Cliff Lake

While the Bostonian cousins were in town, we decided to head north and spend the weekend at the Wildes' cabin in Island Park and have some great out-of-doors experiences. This included:

Driving to Cliff Lake. (Rebekah and Seth in our truck.)

Getting pulled over because we accidentally drove past the watercraft inspection without getting our watercraft inspected. (Rachel and Justin's truck, but all of us had to turn around and be inspected. They were really nice about it.)

Canoing to a good spot to have a picnic lunch and play for a while. (Canoe #1: Uncle Justin, Miriam, Lily, Kelsey, Aunt Rachel, Hudson. Canoe #2: Grandpa Dennis, Cooper, Calvin, Grandma Susan. Canoe #3: Seth, Winnie, Rebekah, Analee, Andrea.)

Wading/swimming in the beautiful water.

And catching a bunch of these. (Justin, Seth and Grandpa did most of the catching. But the kids loved collecting them in containers and observing them before we set them all free.)

 It was beautiful weather, a beautiful lunch and a beautiful time with family.

To see more pictures, start here.

SRRYJ 2016

As always, the girls (and their visiting cousins) had a blast at the annual Snake River Roaring Youth Jam making art and messes. After going to all the booths, we ate a picnic lunch and treated ourselves to Italian ices, snow cones or smoothies.

Calvin, Bekah, Winnie, Lily, Miriam (in the red shirt) and Analee painting in black and white.

See, I told you Miriam was in the red shirt.

Winnie with her sailboat.

Spraying paint onto a canvas. This could have easily occupied her time for hours.

Miriam (and her new glasses!) and her sand art.

Analee (and her new glasses!) and her balloon sword.

Rebekah (and her new contacts!) making a paper plate fish.

To see more fun SRRYJ pictures, start here.

Girls' camp

Turns out girls' camp 2014 was just a warm-up for something bigger and better in 2016.

A long, long time ago (2015), Seth came home from a stake function and told me a member of the stake presidency wanted to meet with the two of us. I immediately knew why. Because of the sweet promptings of the Spirit, I knew I would be called as the stake camp director.

This both excited and terrified me: excited me because I love camp and terrified me because I'm happy to help with camp, but being in charge scared the dickens out of me. The night after the call was extended (as I knew it would be) I way awake for a long time while my brain swam.

Fortunately, the Holy Ghost guided me to two incredible ladies who would be my assistants. Both of them proved extremely dependable and fun through the process of planning and camp itself. And the stake YW presidency (including my awesome mom), our high councilman and the stake presidency were supportive as well.

After months of planning, holding meetings and some stressing out, camp came. I slept much less than I needed to, but it was worth it. I got to know so many wonderful women, girls and priesthood leaders. I got to experience the beauty of nature and Darby. I got to feel the Spirit in nearly every aspect of camp.

Loading up in the church parking lot on YCL Monday and giving instructions.

Learning camp songs. This was "Baby Shark."

Learning a fun game involving a quarter, squeezing teammates' hands and being the first to game a spoon. This is me losing.

Supervising the spider's web as the YCLs complete it.

I got to go hiking both days we had hikes. Wednesday I hiked Perma-Grin at Grand Targhee. Thursday I hiked Rick's Basin (also at Targhee). Sister Young, one of the camp missionaries, knew TONS of wildflowers. I learned the names of several on Wednesday's hike.

Giving instructions and dividing girls into cars before the hikes Thursday.

At flag ceremony outside the lodge.

Julie, me and Elisabeth on skit night. Most. Amazing. Assistants. Ever. And then persuaded me to participate in a skit that highlighted the wards' mascots.

Slightly disheveled Rosie the Riveter. Our costume changes had to be quick.

Stake YW presidency, stake camp leaders, and our stake priesthood holder who stayed at camp the whole week.

Bucket list: Learn to play the ukulele, take it to girls' camp and sing/play with the girls around the campfire. Check!

Final flag ceremony Friday morning. How many people get to work with such amazing people AND their own parents?! Luckiest girl in the world.

To see more, start here.

