Girls Camp

So I got to go up this year with the 2nd years to girls camp at MIA Shalom near Fairview. It was quite an enjoyable experience notwithstanding all of the work it took to get me there and keep me alive....




















I had this awesome camp refrigerator that I made from a 54 gallon trash can lined with wall insulation. I froze the milk, orange juice and basically anything else that would freeze and just stuck it in all together. Then I topped it all off with a bunch of frozen water in 2 quart juice bottles. It stayed frozen. I took ice cream up for a birthday party as well as otter pops and they were good and frozen later that day. I had to thaw the milk and orange juice by the fire the next morning and all of the other days I took it out the afternoon before I was to use it and thus had milk/orange juice with ice floes instead of solid ice blocks. When I went home on Saturday, I still had lots of solidly frozen milk.

I had over-calculated the food, first because there were only 17 people instead of the 25 I had planned for and secondly because the girls ate less than I thought they would. I also had never bought food for that amount of people for that amount of time before and found that I wanted to truss them every second with so much food and variety...well, now I know. Almost everything was successful. We had shish-kabobs and fruit kabobs, breakfast burritos (made with individual ziploc omelets) with bacon and sausages, Hawaiian haystacks, pancakes with bacon and sausages, taco soup and chicken stew, and french toast with...bacon and sausages.

I should have started about 1 hour earlier on the chicken stew because it had only had about 30 minutes on the coals when we were ready to eat, but I figure if that was the worst of my screw ups, then I was doing pretty well. No one starved, and all in all, I believe they enjoyed themselves. The girls performed a very great skit for the skit night and I've included it here... Mary is quite a comedian to be sure.

Another Cake...the biggest one ever...well, yet...

After slaving for the past two weeks in the hot kitchen (I of course am speaking of my oven. Myself, I was watching seasons 1 and 2 of M*A*S*H) I finally have something to show. Last week I baked all million cakes that I needed for the Smith reception and froze them in a neighbor's freezer. I then carted them all back Thursday and Friday and covered them with delectible frosting. This is the biggest cake that I've ever made, and chocolate frosting is more difficult to work with, just so you know. Well, maybe not more difficult, it is just different. My blood, sweat and tears went into this cake....or maybe just my blood and sweat...or maybe I mopped up the sweat and squelched the blood before it actually made it inside of the cake. Anyhow, without further ado:

A new piano for ellen

In the four hours that I got to be home between the YCL retreat and the Ward Youth Conference, I went online to KSL.com and found a piano. I then enlisted the help of some strapping young men and some strapping from my friend, along with another friend's pickup to take the piano from its old home in Pleasant Grove to its new home underneath the mirror in my Africa room. It looks quite nice there. I am quite excited for the opportunity I'll have, after my thesis is written, of course, to take lessons. Perhaps I'll be able to play more than the five songs that I've had memorized since I was twelve, or at least that is my goal. Happy playing!

Hail the Conquering Hero

Samuel ran his very first marathon this last Saturday and did an awesome job. I met him first at the midway point and then at the finish line. He did it in 3hours 12 minutes...a great time for anyone, especially a first timer. He was 5th in his age category, 26th male finisher and 29th finisher overall. He was a bit sore afterward...but no toenails falling off (that I know of) Congratulations bro!!!

Goblin Valley

Memorial Day was quite fun. I hopped into some borrowed wheels (because mine were bald---but I got them fixed) and drove down with Martha to the beautiful Goblin Valley where we camped and then hiked in Little Wildhorse Canyon. On the way in we rehearsed to the kids the dangers of flash floods in the narrow canyon. We taught them well, because just after lunch (we were at this point as far in as we could go without wading through lots of deep, nasty water) the clouds were gathering and at the sign of the first raindrops the girls started running out of the canyon. They were very scared as the water cascaded down from the sky as well as the surrounding cliffs. Very wet we emerged from the canyon and made our way home. I think the three older girls enjoyed most the lively rendition of "He Jumped From Forty Thousand Feet Without a Parachute" as I maneuvered the van through the increasingly muddy roads, hoping and praying that I would not get stuck or slide off the road.

A kitchen area with shelves full of knicknacks

Some beautiful but ominous clouds....We experienced half of Green River's annual rainfall on our way back through.

Easter Fun

I got to go up and play with Martha and the kids. We enjoyed a great Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Hayes' house. I spent most of the time helping either Sarah or Charles-man and by the time I got around to the back, Marah had already found about 20 eggs and was headed inside....so I didn't get a picture of her in action...but here are the others

Springtime!!!

Well, I am loving this house more and more, especially because the lady that lived here before me was such a great gardener and now all sorts of flowers are coming up all on their own. I have given away two or three little bouquets of daffodils. I am so excited to have beautiful flowers, hyacinths, crocuses, daffodils, tulips, forget-me-nots, and lots that I don't even know yet what kind they will be! I also planted peas and cilantro in my garden today....just before the storm. I am going to have such great food all summer long from my very own garden.
















I also made a quilt recently. The other youngster in our crochet club just had a baby and the nursery is decorated in a jungle theme. I therefore made the very cutest jungle quilt for a little girl you have ever seen. Little Eva looks very comfortable wrapped up in her snuggly blanket.

I'm not dead yet!

I have received some rather concerned letters regarding my health and state of existence as I haven't written since December and we've already reached the month of March....Not to worry, I am alive and well.... Let me explain.... no there is too much, let me sum up:

Christmas was great, I worked. It was fun.

Right after Christmas I made a wedding cake for a sweet woman in my ward, I was making it as I left for the airport with my parents so a friend assembled it in it's final location.

To celebrate the new year I accompanied my parents and brother Samuel to Deann's beautiful house in South Carolina where my other two brothers and their wives met us and we had an almost reunion, missing of course Martha and Blair and their five. I got to play fun games (probably my favorite part)

I also made a Hannah Montana birthday cake for my niece, shown here:
Then it was school, school, and January flew by. February started out with a bang...or rather a bit of smoke. Martha came down for a surprise birthday bash for Samuel. He loved the surprise and the being surrounded by friends and family. My dinner group attended of course because we had the largest lasagna I have ever seen, which by the way was not half bad.


Other than that I've been a busy little beaver working on crocheted baby blankets and quilts and just having a gay ole' time. I have worked quite a bit. Maybe that's where they got the whole dead idea....working graveyards does not have anything to do with my own health, or rather I hope that I get enough sleep so that it does not.

So, there, in a small nutshell is my excuse for silence these past months...


Sidelight: I have just finished reading and watching the BBC rendition of Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Glaskell and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Perhaps it is because of it's recent memory, but I could be persuaded to admit that it has taken the place of Pride and Prejudice as my favorite 6 hour movie. My favorite English novel will continue to be Jane Eyre, but this is a very close second, I think.