Monday & Tuesday

We left for camp an hour later than we had planned on Monday morning but we arrived safely and we weren't late.  I met the beautiful girls in my cabin and handed out all the extra supplies I was told I wasn't going to need but did.  Two girls (sisters) forgot their entire toiletry bag.  I must have been inspired to pack exactly 2 extra toothbrushes and full size shampoo and conditioner!

We made our camp shirt out of a M&M stamp I made using some craft foam and the bottom of a tape container.  (I'll post a tutorial later if anyone is interested.)

There were fun camp songs, skits and ditties.  By 10pm I was exhausted.  Just as I was falling asleep that night I was startled awake by what I thought was a mountain lion.  Turns out someone in our cabin snores...loudly!

Tuesday morning was spent at the tide pools. Tuesday afternoon I took a short nap and then chatted with my co-cabin mom until the Camp Director came in with her phone and a message to call home.  I knew what the call would be about, and I was right.  I didn't get my 1-2 weeks.  I got two days.  Grandma Vincent had passed away.  While I knew it was coming and it shouldn't have been a shock, it was.  Somehow I knew months in advance that she would pass while I was away at camp.  I think it was the Holy Ghost telling me "don't go to camp or be prepared to leave early."  But I didn't listen.  I went.  I wasn't really prepared to come home early, but I did. 

The women at camp were amazing.  Those who I chose to tell or were near by when I found out, jumped in to replace me in the cabin, help me pack my things and get everything squared away.  I asked them not to tell the girls why I was leaving.  I didn't mind them knowing, but number 1, I didn't want to be a downer on their camp experience, and number 2, I couldn't handle 100 young women and girls hugging me and telling me they were sorry. 

That night, we had a lesson in our cabin about being a virtuous woman.  There was a half carved statue of a woman wearing next to nothing close to the entrance of the camp.  After lights out we gathered up all the extra blankets and sheets available, snuck down there and dressed her! The above picture is the best I have for now.  I talked to the young women about modesty when we came back and about having virtue.  I bore them my testimony that they are LOVED daughters of God.  I told them that they were all born full of virtue and that we were they only ones who could let our virtue go.  It was a very touching moment that I will remember forever.

I didn't sleep too well that night.  And on Wednesday morning after breakfast, I drove the 4 hours home. 

Update since last post

I did run out and did a little bit of shopping before I got a frantic and firm call from my husband telling me to drop everything and come home NOW.  I walked in our front door to what looked like a horror film with blood covering walls, towels and my bed.  My youngest daughter somehow managed to drop a pretty heavy ceramic lamp on her head.  Husband threw daughter in the car and said, "GO!"

So off I drive to the nearest urgent care, which closed 45 minutes earlier.  I drive another 8  minutes to the next urgent care which had closed earlier than the door said it should....dumb door!  Next stop, hospital Emergency Room.

I have driven to this hospital at least 5 times and have driven right past it at least a dozen more.  But this time, I made every wrong turn imaginable.  By the time I got inside, I gave them the wrong daughter's name, the wrong birthday and my mother's telephone number when they asked for mine.    I've decided that all of this information (including a map and operating times of all close emergency centers) needs to be written down and in my purse at all times.  I'll be working on that next week.  They asked me if she had lost consciousness.  I told them I don't think so, but I'm pretty sure my husband did.  Then we sat.

Four hours and $5 in vending machine pop tarts (which I had a case of in my car but couldn't go out and get lest I missed hearing her name) later, they finally called her back, cleaned up her 1 inch head wound and glued it back together.  This whole process took less than 10 minutes and cost us a $50 co pay.  I could complain about that copay, in fact I did, but at least I had insurance.

Overall she was a trooper.  Didn't cry once while they were scrubbing her cut ( I almost did).

She was asleep before her head hit the pillow that night.  My husband had cleaned up all the blood, a giant feat for him, and had it all in the washing machine before I got home.  I had to run out to the grocery store to finish my girls camp shopping, which included food for the week I was gone so my dear sweet husband wouldn't starve to death for 5 days.

And thus concludes night number 1 of 8 of not having any sleep whatsoever.  To be continued.

