Young Women Girls Camp

This past October I was called to be the Young Women president of the Lakeshore ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Our ward had split and the boundaries changed, so not only did I have to adjust to being in a new ward, I had to dive in head first to be over the young women organization. It has definitely been a stretch for me emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I have a lot of growing to do. As the president, I was asked to go as a leader and attend girls camp. Girls camp in the Summerwood stake is during Spring Break as it is so hot in Texas, they try and do the camp during the spring to make the temperatures more bearable. This year we went to Camp Olympia. Leading up to camp there were several issues that had required a lot of counseling with others and time and effort with talking to mothers and other leaders and the girls to resolve some situations. The situations weren't handled well, and so by the time camp came around I was already emotionally exhausted. I was trying to get myself in the mental state to be upbeat and exited to go, but it was a challenge for me. Thankfully, Ella came to camp and was excited to go, so I did my best to put aside my frustrations and head to camp. We had 27 girls from our ward that were attending the stake camp, so the transportation and such was difficult. 

Here are most of the girls who went from our ward. We got everyone there and we got things set up! They had the young women from my ward split into all of the cabins, so it was difficult getting everyone settled, but we made it work. Ella was with me in the 7th grade cabin I was in charge of, so that was fun. She still thinks I am cool and doesn't mind being with me ;)

The first thing we did was a service project for the camp where we painted the fence where the horses stay. 

The weather was nice and the girls did a pretty good job making the fence look good. It was super muddy from having rained the week earlier, but the girls did a nice job.  

We got to spend a little time reading scriptures and enjoying nature.  

They had to make dresses out of paper to do a fashion show. 

The YCL for our cabin, Nathaly Corno was from our ward and she did a great job with her devotionals.  

One of Ella's best friends Jaemi Smith was in our Cabin. Our cabin name was Herra. 

I was a little stressed the first night as there was so much going on that I was having to take care of, I thought it was fitting that this was in my fortune for the night. 

The second morning I had to help with the workshops and I was in charge of helping with physical fitness. I was excited thinking we would do a ropes course or obstacle course, but it was zumba...not my forte. I did my best shaking my hips anyway, but was really hoping for something more challenging.  

We went to workshops in the morning on self defense, beauty, physical fitness, and crafts. Then in the afternoon, they got to spend time around the camp and do activities.  

Ella loved the riflery last time at camp and said she did awesome. She had a pretty good shot. 

The loud noise of it all wasn't my favorite, but it was fun to try! 

Next we went to archery and of course Ella was one of the best shots of the day. She did great.  

On the other hand, I only hit the target a few times :) 

That evening we had to do skits and the girls prepared a skit using a Disney princess and had to related it to having super powers and involve a Young Women Value. We were given Jasmine and we used Individual Worth. They did a pretty good job at making it work. Rachel was Raja and really got into her role as a tiger. haha 

Here were the girls who were in my cabin. Top was Jaemi Smith, Madeline Lewis, Ashlyn Bales, Savannah Petersen, Vanessa Morles (and Nadia Houston not pictured because sadly she got the flu and went home) Bottom Addy Dyer, Ella, Lilly, and Rachel. Overall they were good girls and when my cabin leader Kylie Bales and I told them to go to bed, they listened really well.  

The last day we all wore our matching shirts from the theme "If ye love me, keep my commandments" 

Addy was her other close friend in our cabin. She was so glad to have Jaemi and Addy with us.

The last night there was testimony meeting and they did a reveal of this paint project they did. They each painted a square of the picture of Christ and it turned in to this awesome masterpiece.  

Overall, I think the girls had a good time at camp. It was very difficult for me as a leader. The first day I had 2 girls from our ward throwing up, 1 of the girls in my cabin had the flu, and 2 other girls in the next couple days in the nurse office off and on. I felt like I knew the nurse Jen Houston well by the end and she was amazing, but the organization of it all and the logistics were very stressful to me and so it was hard. I really think the girls didn't see most of that and had a good time and Ella has great memories, so I am grateful for that for her. As for me, I will not be sad if this was a one time experience.

The Woodlands Marathon 2019

The Woodlands race has been something I have tried to do yearly for about 9-10 years. I love that it is always on a Saturday, as those are hard to find, and it is close. It is always the first week of March which is a nice time to train and run as well. This year after talking to a few friends, I decided to do the FULL marathon instead of the typical half marathon. For many years I have been so stressed about training and trying to beat a certain race time, that I haven't been able to enjoy the training process. I felt like it may be good to change it up and try something different. I ran my first full in 2007, 12 years ago. I ran it a week after Ella turned one. I had always said that I don't love the full distance as it takes so much time to train, but that when my last child went to Kindergarten, I would like to do it again. With my hamstring tear 4 years ago, I didn't know if my leg could handle the training. I knew I wanted to do it, but I was scared to push it. I went to my dad who gave me a priesthood blessing to see if I could feel any direction if I would be ok to run. As much as I love running, I do need to put my family first, so if I was in a ton of pain, I didn't want to do it. After the blessing, I felt pretty good about some of the promises I was reminded of and decided to register. So, here I went. 

I started training with these amazing ladies, Becky Brown, and Amy Smith. They were running the half marathon, so it worked out nicely to go run 5-7 miles and then go meet them at their house and do 8-10 and then finish off the last 2 to my house. It really helped break up the long runs to be able to talk to these two women during the middle of my runs. They have been such a blessing to me during the training. My training went very well and I felt good the whole time.
On the night before the race I was feeling ok. I was naturally nervous, but was excited to see if I could still do that far of a distance. 

