Philmont Scout Camp

Warning: This is a really long post...

This is what my family looks like after a week of camping.

We were lucky enough to get to go to Philmont this summer. It's a little Scout Camp in New Mexico. It's scout training for Stake Presidents and Stake Young Men's Presidents. Stake YM Presidents have to be invited by their Stake President to attend, and we were lucky enough to be invited by President Moody and his family. While the men go to leadership training all day, the wives and kids can play.

Each of the kids were divided into age groups and had their own counselors. They had a huge building for nursey age kids, too, so I was able hand off Levi for several hours every day. The kids never EVER wanted to leave their groups. They had so much fun and made so many new friends. After dinner, the kids would run off with their friends, and we didn't see them until lights out at 10pm.

On the grounds there is a huge villa which used to be used as a summer home. Now, it's a museum and you can do tours, but there is a huge villa lawn that the kids would play on for hours. They would play frisbee, football, baseball, or just lay on a blanket and hang out. There were deer roaming free on the lawn, too.

During the day, the kids did their thing, and at night there were skits, firesides, parades, and other activities. The kids cried when we left. They said it was better than Disneyland. I think a lot of it was the Spirit they felt there all week. It truly was a little heaven on earth.

So, I had only heard of Philmont from Pres. Moody and Pres. Lytle, and they always said that if we had the opportunity to go, we needed to go. When we arrived, we were greeted by Sis. Wixom, the General Primary President, and President Gibson of the General YM Presidency. The entire week at Philmont was planned and run by the General Primary Presidency, and General YM Presidency. Those were our speakers at church on Sunday, they were the speakers at firesides, classes, and trainings. It was a seriously amazing experience.

Taylor had the opportunity to have her testimony meeting and a Q&A that was filmed with President Beck. She bore her testimony and asked him questions. She also had a fireside with President Beck and his wife. The week after she had these experiences, she had her first year at Girl's Camp. I asked her how Girl's Camp was, and she said it was OK. Not like Philmont, though. Sad that her first year at camp had to follow this Philmont experience.

I was able to have classes from the General Leadership during the day with the other wives. In those classes, they basically just told us how amazing and wonderful we are, and thanked us all for having so many children and supporting our husbands.

Some other things we did were:

Hiking- the kids did some 7-8 milers. Even Brooklyn.
Crafts- there was a huge handicraft building with every craft you could possibly think of.
Fishing- we found a little reservoir, but didn't catch anything.
Horseback riding- they have a stable on the camp grounds. Even Levi rode a pony.

We ate every meal as a family in the mess hall. I didn't have to cook at all. It was like a huge cafeteria, and we would just go through the line. Sometimes the food was good, sometimes not.

Here are some pictures, in no particular order...

Taylor is inside the orange blanket. This was part of her skit.

This is Blake doing her part in the skit. I can't believe how much my girls loved doing their skits. I am not a skit person. That was always my least favorite part of camp, but my girls were so excited for it.

Dylan just finished her skit. She was VERY proud of herself.

Levi had the best seat in the house.

Levi was always trying to run off, and it was pretty exhausting trying to catch him all the time.

Dylan played in the mud every second she could. If you know her, you know that playing in the dirt is her most favorite thing EVER.

She offered President Moody a mud pie. He was a very good sport, and he made her day by playing along.

These were the buses that took the kids to their hikes. The kids hiked A LOT. They got patches for all the hikes they went on. They earned so many patches. I learned that Scouting is ALL about the patches. I sewed Taylor's on her camp sweatshirt, so she had a ton of patches for her first year at Girl's Camp.

Lincoln waiting for his bus to go on his hike. Hiking was his worst thing about Philmont. He hated it. It was really hot.

This is his hike buddy. It's the twins from his baseball team (two of his best friends) cousin. It's a small world.

Levi and Brooklyn having a conversation on Sunday after church.

Brooklyn is doing her counselor's hair, waiting for her bus to the hike.

Taylor and Blake were in the same group. They were waiting for their 8 mile hike. I was so glad I packed the Camelbacks.


