At the end of June, Bishop Hunt called me into his office and released me as the second counselor in the Young Women's presidency in our ward. I had been serving there for 10 months and loved it! Love the girls, love the leaders, love the program, love it.
Well, in the next breath he called me as the Young Women's president. Woah. There was a second there when I thought he might have gone completely crazy, but that was quickly replaced by an overwhelming feeling of love for the amazing young women in our ward, and I just started to cry. And I've been CRYING ever since!
I absolutely love my young women. They are smart and amazing and strong and beautiful. I love them as a group, and I love them individually. It's overwhelming at times to realize that it's partly my responsibility to help them to know they are daughters of God and that they are loved by him. It's hard to help someone else understand that and act accordingly. They are facing some HUGE challenges, but I know EXACTLY why these girls were saved for these last days. Their strength is truly inspiring to me, and I love, love, love all of them. Now, if I could just get the tears to slow down a bit ...
The lovely ladies in the picture above are my counselors, Marion and Michelle. I'm so grateful for the amazing women they are and for their strength, their advice, their wisdom and for the perspective they give me. I'd be lost without them. My secretary Jen was gone when we took that picture, but I just have to say that she is amazing as well! She has the challenging task of keeping me organized ... I know what you're thinking, and yes she is working very hard! We have fantastic advisors as well - Jobi, Annika, and Lora. I love them all and am so grateful for the chance to serve with them, plan with them, laugh with them, and of course ... cry with them.
So, to make it even more challenging, I was called exactly three weeks before we left for GIRLS CAMP!!! Wow. Thankfully, I had already been working on camp with Rheanna, our oh-so-organized and experienced camp director ... and thank goodness for that! I'm so grateful for her help with camp. I learned a lot, and we had a great time!
We've been asked not to post pictures of the girls online, so you get to see a bunch of pictures of the leaders at camp! Lucky you. :) Thanks to Michelle, there are LOTS of pictures to choose from. I'm grateful for each of these leaders and the contribution they made to camp. They were amazing with the girls and a lot of fun to be around.
Rheanna got us started off on a good organized foot at her house. She had all the food and equipment ready to go. I'm tellin ya ... she's organized. I love it. Maybe some of her skills rubbed off on me.
This is my fourth Young Women's presidency in six years but my first time at girls camp in 17 years. I hate it when I realize how old I am. After about two weeks as Young Women's president, I had this urge to call up my old Young Women's leaders and apologize profusely for being such a pain in the neck ... for making them worry and making them stress and probably for making them cry. I'm going to do that one of these days.
Our theme for camp was "ARMY STRONG" and our goal was to help the girls realize just how incredibly STRONG they are. They can do hard things. Physically, mentally, spiritually - they can do HARD things.
We brought up my 11-man tent for the Young Women leaders. We thought it would be plenty big, but actually with all our stuff ... ummm yeah - we barely fit! It was fun sharing a tent with such amazing gals. Thank goodness for Jessica's bunkbed cots ... which by the way are the coolest thing ever. Did I happen to mention that I was in MY TENT AGAIN?!!!
Koki Cline was called to the Bishopric right around the time I was called ... I think I mentioned that was THREE WEEKS before camp. Wow. Good thing he's off work for most of the summer so he was able to clear his schedule and come to camp. His wife is my first counselor, so I'm glad their family was willing to watch their three darling boys so they could join us.
The lovely Marion setting up the tent. Marion loves camping ... especially at night. And she's not scared of NOTHIN!
Our fearless leader, Bishop Hunt. He is awesome. He's been SO patient with my 50 million questions and requests for help over the last month. He loves the Young Women and had such a great time with them at camp. I'm so glad he and Brother Cline jumped right in there and played hard and worked hard with the girls. I know it meant a lot to the Young Women (and their leaders) to have them right there with us all week.
Marion was all stressed out over certification ... she did awesome! She knows all kinds of stuff about clouds and knots and first aid ... just ask her.
