"You Don't Know My Life" and Other Tales

Last night I heard Summer cheerily telling Hans what a strict teacher she would be (were she to be a teacher). "And then I'd say, 'You want to pass notes in my class? Well now you can read it out loud to the whole class!"

A little later that evening, when I was getting on the kids' cases because none of them, except for Hans, had done something or other I'd asked them to do, Hans said happily, "I just love when mom gets mad at everyone but me".

So. The children are progressing nicely. Growing in character and all that.

Starling is holding her own around here as well (amidst such severe siblings). She has struck upon one statement that ends all arguments--no matter their nature. It is always the last word. Nobody knows quite how to refute it. When pushed too far in any disagreement she will at last angrily shout, "No! You don't know my life!" and away she runs. And that's it. She wins. (Never mind if the debate doesn't remotely involve her life.) We all use it on occasion now--when we can find no better arguments at our disposal. "You don't know my life!" And really, does anyone?

(One might be tempted to blame all of this on my faulty influence. But perhaps it should be blamed more fully by the lack of Mike's influence due to his blasted work hours! Surely, were he here more, we would have nothing but model children. Yes. Surely. [And I know it doesn't bear saying. But Mike's work hours really are so awfully tiresome. For both of us. I miss him! And there is just so much always needing done between farm, and animals, and house, and rental, and kids and miscellany. Saturdays just don't cut it. When can he see what the leak in the AC is all about, or change the car oil, or weed the yard, or fix the pig pen when he also needs to help the kids with the fair, and come choose all the house lighting with me, and one million other things? When? If he could only be home long enough for a few evening hours to accomplish things, it would make such a huge world of difference. Sometimes I think we simply cannot endure it for one more minute. And then we do.) 

(It seems a bit silly to stop in at the Zootah "petting zoo" of goats when the kids can go outside and pet their own goats all day long should they choose. And run in terror from their muddy, galloping Pig to boot. [She does come as close to galloping as any pig ever has. I think her great great grandfather must have been a horse.])

Jesse throwing candy and a rolls of toilet paper in the Mendon Pioneer Days parade. (One of his YM leaders runs a dumpster and porta-potty business. He asked Jesse to help out while he advertised in the parade.)

Jesse helping our calf to drink milk from a bucket. We bought her "weaned", but she hasn't seemed to be doing great, so we are trying to help her along. (Jesse has become a most useful son. I depend on him for so many things these days. He's the only one who can manage Pig when I run the kids over to feed animals in the mornings. He sets up hoses for me, and gets the calf her milk--without letting the steers get at it, and is forever asking what he can do to help me. Today I told him that if we lived in early church days and Mike had been called off on some foreign mission, it would just be, "Jesse, you're the man around here now." And I think he'd rise to the occasion. [This is not to slight his excellent oldest brother mind. But his excellent older brother has been mostly away from home himself these many years. If we were back in those early days it would probably be that he'd been called to join the Mormon Battalion or gone off to seek his fortune or called on a mission as well--leaving his new, young wife to wait for him.])

Boys doing wall sits. Hans lasted two minutes.

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

For such a time as ... Girls' Camp???

Well. Who can say.

But goodness I felt throughout the entirety of Girls' Camp week that I only had the most tenuous hold on everything and that it might all fly to pieces at any moment!

I can't even explain it really. But I dreamt, a month or two before camp, that I needed to do all I could to call down protection and power from heaven over this little gathering. (And I did! I put them on the temple prayer roll multiple times, I fasted multiple times, I adjured my youth camp planners to call down heaven's blessings on our camp, I asked sisters and a few very close friends to pray.)

And then everything just began shifting. People coming who weren't coming. People who knew nobody. People with large assignments suddenly not coming. Issues with transportation. A broken leg. Additions and subtractions of various people changing the dynamics among the girls. Girls wanting to go home. Leaders calling with concerns. Worry over a leader's surgery/possible cancer. Multiple changes the day before camp.

And then, after all the tenuousness, the last 12 hours were ... miraculous. And I saw that God had been interested in the goings on of our camp. And the feelings the girls would experience that final night.

I don't know what it all means, or what it all meant. But it was part of something important. And somehow, I was woven in some small way into it.

And ... I'm heartily relieved to have it done! Ha!

YW secretary Marsha and volunteer food champion Whitney:

But I do love those girls! And the leaders! (I thought multiple times how reassuring and comforting it is to have women to serve with who you can rely on and trust; women whose opinions you value and who you can pull aside to counsel with in any unexpected situation that arises. What a thing to associate and rub shoulders and work with women of power. I could have crossed the plains with them.)