Breakfast

This was our home for the week. Our family had 3 of these tents right next to eachother. Levi and the girls were hanging out during flag ceremony in the morning.

Lincoln is on the bottom, third from the left. Notice President Beck and Sister Wixom standing in the back. Lincoln had the opportunity to be involved in the flag ceremony on Wednesday. He was one of the lucky kids to raise the American Flag. They made us sign a media waver, because they took lots of pictures for the Ensign and took some film footage. Maybe we will see him in the Ensign or on LDS.org sometime soon :) Either way, what an amazing experience for him, and Jim was a proud dad watching his kid raise the American Flag in his Scout Uniform at Philmont in front of the General YM President. Once in a lifetime experience, no doubt.

So, that was our week at Philmont. I don't know if we will ever get to go again. Only if Jim is a Stake President someday, I guess. We were really grateful for the chance to go. It was a fun family vacation, and Spiritual experience for all of us. Something we will never forget.

This is my attempt to catch up

Seriously, my kids are so cute. It's a shame that I don't post ALL of the cute things they do and say everyday. They keep me entertained.

As I am writing this post, I can hear Dylan in the other room telling Lincoln "I love you google plus google infiniti nonstoppable Lincoln." I love my kids. By the way, Jim forged my name on the above contract. Pretty sure that makes it null and void.

I have posted next to nothing about this pregnancy, and here I am about to enter my 3rd trimester in just a couple of days. We are having another girl. We can already tell she's cute, just by the picture :) We are getting excited about having another sister, even though, we thought for sure it would have to be a boy this time.

I have kind of been waiting to see the results of certain tests before I posted what is happening in this pregnancy. It's nothing major, but every pregnancy seems to have it's little speedbumps. I have had 4 or 5 ultrasounds this time, because the baby is measuring really small. We have been checking her growth, and doing tests. There are even more tests, because I'm OLD now. I finally went to the specialist, and he confirmed what we already thought. She is fine. She is just teeny-tiny. It is not a big surprise, since my last 3 babies have been under 6lbs. She will be small, too.

I have already been having some strong contractions, so I imagine I will have to take it easy for the next couple of months. I am really hoping to make it 10 or 11 more weeks. That will put me at 36-37 weeks, but I'm not sure. Levi was born at 35 weeks. I am just going to do all that I can to keep cooking her. It's not fun to have a NICU baby. We learned that with Brooklyn. But, they seem to come earlier and earlier everytime.

In other news:

Dylan turned 5 last week. She counted down all the way from 100 sleeps. We were so glad to get to 1 more sleep. She did a small family party. Since it was Monday, we took the kids to Flip n Out and went out to dinner. The kids were so tired afterwards, that they only had the energy to sing happy birthday and blow out candles. Nobody wanted to eat the cake, so we had it for lunch the next day :) We also ordered Press Dough with her birthday money, but it takes 6 weeks to get here. Lame.

We have had lots of baseball tournaments this summer, and have another one this weekend.

The kids have been swimming everyday. So glad we have a pool. It is TOO hot.

I think Blake will probably drag me around to every store until school starts looking for the perfect Vans. I really hope we find them soon.

I think my kids have lost half their brain cells this summer playing Mario Kart.

We have single-handedly depleted Costco of their Dino Chicken supply.

We have been having a great summer, though. Not ready for it to end. I still have lots to post...

Still here

We are loving this summer break. We have been busy busy. We are not used to having 3 whole months of break for summer, and I thought I would be going crazy by now, ready to have the kids back in school. Not the case, though. I am actually dreading the end of summer. The kids have been awesome this summer!

I have not heard "I'm bored" once. The kids are happy to just sleep in, veg out, swim, and whatever else they can find to do. There are plenty of friends around, too, to keep them busy. I think they are enjoying the laziness as much as I am, so they are perfectly content to just hang out at home. They are all getting along, too, for the most part. It has been great.

We have been traveling alot this summer. Much more than we usually do. I have a lot to post:

Baseball tournaments in Utah

Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico (amazing!)

Hopefully, a trip to Disneyland soon, because we have passes that we have to use by September.

