camp debris and put up some of our garden bounty.  Made12 jars of pickles, don't know how they will turn out, don't love pickles but what else do you do with cucumbers?  I like pickles, just don't love them.  I hope they are good though.  I made 4 jars of mango/peach salsa and 14 jars of zucchini jam.  While I was canning I watched "Becoming Jane", which is a movie I enjoy.

what a week!

Hannah on a team building element during the COPES course

This is the only picture I got at camp.  It was crazy! I had 0 time to whip out the camera and snap anything.  We went to Camp Snyder in Haymarket VA and I have to say it was, over all, a wonderful wonderful experience.  The girls had a great time and most importantly they felt the spirit and had their testimonies grow.  Camp is such an important experience for these young women.  We had a powerful testimony meeting at the end, I believe that many of our girls not only grow their testimonies at camp but for some of them they can trace the very beginnings of it to their time there.

During our first few days we had the most beautiful weather.  It was cool and sunny.  The last 2 days we had pretty rough weather, it was 100+ degrees w/ high high humidity.  My hair and shirt (and most of the others that I saw) looked like I had stepped out of a shower.  It was crazy.  The craziest was Friday night, we were having our testimony meeting when the ranger came by to tell us a severe storm was heading our way and we had about an hour to secure what we could and to head to the bathhouse.  We closed with a prayer and scrambled to get everything broken down and put away.  It was quite the task.  The girls were calm and quick which was wonderful.  We all went to our assigned shower houses (there were 4 stakes camping that week), a cinder block building, and took refuge.  Then the storm hit.  We did not get a tornado but we got 80 mile an hour winds, with torrential rain.  Tree branches, some tents and anything that was not secure were flying.  We actually had a tree branch break off and like a spear impale one of our tents where is sliced through and jabbed into one of the girls cots.  When the storm had passed, and we were all safe, we gathered again under one of our pavilions and had our singing "pole" time.  The spirit was strong as we were all so grateful, each ward took a turn turning on their lights and singing their practiced hymn.  After our prayer we then had the task of assembling a camp that could be slept in, some bedding and  sleeping bags had to be found and shared.  Some rearranging of tents had to be done, but eventually we had everyone settled, dry and sleeping.  Whew!

The girls got to participate in archery, bb gun shooting, canoeing, paddle boating, swimming, a COPES course,  lots of crafts, golden hours, devotionals, a service project, hiking, hiking hiking, & sweating sweating sweating.  We had a movie night (Tangled), a campfire cook off with a secret ingredient (marshmallow flavored jelly bellys), skits, silly songs, a special visit and devotional by Elder Gerard of the area Seventy, star gazing and many other wonderful activities. 

We had some drama, got very little sleep and spent a lot of time hauling water, gatorade and once popsicles to girls and making them drink.  We had one girl whose aunt died while she was there, one who needed stitches, a few who had heat exhaustion and many bug bites, oh and a snake sighting (as it slithered over a YCL's leg!)

I am so grateful that it's over that it went well and for the sustaining support of the Lord as we worked so hard to have a great program. I could not live my life without Him.  I am grateful for His trust (however misplace I may feel it is at times) and the opportunities I have to serve.

Before and After

Yesterday evening after we were home I got a text from Andrea saying Alec was in a plane crash.  What?!?!?!  I quickly called him and found out that yes he was.  He and 2 friends and one of the friends dad, who is a pilot, went on a hike.  They flew in, did their hiking, and when leaving had a lot of trouble getting altitude.  Soon they were in real trouble and a down draft sent them crashing through the trees.  Alec said the pilot said brace yourself as they went down, rolling the plane twice and eventually coming to a stop upside down.  Thankfully it did not explode.  Alec and one of his friends, I think Nathan, were pretty banged up but mostly okay.  They helped Tol and his dad out of the plane and Alec traiged them.  Tol had a concussion, his dad (thepilot) was a mess though, he had a broken jaw, broken teeth, broken several other body part.  Alec and Nathan were able to give them priesthood blessings.  He said just after they were done that help began to arrive.  They cleared part of the forest so a rescue helo could land and take out the seriously injured guys. 

...I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood. I am so glad my brother is a righteous man who lives his life serving God and that he was worthy and ready to help, I am so glad their lives were spared.  I miss him and my family far away so terribly and look forward to seeing them when ever I can.  I can not imagine the grief that will be ours in the next life if members of our families are missing.  I wish I could go and hug him right now, I had to settle for a long distance "I love you" but I am beyond words grateful that we could do that and that I wasn't left wishing for just one more phone chat.  The Lord spared his life in a miraculous manner, I know he will take advantage of that good gift and continue to serve and love and be an example for good.  I love you little brother.   (this is me crying while I type :,( and smiling because he's okay :)...this life is a very schizophrenic experience isn't it?)