It would have been a great opportunity lost to not have accepted this calling/assignment. Much easier to not. Yes. But to have not gotten to know and work with all these girls and leaders? Such a sad thought!

And now more pictures. (I didn't cart my camera on the hikes to most of our bigger activities--like the lake, so most of these are just from around our campsite.)

Charlotte-- one of my YCLs (youth camp leaders who help plan camp). (She came in a leg cast!):

Emily. One of our first time Girls' Camp campers:

Sam:

Preparing for skits. (T, the leader I asked to bring supplies for skits did not let me down.):

Nicole and Sally (both YCLs) carrying Charlotte to one of our activities:

Abby and Emma. (Emma was only 11 at last year's camp. It was fun to see her with a bit more confidence this year.):

Kaislie (whose mom was going to be helping at camp but needed surgery--which was a great cause of stress for Kaislie), Emily, and Sally:

YCLs Nicole and Ramona:

Counselor in the bishopric and Bishop (who is also our dairy-farmer neighbor). The poor fellows were given a skit assignment of their own. (But they bested everyone.):

Kaislie:

McKiah (another first year camper):

Lilly:

Rhylan. Not a member of our church and didn't know the girls. She bravely came because her grandma (or maybe her mom?) wanted her to. She clicked marvelously with the girls:

Sophie and London:

Abby:

Demiree (a champ to come as one of our leaders while six months pregnant) and Layla ready to perform:

Sophie:

Kendra, Blakely, YW President Jana, Kaislie, Ramona, Abby:

Marsha and Lapreal (both YW leaders) performing in their skit. (I, luckily, got to be a judge and did not have to be in a skit.) I don't know if I have a picture of Lapreal unmasked! But I loved that I could call on her anytime I needed anyone to lay down the law with the girls. She was not afraid remotely to get them to go to bed or to get them packing up, etc. I would simply have to say, "Can you make them ...". And she would. :)

McKiah, Sam and Penny. Penny, having graduated this spring, could have chosen to be done with YWs and Girls' Camp, but I was grateful she stuck around to go with me.

Lilly, Emily, Lapreal (again faceless):

Bishop during part of his skit:

And again, poor fellow. (As I mentioned, T did not disappoint in her props):

T. (Actually Tiana. But I've only ever heard anyone call her T.):

Claiming the skit trophy:

Kiki (Cadence)--who was the other non-member who bravely came to camp (though at least she came knowing the friend, Emmy, who brought her). And Sophie (Emmy's younger sister):

Abby and Melissa:

Blakely (best described as a tough and fearless little thing):

Lilly above. Abby and Kendra (another YCL) below:

McKiah:

Charlotte (with the broken leg), Sally and Sally's mom Melissa:

Emmy (another YCL--the one who brought Kiki along):

We wrote our testimonies in the Book of Mormon and then painted the covers. (We will send them to the missionaries serving from our ward to pass out.) Melissa's painting skills far outshone the rest of ours:

Spunky Layla (who had no qualms telling me that Anders was on her top ten boys' list):

McKiah:

Sam:

Blakely (her mom--Whitney--is who agreed to do food for us last year and this year!):

Emma (Sam's sister):

London and Rhylan. (I was so glad Rhylan was able to make such a close friend at camp). Also, ever since coming home from camp I find myself constantly wanting to shout, when anyone does anything remotely impressive (for example if it were Summer), "When I say let's go, you say Summer!"

"Let's go!"

"Summer!"

Repeated three times. And followed by wild cheering. London never missed an opportunity to do so. I even teased that she would have done it after each girl's testimony in our testimony meeting given the chance. It's nice to have a camp cheerleader. 

Jana (the YW president). She is as logical, on top of things, and sound-minded as anyone has ever been. When I had any doubts about where to go, when to do something, or how best to handle a situation, I would just say, "Let's just ask Jana".

YCL Nicole:

YCL's Nicole and Sally:

Ramona! She is a bit younger than Penny (Jesse's age), but she and Penny still hang out on occasion and I adore her. 

YCL Kendra:

Penny, Kendra and Ramona surrounding Demiree when she protested that she did not want to be in a photo alone:

T and Marsha:

Sleeping "under the stars". Quite as uncomfortable as you might dare imagine:

Waiting in line for the highlight of camp (the Heber Valley Camp Faith Walk):