End of Summer Fun

Since it was the last weekend before school started up again, we took the kids out for a Saturday of fun - school shopping and bowling! The kids love to bowl. We had 2 hours of bowling and I didn't realize that most of that two hours would be during their cosmic bowling time! Thus the darkness in the pictures!

Kate thoroughly enjoyed watching the balls reappear and having her hair blow in the wind.

And I actually scored a couple of strikes. Wish I would have taken a picture of my first round score. I'm sure it had to be a personal best and one I'll never see again.

Chloe was so cute. She'd turn her head as if that would help steer the ball over.

Back to School Teacher Gift Ideas

Seriously seems like we just celebrated the last day of school and now it's the weekend before they go back! Yikes! Meet the teacher was last night and we wanted to bring the new teachers a little gift. Got this idea from one of my favorite crafty blogs and she even gives you the printable to print for free. Click here! I bought the glass jars at the dollar store, filled with candy and voila!

Can't hurt to sweeten up the teacher at the beginning of the year, right?

Here are a few other cute ideas I found here. This pencil one I may do at Christmas time or teacher appreciation week.

And here was another super easy idea for the first day of school.

Answered Prayers

I don't know who started it. But one day one of the kids started adding this to their prayer: "Please bless that no bad guys will get us." A little disturbing to me at first. But it stuck with the others. Now they all say that phrase in their prayers whether it be at mealtime or bedtime.

Today I was very grateful that prayer was answered.

The kids went to my parents house today while I was at work. When I picked them up, one shouted "Kate got lost at the mall today."

Excuse me?

Marci had asked Grandpa to join them at the mall with the kids so they could all play at the play place and then go to McDonalds. It was 112 out today so it was very crowded in the play place as mothers were trying to figure out activities in the A/C to keep the kids cool.

Apparently, Kate didn't see anyone from the family after a minute or two, so she left the play place.

A few minutes later, my dad and sister OVERHEAR a mall cop saying that they have a missing kid in the office, but at that point, my dad and sister STILL don't do a kid check. They keep chatting. (I can laugh about this now, but still a little in shock.)

TEN minutes later, another mall cop brings Kate to the play place. I'm sure they were fully expecting by now to see a frantic mother in tears running up and down the mall screaming this child's name. But nope. Marci & dad still don't realize Kate is missing.

It's Hayley who looks over to see Kate bawling and holding a tissue in her hand. Hayley comes up to ask Kate if she's ok, having no idea she's been gone for awhile. The mall cop asks Hayley who she's with and she points to Marci. It's only then Marci realizes what has just happened and feels horrible.

Like I said - I can laugh about this only because of the outcome. I don't even want to think about all of the "could haves" with this story.

But you can bet I snuggled Kate a little longer today. And read her a few more books than usual. I thoroughly enjoyed the puppet show she put on for me today where the hippo ate the princess. And instead of rushing through it, I cherished the opportunity to help her put her puzzles together. I even gave in and said ok when she asked to sleep in my bed tonight.

Kate was protected today. No bad guys got her. So tonight I am grateful for my children's sweet prayers being answered. And now I hope my children continue to say that in their prayers for a long, long time. We need all of the protection we can get.

(Side note: The same afternoon the kids went to the pool with grandma and grandpa. As they were all packed up ready to leave, Chloe decides to jump in the deep end one last time. Forgetting everything she'd learned in swim class, she starts to panic. Again, Hayley comes to the rescue and jumps in after her. Thank you, Hayley, for coming to Kate & Chloe's rescue today! I almost lost two kids in one day. Yikes.)

Lifes Lessons Learned from Girls Camp

I'm not gonna lie. I hate camping. I don't like sleeping in uncomfortable conditions. I don't like using public restrooms, let alone ones in the wilderness. I don't like bugs and critters. There's nothing fun about not showering and having that not so fresh feeling.

Now don't get me wrong - I love enjoying the beauty of nature. I just don't like sleeping in it.

