LONG time gone...

But now we're back!! OK, so for an overview of the past 2 weeks, we went to Mexico, came home and went to girl's camp. They were both AWESOME trips!
Mexico was filled family fun. This is probably some repeat info, but here goes. Lovely cool weather, greenery all around, rain, quilting, singing, piano playing, kids jumping on the tramp and swinging, movie watching, eating, and more. My sil C and I also held a little photo session to take some beautiful pregnant belly pictures. And of course the whole reason for the trip, Blondie's baptism.



It's our tradition for DH's mom make our girl's baptism dresses. She makes one for the baptism and one to wear after for the confirmation. She is an incredible seamstress and can make anything! It's amazing. Blondie's dresses were outstanding. Since she was getting baptized in the muddy river, we made sure the baptism dress was very simple and washable. It turned out perfectly, and didn't even show dirt when she got out of the river! The confirmation dress is one of the prettiest dresses I've seen. My MIL found the perfect piece of lace to cover the top of the dress (it was a miracle find! I don't know how she ever found it!) We decided to add a little color with a yellow sash as yellow is Blondie's favorite color. It all came together beautifully. Thanks, mom!

The river was very full from all the rain and we had to scout out a place that we felt was safe because it was running pretty swiftly. We found a sweet spot that worked just fine. First we met at DH's house with all the family in town that could come. We had an opening song and prayer and talk on Baptism by Uncle D. Then we all drove to the river (about a 2 minute drive) and DH performed the baptism. Then everyone came back to the house and visited while we changed and cleaned up. The program then went on with a musical number~Sweet G played her violin (which she has only been playing for one month!! she did great!) and her cousin T sang with Blondie. They did "I want to live the Gospel". Very cute! (I accompanied) Then Grandma gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and DH performed the confirmation. Then Bishop Grandpa called on me and DH to bear our testimonies and we closed and had refreshments. It was a sweet, sweet day and I hope Blondie remembers it forever.

Now, to the girl's camp part. We got home from Mexico on Tues. night and Teeny Bopper and I left for camp early Wed. We just had time to unpack, wash and re-pack. (it was a late night!) I must also add that this was my first time to leave my kids EVER. It all worked out better than I thought. They were fine, I was fine, it was all good.
Camp was so much fun, and a great experience for Teeny Bopper and me. I won't go into every detail, but I learned to love the girls in our ward and the other leaders that went. Hotmama went, as well as a few other ladies in our ward. It was interesting watching the girls interact and see how they got along. Our girls were so good, especially when we heard some of the drama going on among some of the other girls. I would go again in a second!


Well, now it's back to life as we know it and the end of summer. It's now school prep time, which I'm also excited about but I feel like this summer literally flew by!! Time to go through all the clothes, toss out the old small, holey stuff and fill in with a few new things. And then shop for school supplies. That has always been one of my favorite things to do. I'm not sure what the draw is for school supplies, but we all love it. Nothing like a new pack of pencils and notebook paper to get ya psyched for school...