Bishop Hunt and Brother Cline chillin in their tent ... probably just taking a break from all the giggling. Or maybe they were afraid of accidentally getting their nails painted or their hair braided. I don't know.
My laurel advisor Jobi came up to camp as often as she could. She has a stinkin cute little baby girl at home who is pretty demanding of her mama. Thanks to Grandma Julie, Jobi came back and forth, and we're SO GLAD! Love her tons.
Bishop Hunt and his beautiful wife Michelle. She's my second counselor. Love her. She kept the Bishop in line for us ... well most of the time anyway.
The girls played a game with the For the Strength of Youth pamphlets. They answered tough questions and got to build armor for the Bishop and Brother Cline. They really got into it and had a great time. The armor pretty much rocked. You could probably take it into a real battle. I'm just sayin.
Love this picture of Marion. BEAUTIFUL!
We wanted to play spoons, but we didn't have enough spoons to spare (considering the violence level of this particular game), so we played "forks" instead. The leaders picked off the girls one by one till it was all leaders in there (aren't we so nice?!!). Bishop was the grand champion of that round. As you can see, he plays rough ... no messin around here. The elbow was a reenactment of an actual incident ... involving his WIFE!!! What?!!
The lovely Sister Emerson joined us for a few days. She's our stake Young Women's president, and we LOVE her. So glad she was willing to come.
We enjoyed a beautiful hike up the back of Timpanogos to Scout Falls.
Wednesday morning we had one of our former bishops come up and do some rock climbing and repelling for the girls. They really had a lot of fun with it, and they were so BRAVE! I was a little glad to have an excuse to wuss out ... but next time I'll be ready to try it.
Michelle caught me chewing my gum ... what else is new?!! Question is, when am I NOT chewing gum. Haha!
The girls thought I needed a more gangsta look. I don't know about that.
Marion being introduced to the Young Women's new pet (pictured below).
The Young Women leaders were fearless. Way to go ladies!
Nice job Bishop. He was not about to be shown up by a bunch of girls.
Rheanna had some fun games planned for us on our last afternoon there. Our other bishopric counselor, Brother Hanks, and his wife, Ashley, came up to join us for the afternoon and evening, and we had lots of fun. For this game, we had to pass this spoon through all of us. I can't remember who won this specific game, but as I recall, the leaders were basically the GRAND CHAMPIONS of the whole game event. :)
Bishop Hunt and Bro. Cline feeding each other applesauce blindfolded. Ummm ... yeah. Enough said.
Marion and Bro. Cline passing a life saver on a toothpick. The other pictures of our team doing this activity just did not seem right to post on here. Haha.
Bishop and Bro. Hanks.
Ashley and Michelle ... looking lovely as always. Those are some stylin fingernails Michelle. :)
We had to wrap a whole roll of toilet paper around one of us. Ashley and I used our heads on this one. She held still and I spun and spun and spun. We basically killed it. Beat the girls by a long shot. Of course, I couldn't quite get the pavillion and everyone in it to stop spinning for a while after, but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Bro. Hanks killin it on the crossbow.
Michelle basically rocked at this. I just realized I never even tried it. Ooops.
Todd and Kim Feller SPOILED US ROTTEN with dinner. They smoked turkey, brisket, pork, and corn all afternoon, and Kim made her yummy coleslaw that I LOVE! Potato salad, rolls, yummy drinks, and dessert. Yum.
We had a minor mishap with plates that last night and had to get creative. Bro. Cline found my extra-large frying pan with deep sides and filled it right up.
Enjoying our dinner. Love these ladies.
Our last morning there. Handing out awards. I got the "Fuzzy Teeth" award for constantly brushing my teeth. What can I say ... I HATE FUZZY TEETH!!! I'm a bit of an overbrusher ... and that's enough about that.
Marion was getting excited to go home and shower and see her boys and she said something about a nap. She was pretty sad to leave bear country though.