Taylor's 1st year at Girl's Camp.

I will leave you with this picture of Taylor just before she headed up to Camp. This is the first year in 5 years that I haven't been to camp. Bummer to miss Tate's 1st year :( I have pictures of these 3 girls on the left on their first day of Kindergarten together. Now, I have pictures of them on their 1st day of Camp. Where is the time going? They are getting to be so grown up.

So, a little recap of Camp. Trust me, if you know Taylor, I got very specific details of every minute of Camp. However, I will spare you the play-by-play. She loved Camp. She slept out under the stars the first night. It kind of surprises me how much of a camper she is. She is such the quiet reserved brainy type, but she really loves the outdoors. Camping, hiking, fishing. I love that about her.

Anyway, it was kind of a bummer that her 1st year at Camp came the week after Philmont. She said Philmont was way more fun, so she kept comparing Girls Camp to Philmont. Philmont was an amazing experience for her. She had Firesides and Testimony meetings with the General YM Presidency of the Church, and General Primary President. Talk about once in a lifetime. She loved both Camps, and I am so greatful for the experiences that all of my kids have had this summer. I will post all about Philmont soon.

Dodger Game

When we went down to Lincoln's California tournament last month, we were able to take in a Dodger game with some of the families from his team. There's something about the feel of a Major League Stadium that is just plain fun. We caught a good game. The Dodgers won, and there was even a Pickle which the boys thought was the coolest thing ever. It's pretty rare to see a pickle in the Majors.

I think my favorite time is when the lights just come on, and it's just about to get dark.

Lincoln and some of his boys. These boys are all good friends. They have been together at least 3 days a week for the past year.

Yeah. How cute is he?!

After the game, everyone was allowed down on the field to watch fireworks. My kids are down there somewhere.

Watching the fireworks. Levi didn't seem to mind them at all. Going to the game was a fun family thing for us to do. Hopefully, we will see many more games together... maybe one day we will be watching Lincoln out there on the field.

Summer haircut

For those of you who know Lincoln, you know that his hair is his claim to fame. He is all about the hair. That is why I am shocked he decided to buzz it off. I can't blame the kid. He has thicker hair than all of his sisters. He was majorly overheating at baseball practice. He is not sure of it. Doesn't think he looks as cute. He is quite concerned that it won't grow back before school starts. At the rate his hair grows, I don't think he needs to worry.

His baseball practices run 3 hours long sometimes. In 108 degrees. I think this haircut is a good thing.

Awards and end of school stuff

This year, all the kids had separate awards ceremonies on separate days. I was at the school pretty much all week between Blake and Lincoln's birthdays and all the awards ceremonies. I'm so proud of the kids. They did great this year!

Blake got her Great American Award. This is an award only offered to 5th graders. They have to memorize all these crazy things like the Gettysburg Address, all the Presidents, the Preamble to the Constitution, and much more. I am so impressed that she got it. Only 27 5th Graders finished everything. Way to go Blake! I wish I could've gotten a picture of her with the trophy they gave her. We had to leave right after she got her award. Levi was OVER the awards ceremonies, so we took him home, and he immediately threw up :( Poor kid wasn't feeling well.

Making sure that mom is watching!

Future trouble makers, right there.

Mom, Seriously, are we done yet?

Dylan finished her last year of preschool.

She looks so tiny next to all those boys.

Ms. Heather has been an amazing teacher to my kids the last few years. We love her!

Woohoooo! I'm going to Kindergarten! Mom, how many more sleeps until Kindergarten? I will hear this every single day until summer is over :)

This is how we roll

This is my ride. It seats 15. Never in my life thought I would drive one of these. But, I quite like it. We took a trip to California this past weekend, and the kids were so far back that I couldn't even hear them. It was quite nice. It will be nicer once we install the DVD system. Dylan asks me all the time if we need to go anywhere, just so she can ride in it. The kids say it's better than a limo. Lincoln especially likes it when he is the only one in the car and gets the whole back to himself. I don't mind driving it, and I'm not even embarassed when I drive up to the school and 10 kids get out :) We are making memories in this thing everyday.