So when I was called as YW president, I worried about girls camp. . . because here's another secret . . . I only went one year when I was a YW. We slept in tents. We used a port-o-john. And yes, I had a good time getting to know the other YW. But the next year girls camp was the same week as our annual family vacation to the beach.

Beach condo or camp. . .

Beach condo or camp. . .

Hard decision, but I chose beach. And then the next year I had cheerleading camp at the same time. If I didn't go to cheerleading camp, I was off the squad. And by my 4th year, I just figured why bother. (I know . . . amazing I was ever called to be YW president. Maybe this is payback?)

So our YW's girls camp was this week. And because I have to work, I wasn't able to take off the whole week and attend. But I really wanted to attend the day of testimony meeting, so I rearranged my work schedule and drove up early Wednesday morning so I could spend the entire day there. I was so excited to see the girls! (They look a little somber below only because it was during the scripture hike which was so reverent and very spiritual!)

The theme for camp this year was The Amazing Race to Life Eternal. And I had a blast going to all of the stations and watching the girls complete them. And with all of them, there were a dozen ways to relate it to their life and what they go through at home.

Like the zip line . . . some parts of life are so fun and thrilling! (But just like the zip line, those experiences seem to fly by too quickly!)

Others are much more of a challenge. This is the Wall Challenge. They had to figure out a way to get every girl in their team up and over this wall.

This team in particular tried it a few different ways but were not being successful. They started to get discouraged. I heard things like "We'll never be able to do this." "This is impossible!" "I say we give up."

But just as they got to this point, you know what happened? The Youth Leaders stepped in and started giving suggestions. The adult leaders stepped in and helped spot them.

And they did it! Every single one of them made it over that wall.

I thought of how this relates to life.

There have been so many times in my life where I've said "I'll never be able to do this. This seems impossible. I want to give up."

But just like in the wall challenge, at the point I am ready to give up, it seems like people step in to help or give ideas. Prayers are answered and inspiration comes. I know there must be times when angels on the other side step in to help and we don't even know it.

And as of yet, I've gotten through every one of those impossible seeming challenges. It wasn't always fun. Some I would never want to re-live. But from every challenge I've learned something about life. And I know I wasn't left alone.

Which brought me to my next life lesson application. I asked the girls to think about the teams they were on. I saw a lot of different team dynamics. Some were positive and encouraged each other like the team below (this was the Prison Escape challenge - - the whole team had to figure out a way to get out over the rope without touching it.)

But then I also overheard teams that were negative and made their team members feel terrible if they were slowing them down. Some teams would roll their eyes at certain challenges and say "This is lame." I don't think those teams got much out of it.

So I asked the girls to think about the type of team they have in their life at home. Do you realize that you get to PICK your team in life? Are you choosing to surround yourself with positive influences and people who uplift you? Who make you want to be a better person? Or are you surrounding yourself with people who bring you down. Or tempt you. Or depress you. Or make you want to quit the race altogether?

It sure makes life easier if you have a good team.

Like these gals. Becky Mayhew & Laura Graff are my counselors in YW. And I love them and my secretary / dear friend Stacey (who also is not a camper). They all bring such unique talents to our team and they support me all the way.

Testimony meeting that night was amazing. Our girls are amazing. Brother Cooper did a great job of relating the race at camp to the race of life and how the atonement helps us finish the race. I know Christ carries us at times in our life when we're injured and not able. And for that I am grateful.

I had packed a bag to spend the night Wednesday and then I was going to have to leave by 7 am to get back in time for Brent to go work on Thursday. But our evening finished up around 10:30 pm. I thought - I can either unpack all my stuff and half sleep on a bunk in the cabin and worry about spiders crawling in my sleeping bag all night.

Or I can leave right then and be back by 12:30 in my own comfy bed with my hubby.

I chose the latter.

So even though I didn't sleep at Girls Camp, I felt like I got a good taste of it. I love the YW and I love being a part of their activities. I know I learn so much from them. But I also have so much I want to tell them. Ok scream from the rooftops to them.