Michelle handing out the awards. Love her. Her and Bishop made quite the sacrifice to be there too ... so grateful to Becca for watching the kids to make it possible. Can't imagine it without both of them there. I'm so grateful to both of them and for all the leaders and girls who made this camp possible. We had so much fun hiking, cooking, eating, talking, playing, singing, laughing, and yes even a little crying together. My first girls camp in 17 years was definitely full of fond memories. I'm looking forward to next year already ...
My baby turned 5 back in July. I guess at some point I should stop calling him my baby, but you know what .... how about I don't worry about that for now. This little guy is growing up way too fast. It's hard to believe he starts kindergarten TOMORROW!!! What?!! The boy who will STILL snuggle on my lap and fall asleep in my arms is headed off to school in less than 24 hours. He's not much of a baby anymore, but he's still my baby, and that's just the way it is.
Thanks to Pixar and their most fantastic idea ever ... we had yet ANOTHER Toy Story birthday in this house. We tried to count up how many Toy Story birthdays we've had between all our kids ... how many Toy Story action figures, vehicles, costumes, books, pajamas, random toys, cakes, sheet sets, hats, banks, stuffed animals, and clothes we've had in this house. NOT POSSIBLE. We are a Toy Story kind of family. The kids love it. We love it. Happy Toy Story Birthday T.J. .... again.
T.J. is just way too cute. He knows it. We know it. He is just so handsome, and I love it. His smile melts my heart. His big blue eyes are just enough to make my day. He's happy and fun and silly and we all love our T.J.
Maybe he's not so grown up after all. Love you T.J.
Austin turned 12 on August 11th. 12 years old ... WHAT IN THE WORLD?!! Talk about time flying by. 12 is a big one ... especially for a boy. He was so excited to turn 12 and get the priesthood and be in Young Mens. He was literally counting down the days. Like any other 12-year-old on earth, he's obsessed with shooting things, video games, Legos, and peanut butter. And of course there's cartoons, music, and football. I'm not sure how I feel about him being my size, but I guess I'll have to get used to it ... I better hurry before he's actually bigger than me.
I realize that I am quite the homemaker with my fantastic cake-baking skills. You'll note that T.J.'s cake was a quick buy from Walmart bakery (fabulously decorated I might add), and Austin's is well ... you know what, they LOVED it, so who cares? I'd much rather spend the day playing at Seven Peaks with Dave and kids and some of our friends which is EXACTLY what we did. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I forgot our camera for that part, so there are no swimming suit pictures. Be grateful people.
We had a really special day with Austin getting ordained on August 15th. Our family joined us, and we're so glad they were here. I'm so proud of Austin for being worthy to receive the priesthood and for taking his responsibility so seriously. He's passed the sacrament a couple of times now, and he does a great job. Very serious. No messing around. He's enjoying scouts and Young Mens as well. He doubled the size of the Deacons quorum in our ward, so his leaders are really glad to have him in there as well.
Seems like a good occasion for a family picture.
We're so grateful for two sets of amazing grandparents and one set of amazing great-grandparents in our kids' lives. They're always here, and they make such an effort to make our kids feel special. It means a lot to Dave and I that our kids know they are surrounded by people who love them.
Great-Grandma and Grandpa Tischner came all the way from St. George for Austin's special day. I'm so glad they were here ... we all are. Austin was very excited to be taller than Grandma Tischner. This is apparently a huge milestone, or in Austin's words, "I've been waiting for this my whole life." Haha.
Austin has some great examples to follow and big shoes to fill.
Thanks to all our family for being there. We had Austin ordained at our home instead of in Bishop Hunt's office just because of all the amazing support we had. There's no way we would have fit. What a blessing to have so many people around us who care. We're all so proud of you Austin. I'm grateful to have two worthy priesthood holders in our home. Austin sets a great example for the other kids and is trying hard to honor the priesthood. I'm so glad that as a 12-year-old boy, being worthy of the priesthood matters to him. We love you Austin!
