Girl's Camp 2013

This year I was Camp Director.  It was fun.  It was also very crazy.  Here are the girls.  My favorite is the one on the back row in the BYU shirt.  :)

We hiked into Cave Falls one afternoon and took some pictures.  Here's Golden Delicious with her friend, Sadie.

This year was Stake Camp which was held at Darby, up in the Tetons.  It was a Hawaii theme and we had to come up with a ward camp name.  We chose "Camp Leilani"  because Leilani means, "Royal Daughter of God."  Awesome!

The best thing about camp was the food, without question.  That is because Annette, the assistant camp director, was in charge of the food and it was marvelous!

Reaaaaaaaally marvelous!  I even took a picture of the menu which was taped to the wall.  The carmel apples with homemade carmel, 4 different kinds of fudge, and funnel cakes were all divine.  The Spy Twins are horrified now at what they've been having to survive on at Scout Camp all these years.  Yum!

And the Priesthood Leadership Team!  Exhausting work!

Staying at Ricky's Ranch

A few days before the clinic ended Ricky asked Mr. Bechtel if he would consider letting the Spy Twins stay for an extra month working at his place.  We thought this was really nice of him.  We also were a little nervous since the boys are only 15.  We talked about it and decided that they would be ok and that it was a neat opportunity for them.

The boys set up their cots in the corner of the shop.

They ate, showered, and did their laundry inside Ricky and Sarah's house.

I wish I had better pictures.  I was so happy to see the boys again when we went to go pick them up that I totally forgot to document the experience :)  The boys learned how to use chain saws and they cut down lots of cedar trees.  They also took care of feeding the horses and basic chores.  Ricky was building a load out for his cows and also a grain bin for Sarah.  The boys say that Ricky is pretty amazing at having the ability to imagine something in his mind and then be able to build it.

Sarah helped the boys learn about horse nutrition information and general care for their horses. 

 It was hard work and not all wine and roses by any means, but the boys had a great time and learned a lot about being meticulous, working consistently and with focus, and how to be useful helpers.  They feel like it was an honor to be there and hope Ricky asks them to come next year.

Oh, and they each lost 20 pounds while they were there.  Bonus!

Ricky Quinn's Ranch Roping and Cow Work Clinic

The boys were thrilled when Ricky called and invited them to come to his ranch for his clinic.  We had a little drama getting ready because our farrier trimmed Pepper too short, and he went lame.  But after having the vet check him, and eventually getting the ok, the boys and Mr. Bechtel headed for Nebraska.

On the way they stopped between Laramie and Cheyenne at Remount Ranch, which is where Mary O'Hara wrote her famous My Friend Flicka trilogy.  Nova Spy and I have read those books countless times, and I love them so much that it practically hurts to read them.  I can see the grass blowing, the huge clouds floating across the blue sky, and the beautiful horses grazing on the uplands.  It's just amazing.

Ricky and Sarah's ranch is in North Platte.  The boys learned a ton and had a great time with everybody there, especially Dave Hicken, who they met last year in Heber City.

The last night of the clinic, Ricky had a friend over who cooked steaks for everyone.  Mr. Bechtel said it was the best steak he'd ever had.  He just placed himself conveniently by the cook, and the cook would cut him off little tidbits of meat every few minutes for him to try.  

The boys got roped into singing a few songs afterwards.  This made Golden Delicious and I nervous:  Did everyone else sing too?  Were they embarrassed? What did they actually sing??  Mr. Bechtel reported that, no, no one else sang, the boys were slightly embarrassed but got over it, and they sang a lot of stuff out of the Ricks Family Songbook, with Chris LeDoux and Kingston Trio being the favorites.  

It was a great experience to learn from Ricky and see his place.

The Big 4 - 0

This year I turned 40.   40 seems very ancient.

Golden Delicious made me a beautiful cake to celebrate.

Clark was down from Sandpoint and played an awesome rhumba bass accompaniment to Golden Delicious and my singing.  We sang "Something Stupid" ala Michael Buble and we sounded marvelous :) 

Fathers and Sons Outing

The boys and Mr. Bechtel had a great time with Grandpa this year for Fathers and Sons.  They went down to the Golden Spike and saw where the railroad came together.  They also toured Thiokol, saw various rocket contraptions,  and camped out in the desert with an amazing view of the stars.

The Spy Twins even got to drive a bit.  Everyone had a great time.

Arrow of Light

This spring Granny Smith earned his Arrow of Light award for cub scouting.  He and Mr. Bechtel burned the midnight oil completing his last few requirements before GS's birthday.  They did things like change bike tires and fix cars and other "handyman" requirements.

Now Granny Smith is an 11 year old scout and ready to start earning merit badges.

Good Job!

Monopoly

Granny Smith and I played an epic game of Monopoly several weeks ago.  Mr. Bechtel was in Japan, the Spy Twins were in Nebraska, Golden Delicious was flitting about from one social activity to the next, and so GS and I just set up our board, and for several days waged a furious battle on the financial front.

I tried my best, but was soundly defeated.  I knew I was sunk by the time Granny owned hotels along one whole side of the board.  So even if I managed to slip past "Boardwalk" (which he owned), I was sure to land on one of his other holdings.  After I landed on Boardwalk (and owed him thousands of dollars) he generously granted me safe passage along the deadly path until I had paid him back.  I felt a kindship with coal miners, and tenement dwellers, etc.  But we had fun!