I LOVE My Family!

5 Minutes after church.

3 Minutes until guests arrive.

1 tri-pod.

1 Todd, who just came by to drop off some scout papers, got the pleasure of hitting the shutter 45 times.

It all adds up to this beautiful family portrait!

Its been way to long...

Quick Random Recaps
(or caps, since I never told you in the first place) of the last few months

-Aaron likes his new job.  He's gone a lot and when he's home, he's tired.
 
-Work sent him to Georgia for 3 weeks for training.  It was a long 3 weeks.  Hard to not have back up, but also easier since I had one less person's laundry to wash and lunches to make.

-He came home on Saturday evening and had to report back to work on Sunday at 6am.  I wasn't too pleased with the scheduler.  He's on my bad list.

-I photographed a local Jr.College Graduation class this weekend.  Its always fun.  All the ladies had really cute shoes.  It made me want to go back and finish my BS (the graduation, not the shoes).  I looked at CSU Stanislaus' website today.  The deadline to apply for fall is tomorrow.  I don't think I'll make it.

-Both girls had birthdays.  Lissy turned 7.  Sarah turned 4 ...again.

-I have 3 sessions to edit right not, but I have 3 weeks of TV I need to catch up on.  Its a tough decision Aaron took the laptop with him and my computer doesn't have any speakers.

-Someone needs to do dishes.  By someone I don't mean me, but it will probably end up being me.

-I bought a dishwasher on craigslist a few months ago.  Its still in the garage.  No one loves me enough to install it for me.

-Sarah keeps feeding the dog gum.

-The dog has chewed up 3 shoes.  All Sarah's.  All different pairs.

-I decided that if I ever have another baby girl, her name will be "Jane Marie Michelle Princess Conzuela Banana Hammock Conn"

-If I have a boy, his name will be "Xaiver Conn"  so if he ever goes and works with his dad his uniform will say "X. Conn" on the name tag.

-I like peaches.  I can't wait for fresh peach season.

-When Aaron was hired he got a nice sign on bonus.  We used some of that money to buy new gutters and paint for the house.  Then it started raining.

-We sold our big work truck.  We used the money we made to buy new windows for the house.  Then Aaron left for Georgia.

-I have a pile of paint, gutters, windows and a dishwasher in my garage.  My house will be pretty one day....soon.

-The day after Aaron left for Georgia, Lissy broke one of her bedroom windows.  Of course it is one of the 3 windows we didn't buy replacements for.  It is currently being held together with tape and cardboard.  It makes the front of my house look really "classy".

-I read my cousin Linda's blog the other day, I know exactly how she feels.

-I'm having a print sale on my photography blog.  It ends today.

-I'm making a really pretty present for my SIL Randi.  I want to keep it.

-I'm planning a trip to visit Utah in the spring.

-I'm making a 7 layer bean dip for dinner tonight.

-I like to make Jello in 1 quart mason jars.  I don't have to measure anything.  Just fill it with about 1 cup hot water and jello.  Put the lid on and shake.  Fill the rest up with cold water.  Put the lid on and shake.  Put it in the fridge for tomorrow.  Plus it looks kind of cool.

-I've also been thinking about hiring a landscape designer and professional organizer (or not professionals, just someone who is good at it) because I'm not.

-....I think I ran out of random things.

Southern California ( a post stolen from my sister)

Julie wrote about her trip to Newport Beach on her blog last week.  Since we pretty much did the same thing, I'm just going to copy her post.

I went down to Newport Beach with my family last weekend. My parents and I spent a week there Friday to Friday and my sister (thats me)and her family joined us Friday to Wednesday. After getting there we all decided to go to Disneyland for a day (Aaron and I had our free "give a day- get a day" passes). We were waiting outside the gate when it opened and left right before the park closed. We ran around all day. It was nice that we went in October and got most of it done so we could now see what we missed and take our time without running too much.

To save some time and money, we packed lunch and dinner and ate in the parking lot. (I made chicken salad and croisants for  lunch and taco salad for dinner.  Both were extra yummy.)

