Always Remember – Hero Camp 08

Last week was “Hero Camp”, an amazing church camp that is planned and run by the mothers in my ward (congregation) and a neighboring ward. Last year Hunter and Emma had a great time, and they have been waiting all summer for this big week.  This year’s theme was “Always Remember” and focused on the wonderful examples of heroes we have had throughout time. Every morning the group of 99 children would meet together and get a visit from a hero that came through a Time Machine. Then they would split into groups by age and rotate through activities, music rehearsal, and a lesson.  I didn’t see everything that went on, but here are some of the highlights of the week:

Monday’s Hero: Old Testament – Joseph and the coat of many colors. The focus was on choosing the right no matter what happens to you, and having a good attitude. They talked about “CTR Power” quoting the scripture in 2 Samuel 22:33- “God is my strength and my power: and he maketh my way perfect.”  They also learned about other heroes in the Old Testament: David’s power of courage (they used sling shots to throw marshmallows at an amazing painting of the giant Goliath), Moses’ power of faith, Daniel’s power of prayer, Esther’s power to stand for what is right, Noah’s power of hard work, and Joseph’s power to forgive.

Tuesday’s Hero: The Book of Mormon – Ammon’s wisdom. God helped Ammon to be wise by giving him ideas in his mind and in his heart.  They did activities related to living in Nephite times, making an arrowhead necklace, a little clay pot, a headband and painted each others faces.

Wednesday’s Hero: New Testament – The Good Samaritan. This is the day I was most involved with and I helped teach a lesson about Christ and how he taught us to serve by the way he lived. We talked about how he used his hands for service, made painted hand prints and special pencils, did an obstacle course and assembled hygiene kits.

Thursday’s Hero: Doctrine and Covenants – Mary Elizabeth and Caroline Rollins (They saved many of the pages from the Book of Commandments when a mob destroyed the print shop). The theme for the day was “We can do hard things.” Much of the focus was on the early Mormon pioneers and the hard work and sacrifice they gave to live and defend themselves from persecution.They made covered wagon snacks, played games that pioneer children would have played, and made butter.

Friday: The kids all performed the songs they had rehearsed through the week.  Each group had a song they learned together, and there were two beautiful group numbers as well.  (I can’t remember the name of the CD that so many of these songs were on, so if you know please tell me!) Each child was given a memory book with pictures of them and the things they did all week.  Then we all went to the Lagoon for swimming, sand and water slides.

It was such a special week.  The kids felt the love of their Heavenly Father and learned so much while still having fun with their friends.  There were tears shed by one of my girls because it was over so fast and she just loved learning and singing.  A huge Thank You to any of you that were involved in making this week happen.  It will be something that my kids will always remember.

Hannah’s group singing Nothing’s Too Hard For The Lord

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT4tPi2GnCg

Emma’s group singing Good News

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t53cieMeMGA

Hunter’s group circle dancing

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTaE8sXHWBw

The whole camp sings together

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hcnq-hU82Q

Hubby Dating Tag

I have been tagged to tell about my husband and about our dating years.
Husbands Name: Robert, Rob, Robby
How long did we date: friends for 2 months, dated for 2 months, engaged for 2 months
How long have we been married: Almost 12 years – August 24th
How old is he: He just turned 35
Who eats more: Eats more of what?  Chocolate? me. Pasta? Rob.
Who said I LOVE YOU first: Me! We were in my apartment having some sort of deep discussion when it hit me, and I just said it.  He answered “I love you too” back so fast that I was afraid he didn’t mean it and was just trying to say what I wanted to hear.  (I don’t read into everything as much now as I used to.)
Who is taller: Rob, by about 8 inches.
Who is a better singer: Me, Rob can hear the tune but can’t get it to come out right. I’m not far ahead of him though.
Who is smarter: Rob.  He can remember everything trivial and most things important.
Who does the laundry: Me, unless Rob is out of something then he will do it without any fuss.
Who does the dishes: Me, unless Rob is being particularly gallant or I ask him to.
Who mows the lawn: One of the advantages to renting- the gardeners hired by the landlord.
Who cooks: I do most of the time, but Rob does whenever he gets a chance or wants to give me a break.  He knows I don’t like cooking.
Who drives: I do when I know how to get there better than he does, but usually Rob. On road trips we rotate turns.
Who proposed: Rob did at a little restaurant called La Dolce Vita. He brought the ring with him and talked to the waiter who was a native Italian (While I was sitting right there. I kind of thought something might be up.) and worked out a way to present it to me. I was served a dessert with a ring right in the center.
Who is more stubborn: Me.
Who is more sensitive: I’m not sure.  I would say that I am more insensitive, so does that make him more sensitive?
Who wears the pants: We’re equally matched most of the time. In fact we argue over who’s turn it is to pick the movie or which restaurant to go to.
First Kiss: Once again we were in my apartment sitting on the couch.  (That summer I only had one roommate and she was gone a lot.) He was helping me study for a religion class, and at some point he felt the moment was right and leaned in for a kiss. I remember it was very simple and nice, and Rob remembers saying something profound like, “You’re really cool.”
TAG, YOU ARE IT……

Why Legislate Morality?

More on the proposed amendment to California’s Constitution this November.

In our society, the theology of “live-and-let-live” or claiming that others’ choices are none of our business is the very attitude that brings about the decline of our people.  In an article written by Maurine Proctor of Meridian Magazine, she goes further into the impact of allowing gay marriage on our country:

From The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:

In a new letter that will be read over the pulpit to California congregations, the First Presidency is advising members that, “Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage.”

“We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage is legally defined as being between a man and a woman.”

“The Church’s teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal,” the letter reads.

“Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the creator’s plan for his children.

“Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage.”…

How this affects the whole country:

What is disturbing is that unlike Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage is confined only to those who are residents of the state, California has no such law. Thus residents of other states, whose marriage laws do not allow genderless marriage can come to California, get their nuptials, and then head home claiming their marriage is legal….

Family fragmentation is a public issue with public consequences. For example, in April of 2008 the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, along with others, issued a study showing that family fragmentation in the United States is costing taxpayers $112 billion annually…

Why defining marriage is important to families:

Of course, life isn’t perfect and sometimes people become single parents — a spouse dies or parents experience a painful divorce. Although we can’t always protect bad things from happening, there is one thing we can do. Never intentionally create motherless or fatherless children… Study after study shows that children fare best in a home with their own mother and father. They have less delinquency, less drug usage, less tendency for suicide, less abuse, less tendency to live in poverty. They have higher grades, more security, more self-confidence…
Any law that dilutes the definition and purpose of marriage leads to fewer marriages and more children being born out of wedlock. Sadly, we have already witnessed these alarming trends in Scandinavian countries that legalized same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships more than 10 years ago, and now the out of wedlock birthrate is between 50 to 60 percent (depending on the country).

“Acts done in the name of freedom have shut down the freedom of the religious.”

When Massachusetts adopted homosexual marriage, the state left a Boston Catholic adoption service no choice but to shut down or agree to place adopted children with homosexual couples. This is not because the state funded the charity, but only because the charity had to depend on a state license to operate…

After New Jersey passed civil union legislation, the state removed part of the tax-exempt status from a church in Ocean Grove after the church refused, on religious grounds, to offer its gazebo for a civil union service. In Massachusetts, parents lost the right to be notified when their child’s public school was going to teach on the topic of homosexuality.

Harvard Law professor Mary Ann Glendon wrote in 2004, during the same-sex marriage debate in Massachusetts, ”The experience in other countries reveals that once these arrangements become law, there will be no live-and-let-live policy for those who differ. Gay-marriage proponents use the language of openness, tolerance, and diversity, yet one foreseeable effect of their success will be to usher in an era of intolerance and discrimination … The ax will fall most heavily on religious persons and groups that don’t go along.”…

Happy Happy Birthday Robby Dear

What I love about my Robby:

The way he says, “I missed you” when he comes home from work.

His positive outlook on just about everything.

The look he gives that says, “I love this” when we are enjoying playing with the kids.

He reads the kids stories before bed.

He believes that most people are good.

How he answers all the questions on Jeopardy out loud.

He calls me “baby” and “angel.”

He does not judge.

He is always learning new things.

He tries to understand me.

How he always is sure I’m “just going to love” every gift he gives me.

He has a strong testimony of the Gospel.

How he thinks the dumb things I do are cute.

He respects my ideas and feelings.

I inherited a super fun family when we married.

When I ask, “will you do me a favor?” He always answers yes without knowing what he’s getting into.

He asks the kids questions and listens to their answers.

How he taps his fingers and fidgets constantly. (It’s not because he’s stressed or impatient, he just wants to be doing something.)

How he will not let me take myself too seriously.

He tells me that I’m beautiful.

How he wins every game we play. Ok, I love that he doesn’t rub it in.  I hate that he wins.

He makes me want to be a better person.

He took the day off yesterday, prepaid and arranged a day at a spa for me.  Then he took the kids to the park to fly the shuttle kite and to Chuck E. Cheese’s while I had my first ever massage, mani/pedi, and hair cut (Well, I’ve had one of those before, but this one was great!).

I love you sweetie pie!  Happy Thirty Something!

Happy Campaignin’ Birthday

Happy Birthday to my Mom!  Because I know you love a good political discussion, I decided to put you in the grand finale of this popular new Jib Jab video.  Thanks for raising me right, I love you!

Magic Family Vehicle

The gas light flipped on today in my mini van.  I was already running late to meet Rob for lunch with the kids (Now that it’s summer, we try to have lunch with him near his office at least once a week), so the numbers I was about to see didn’t help my mood.  I pulled into the gas station near my house and filled up.  It cost $78.00! –Choke, gasp.– I remember back in high school filling the tank of the family Buick for $20.00.  Am I really that old already?

Now that our van is over a decade old and is starting to fade (I have to close the driver door by pulling on the window frame because the bolt holding the handle on is stripped and the handle is wobbly, the rear window doesn’t work, one door is a weird unmatching yellow/white color because of a bad paint match at the body shop, the CD player gets stuck constantly and takes several tries to even read the CD, the clips for the sun visors have broken, the doors will only unlock with a remote or if the key is held at just the right angle in the passenger door, not at all if you try the driver door… etc.) I know the time will inevitably come for a new family car.   It wouldn’t take much to beat the 13.8 mpg I’m getting in the Plymouth Grand Voyager, but even the best rated mini vans don’t seem to have great gas mileage.  Hopefully our trusty van will hold together for another year or more until the magic family vehicle is on the market. Maybe there is a better option for a family of six already out there.  Anyone have a favorite family car?  Tell me about it!

Citrus

On Saturday we went to the Festival of Flight at Orange County’s Great Park.  There is a huge orange hot air balloon that gives people rides straight up and and down for a view of the area. Unfortunately for us the event was pretty popular and the time slots for a ride were all filled two hours after the festival started.  We walked around and saw the different displays, made birdseed art and got some free frisbees. There was also a place to make a simple kite, but the line was super long, and Sabrina was super cranky, so we decided to pass on that one.  The park was also giving out free frozen orange sorbet in orange peel bowls- yum!

We also got the lemonade stand and the kids set it up for the first time yesterday. The neighbors got in on it too, and there are plans to try again today… Fun!