These pictures were taken by the race staff at the beginning of the race and completely depicted me for the first 18 miles of the run.  

I was so happy to be out there running and feeling good. I was saying hi to all the workers and feeling great. I ran the first half in 1:49 and was on track to hit my under 4 hour goal by quite a bit, so I was excited.

Then, I hit mile 19. My stomach started to ache from the sugar of the cliff shot blocks I was taking to keep some electrolytes and I mentally started to tank. The last 6 miles I hit a major mental wall and I really struggled. I just wanted to be finished. I kept saying one foot in front of the other..my pace was starting to decrease by a lot. Then, at mile 24 my watch battery died. I was so done by that point, I knew I had slowed down so much that if I didn't hurry I wouldn't hit my time, but I literally couldn't mentally get myself to move any faster.  

This was the last picture at the very end. I went from so excited to be even running the race, to the pressure I always put on myself to run faster and was so exhausted. I finished though. I barely hit my time at 3:58, but I was so grateful that I did it. 

It took me a good day to really be excited, because I was kind of emotionally shocked at how bad I tanked at the end, but today looking back, I am so happy I finally hit my goal after having so many races were I barely have missed it.

Ragnar has been a huge support to me and encouraging me to do it and helping me know that I can. I am so grateful that he has been supportive in my long runs and in being there for me emotionally.  

These girls finished their race and I am so proud of us for all finishing and completing what we set out to do! 

In the end, I am incredibly grateful for my body. I am grateful I can do the things that I want to with it and that I am healthy. My family has been wonderful and I know that they are always cheering me on. This race was a mental battle, but in the end as hard as it was, I conquered and I am so grateful!

Destination Imagination #2

Channing has really loved school this year and after a rough start has really gotten into it and grown so much. She has developed so much confidence in her creativity and ability to try new things. She was asked to participate in Destination Imagination again and she was really excited to work together with her group.

Her teacher Mrs. Petzold lead her group and they were called the "Balloon Bunch" 

Channing was the "Fun Fact" person with her friend Mallory.  

Their challenge was to make a pop up book and play. They based it off the man Tony Sarg who created part of the Macy's day parade and puppets.  

They spent several months after school making props and preparing and they did a great job pulling off their performance. They performed on February 27th at SummerCreek High School. My parents, Natalie, and our family all came to support her and she was really excited about her competition. I am proud of her and her willingness to work so hard! Great job Channing. 

New Orleans!

Since Daphne moved to Baton Rouge a few years ago, I have always told Ragnar that I would like to go to New Orleans and visit for Mardi Gras. I have never been to New Orleans and it is really pretty close to Houston, so we took advantage of the President's Day weekend and headed over to visit Daphne and see New Orleans.
We got there Friday night as Ella had a presentation at school for her Catastrophic Event project she created so we couldn't leave til after she was out of school. We got there and the kids were excited to see Daphne and her dog Cortex.

Channing was so scared of him the first two times we visited, but she has come a long way and now she won't leave the poor dog alone!! 

Ragnar is giving him a high five! 

Daphne's already got it down :)

Saturday morning we got to experience our first King Cake that Daphne was nice enough to buy us. 

Channing was really excited about it. 

She was even more thrilled when she found the baby which you hide in it. The person who finds it has to buy the cake next year I guess?? 

Channing and Deacon also got to help Aunt Daphne make cookies.  

Later that morning we headed to New Orleans for the day. We stopped to get Beignets first. They are a must in Louisiana! 

We were told Cafe Du Monde was the place to go.  

We waited about 20 minutes and then got our order to go and enjoyed our Beignets at the park! 

We watched a few street performers and listened to some music. There were a lot of very unique people there. 

A successful first trip to New Orleans. My overall take...It was interesting with unique culture to Louisiana. Many of the people are slightly unrefined in the city and several work on the streets to make money. It was a good experience, but I do not need to go back.

We drove over afterward to Slidell, LA to go to the Mardi Gras parade. We felt like the one in Slidell would much more appropriate and family friendly. 

We grabbed dinner and found a spot and waited.  

We bought a couple card games from the dollar store and hung out playing in the back of the car til the parade started. 

When it began, I wasn't quite sure what to think or if it was worth our drive or time spent waiting. After about 10 minutes though, it really got more and more fun and we were really getting into it!

Daphne is always fun and knows how to enjoy herself so that was infectious and we let loose and had fun to! 

We started getting A LOT of beads! 

The boys were so excited with how many things that got thrown to them. 

Channing and Deacon got quite a bit of stuff since they are younger and cute! 

Having fun partying! 

The bigger floats would come and throw things down from the top and you had to make sure you caught it or were watching. It didn't feel too great to get beads thrown at your head without being prepared ;) haha 

Cavin got quite the haul and ended up with 182 beads! He insisted on wearing them until toward the end when I'm sure his neck started to hurt! It was a fun night of dancing and cheering and enjoying the celebration of Mardi Gras.

The next morning we headed to church with Daphne which was nice.

When we got home, the kids were excited to see what all they caught last night. Cavin's favorite thing was catching a basketball, Ella's was her light up toys, Channings was a key she got, and Deacon liked his footballs and snowman he caught.  

Total with Daphne's beads, we caught 468 beads!!!! 

We finished the day out playing games and going for a walk and hanging out together. It was a nice relaxing Sunday.

We had a great weekend and were so glad Daphne hosted us and showed us around the city. One more place checked off our list!