We got fast passes for the rides we could get fast passes for so we wouldn't have to wait too long in lines. One line that took A LOT longer than we expected and were planning was the Nemo submarine ride. This was mostly because the audio on the submarine we were first put in wasn't working so they then had to unload us and reload us. Because of this, they gave a free fast pass/head of the line pass so we used it on Space Mountain at the end of the night. We had fun, but Andrew and Lissy looked a little unsure.

The day after Disneyland, we were so tired, we slept until we woke up. Of course, the kids woke up at a somewhat normal time for them. We sat around quite a bit and some of us decided to walk down to the local beach. We found some cool rocks to look at and some tide pools to explore.  (This is where a squirrel tried to steal Sarah's cracker.  I've never seen one get as close as this one did.  I had to run at it with a shoe to scare it off, but it kept inching forward.)

After my sister went home, my parents and I went down to Desert Hot Springs to visit my dad's aunt. It was really hot.  (We missed this part.)

The day after we got back into town, my nephew, Andrew, was baptized. He had asked me to speak about baptism which was an easier topic than my talk in sacrament meeting a few weeks ago. (Julie did an awesome job on her talk.  So did my mother on her's.  So many family members came to join us on this special day, it was great!)

Our cousins came into town for the day so we went to the Castle Air Museum and walked around all of the planes and jets. Yet again, another hot day. (VERY HOT!)

Portrait Fund Raiser

Family Portrait At Last ~ Even if its only one!

Sarah's bangs aren't all the way back & Lissy isn't looiking at the camera, but 4 out of 5 are looking at the camera...and that ain't bad! Aaron only smiled because I told him this one counted as our one family picture this year. Maybe next year I will hire a professional instead of handing uncle Mikey my camera.

No Family Pictures for Us This Week!

I was pretty ticked off a few weeks ago when Aaron brought Andrew home from the barber with a MOHAWK! I wasn't happy with his style choice, but especially because we had family pictures planned for the following week. (To be fair to Aaron, he didn't know that little piece of information.) So I postponed portraits a few weeks. He's starting to look like a normal kid again and...

...look what Sarah decided to do! ALL of her bangs are GONE! Completely GONE! I guess pictures will just have to wait....again.
I wonder what Lissy will do in a few weeks?

Happy st. Patricks Day

Do you know what happens at my house when I just want to take one nice snap shot of my 3 beautiful children?
They pose.

And make goofy, silly, cheesy grins.

Until I get frustrated and tell them to just look at me and smile.

And it still doesn't work.

Do you know how frustrating that is to a children's portrait photographer?

Very!

Christmas Eve in San Francisco

Every year, except when I'm pregnant or sick, we venture into "the city" on Christmas Eve. It is Aaron's favorite family traditions. His family has been going for many years. Now, I usually drag my feet to get there, because going means missing out on my family's annual Christmas Eve traditions and forfeiting my place in the chocolate line, but I always have fun once we are there.



This year, we made our first stop in Ghiridelli Square. We went in to have their world famous Hot Fudge Sundae. We were NOT disappointed. We ordered the brownie sundae and a hot chocolate to share. That was, by far, the best dessert I've had in a long time.


We made our way down to Pier 39. On the way, we stop at a few art galleries and a barely missed the Maritime museum by 1 minute! We let the kids play on the giant anchor for a little while.



The name of the bread company escapes me right now, but there was a beautiful old building with a bakery. It had a full glass window, where we could watch the bakers shape the dough into crabs, lobsters, snowmen, and even a giant alligator! I got in trouble with my grand father the next day. Apparently I was suppose to pick up a loaf or two of sour dough bread, but I didn't get the memo.






We made our annual hat and glove purchase at Baby GAP. The kids all got to pick a pair of gloves, Sarah's gloves came with a matching hat.

Over at Pier 39, we had a nice dinner at Sweet Louie's. It was good, but I can never enjoy a meal when I know I'm spending that much money on it (shhhh...don't tell Aaron, he quite enjoyed it.) I don't usually let me kids play under the table, but I could tell Sarah was close to reaching her limits. The table cloth went all the way to the floor and she was quite, so I let her be.

Overall, it was a nice family trip. I'm glad I went, even if I dragged my feet all the way to the car.