Gwenism #18

Miriam is teaching us about loving one another during her FHE lesson. She asks each family member how he/she can show love in our home and outside our home. Answers include: be a friend, help with chores and share.

Andrea: Winnie, how can you show someone in our house that you love her? 
Gwen:

Random summer shenanigans

Because the pictures are cute and blog-worthy but random.

Miriam and Winnie had some fun in June with chalk on the sidewalk and then on their faces.

Miriam hid behind Winnie because she thought she'd be in trouble.

Bekah and Ana accompanied us to the Jostens yearbook workshop in Snowbird, Utah, in June. They got to take pictures, hang out in the hotel room, swim in the pool and generally have some fun.

Analee on the ropes course.

Rebekah after her successful bungee drop. She surprised us by going on it; she's usually afraid of heights.

In early July, I took my parents and older daughters with me to Grand Targhee to check out the hikes for girls' camp. I was glad I did; the signs and maps were confusing. I was better able to lead the hikes after I'd been there once. And I could tell any complainers that my young daughters had completed BOTH hikes in one day, so quit yer whining!

Analee and Rebekah hanging out at a fork in the trail while we try to decipher the map and signs. (See how there's no sign for "Rick's Basin" or "Perma-Grin"? Those were the hikes we needed to go on.)

Rebekah playing as the troll from under the bridge. Analee promised a bigger, tastier goat if the troll would let her go past.

The three older girls played at Grandma Scott's house while I took Bekah in for a physical in July.

Winnie decided the storage ottoman was a good place to snuggle and take a "nap."

Miriam's friend (and one of the players from my T-ball team) Emily hauled Miriam around at a softball game in July.

Winnie was cool with it.

Good times, all.

Baseball, softball and softball

This year we kept plenty busy (6 games and 3 practices a week) with the girls' three teams: Miriam played T-ball, Analee played pitching machine and Rebekah played modified fast pitch. I coached Miriam's team and base coached Rebekah's team. Seth talked enough sense into me so I didn't coach more than that.

Miriam learned all about overrunning first base, fielding the ball, playing a base and hustling. She picked our team name (Stormtroopers), which I adored. I got to coach a daughter, a nephew and a bunch of neighbors.

Miriam at bat.

Miriam (and her tongue) running to first.

Fielding the ball at rover.

I assume she can see where she's going.

Cheering for the other team. See my hat? I was destined to coach this team! (I've had that hat since I was a teenager.)

Analee played on the Firecrackers with Karen Tolman and Rachel Bird as her official coaches, and Barbara Bird as the organizer/scheduler/lineup maker. Ana learned that taking a grounder to the gut is an effective (yet painful) way to stop the ball. She also worked on her batting, fielding and throwing. Her team took fourth place in the tournament.

Playing pitcher.

Ready for the throw at first.

Luckily, Rebekah's hunter's orange sweatshirt was the perfect color for Analee's games.

As was Rebekah's hunter's orange hat.

Chasing a grounder.

Throwing from shortstop.

Batting and leaping onto home.

Rebekah played modified fast pitch with the Pink Angels. Her coach was Kris Whitehead, who accepted the position when several girls who signed up as independents didn't have a coach. Kris graciously volunteered as head coach, and many parents volunteered to help at practice, in the dugout and as base coaches. Rebekah learned that she's good at catching pop flies (she caught four flies and one line drive) and stealing home (she got out once at home, but many people contended it was a bad call). Her team caused a major upset at the tournament by beating the top seeded team. They took third place.

Getting ready to catch a fly ball.

She got it!

This kid had the best attitude all season long--whether they were winning or losing.

Catching the ball at first to get the out.

Running to third. 

Andrea coach pitching at one of Bekah's games. If the other team's pitcher threw four balls to a batter, a coach pitch from the other team got to step in and pitch any remaining strikes the batter had. At past games, other (better) pitchers took care of it for our team. I attempted to step in as pitcher at a few games, but my pitches were not reliable. Gratefully, Grandpa Scott agreed to help with several games toward the end of the season, and many more girls got on base.

Anticipating the bounce.

Throwing to first.

Seriously! This kid is so scrappy!

To see more pictures of baseball/softball, start here.