Almost every time I talk to them, I remind them of my motto:

"The choices you make today, have eternal consequences."

Choose wisely. All of those seemingly insignificant choices you make in high school, lead you down one path or another. Which one are you choosing?

Still applies to me today, even though I'm almost 20 years out of high school.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not perfect now, nor was I in high school. But because I made mistakes and learned from them I want to share what I've learned with the YW. Yet I struggle with how to teach them without sounding preachy. I struggle on how to let them know just how much I care and love them. I have a lot of learning to do in this calling, I know. But I'm glad that this is one stretch of my amazing race in life. I'm learning so much from it!

4th of July Celebration!

There is nothing worse than a 4th of July spent in Phoenix. Too hot for a parade. Too hot to bbq. And even too hot at night to sit out and watch fireworks.

So for years now, the whole Foster family has spent our Independence Days up in the mountains of Arizona. Not only do we love the small town feel of the 4th, but the cooler weather comes at the perfect time - - mid-summer when we're dying from the heat and need to escape.

But for the first time in about 10 years, the Fosters didn't have an annual 4th of July trip planned. So I was giddy with excitement when the Lamoreaux side of the family planned a trip to Utah!

We got up super early (thus the frown and some tired eyes below) so we could get a good spot in Cedar City for the parade.We made sure we had everything ready:

Cute toes - CHECK!

Cute 4th of July accessories - CHECK!

Cute Hats and tatoos - CHECK! We were ready for the festivities to begin!

Waiting for the parade with Grant, Carson & Londee Lou.

The kids made out with all of the candy and loot that the floats would pass out. (And notice that Brent got this shot as Miss Utah was passing by . . . how convenient.)

After the parade, we walked down to the park where rides and games were set up. I remember when I was about 8 years old, going down to the same park after a 4th of July parade. I remember playing frisbee there with my grandma's dog. Fun memories of the 4th that I was happy to carry on with my own kids.

Kate riding the slide (and mom realizing that I should only buy skirts with built in shorts from now on).

Enjoying snow cones in the "heat" of 80 degrees.

And Hayley did a little rock climbing.

After the park we headed to the movies to see Toy Story 3. So cute! And we had every intention of staying that evening until the fireworks, but when it doesn't get dark until 10 pm, that's a little hard. The kids were tuckered out by 8:00 so we just headed back up to the cabin. No fireworks for us this year, but the kids didn't even seem to notice!

Trip to Duck Creek

The Lamoreaux Family decided it was time to take a little trip together up to Utah so we rented a cabin in Duck Creek. It was beautiful there and only a short drive away from Cedar City where my parents both grew up. Here are a few highlights we enjoyed there:

THE CABIN! We loved it. It had 3 floors and enough room for each family to have their own bedroom(s) and bathroom. It came equipped with a ping pong table and XBox. And I just loved sitting on the front porch in the rocking chair enjoying the cool weather. We went from 112 in Phoenix to a high of 60 at the cabin and we loved being able to wear our jackets again!

Making smores in the backyard around the camp fire:

Seeing our cousins, aunts and uncles for the day! We were excited to have them up at the cabin for a bbq. Below - Aunt Rhea, Jill, Tori, Aunt Kathy & JanelleThe grill brothers - Kim & DadShannon made the kids day by bringing up his quads and rhino. They literally rode them all day.

Especially Chloe . . . we couldn't get her off. And she kept telling everyone "Go faster! Go faster!"It was only a short drive over to Cedar Breaks - - I rank it right up there with the grand canyon. It's gorgeous and a must see everytime we visit Cedar.The kids and Brent went fishing at Duck Creek pond almost every day we were there. Even though we could see fish literally jumping out of the water at night, they didn't catch a thing!Spending time with Grandma and Granpda 24-7. The kids were in heaven.

One of our other highlights was laughing so hard with the family one night that our stomachs were actually sore from it! Tori promised to write up the funny things that were said. Not sure if I'll be brave enough to share that, but man did we have fun together.