Langley Road Trip 2008

We just got back from our vacation/road trip and Gracie (and me, sort of) managed to create a slide show of the pictures. The girls took most of the pictures since I FORGOT my camera .... they did a great job. We started out in Logan Canyon at Tony Grove. The camp ground was full but Tim found a great little spot just down the road. We had a beautiful view and ended up with a few neighbors who found the same road. The other campers were quiet and then around 10:30 pm we hear what sounds like a Greyhound bus pullling up...it was a large motorhome AND a big pick-up hauling about 7 horses. They unloaded the horses and then started dinner...Tim had to go ask them to please be quiet....it was nice while it lasted. Then we were off to Bear Lake and lovely Dingle, Idaho. Tim's friend at work owns a cattle ranch and he let us pull the trailer into his yard. We had a great time at the lake but next time we know to bring shade and water toys. Hopefully we can make it up there again it was fun. On Sunday we headed to Jackson, Wyoming and spent a couple of days at my sisters. My brother-in-law Ric has a great river boat and took us down the Snake. It was fabulous! Tim and Hannah were at the front of the boat and got drenched more then once (I learned to sit in the back of the boat from our last trip!) I should have pictures of that in a few days and I'll post them. We decided to leave the trailer and the dogs in Jackson and just took the day to go drive through Yellowstone. It was beautiful too. It would be nice to go there in the fall when tourist season is over. We saw lots of wildlife and took lots of pictures. The next day we drove over to Idaho and met up with Erin. She showed us where she and Mike camped and its a great little spot. It had a nice size stream just a bout 15 feet from the trailer and the girls and Tim were out with their fly rods. The fish were small but they had a great time. We drove down to Rexburg the next day and had lunch with Erin and Mike then headed for home. We had a great time and got along well despite being in close quarters for a week. We hope you enjoy the slide show....miss you all!!

Gracie's Youth Conference

Wow, I really am a procrastinator...









So a few weeks ago, our stake was doing Youth Conference. This year, we were helping refugee families. We split up into groups within our wards and each group had a different family. Our family had moved from Burundi (it's the tiny orange one on the map) and they are now living in West Jordan.









The Parent's names were Florida and Leonitis, and I don't know how old they were. They had 5 (almost 6) kids. The oldest boy was Jephet, 12, and then Jeremiah, 9, Angeline, 7, Jacqueline, 5, and Eric, 15 months, and Florida is expecting a baby girl in August. Florida, Leonitis, Jephet, and Jeremiah were baptised about a year ago. We don't know exactly how long they have been living here in Utah.









The First day, we met with the family and got to know them. There was a part right across the street from the apartments where they live, and within the first 20 minutes of us showing up, all of the kids wanted to go over. The Boys (from the family and from our group) all went over into the field and played soccer, while us girls went to the playground. After that, they all wanted to play freeze tag so we started a pretty big game of that. Then they wanted to play other various types of tag and we ended up being at the park for a long time.









Day 2:









We went over to the house and found out what they needed. I went with a few people to a laundromat and did 7 loads of Laundry. While we were waiting for them to finish, we walked next door to a pawn shop. I almost bought a guitar. (just kidding) After all of the laundry was finished, we met up at the house and from there drove out to eat lunch and go to Target to get them what they needed. We got them a new light fixture, some diapers, a needle for their pump so they could pump up the soccer and basket balls, some fruit, and some treats and toys for the kids. It was amazing to see just how happy a coloring book could make the little kids, and how grateful they were for us doing all of the laundry. The kids were just so cute and always so happy. We went over to the park and played one last game of soccer before we told them that we had to go. We were all sad when we had to leave. One of my leaders said that for a mutual activity, we may go visit the families sometime. It wouldn't work out for one of the groups though, because their family was moving to Washington. I hope that we do get to see them again.

Tagged!

I just got finished reading Erin and Mike's blog, and it turns out that I was 'Tagged' by Erin to fill out a little questionaire, so Here goes.



Joys-

• I LOVE the ocean and snorkeling in it--there are just so many different kinds of fish, plants, etc. to see, and it is so fun just to float there and look at them all.


• I love Reading. I think that it's the best thing in the world, to just go pick up a book and get so absorbed in the story when you need to leave somewhere, you have to remind yourself that YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY THERE IN THE STORY. ;)


• I love gum. Pretty much any kind, as long it is sugar free(for now) but when I get my braces off, the first kind of gum I'm going to have is Bubbilicious Watermelon.

Fears-

• The number one thing in this world that I hate is spiders. There are just creepy. What more can I say?


• Scary Movies/books. I just hate them.
• I also hate any kind of bug there is. Especially bees and cockroaches.

Goals-

• Save up enough money to buy myself a Wii
• Go to Japan at least once in my life
• Own a duck-billed platypus. No, actually to be the first one in my neighborhood to finish Breaking Dawn so I know how the story ends. I probably will take about 2 1/2 hours to finish it. If I can read uninterrupted for that long.

Current Obsessions-

• Fruits Basket. When Erin was living down here with us, she had the DVD's with her and Hannah watched a few episodes of it, and then I got hooked to it. I'm reading the books, too.
• TWILIGHT! It is the best series in the entire world. I have them all pretty much memorized. You tell me a book and chapter and I can give you a summary of that chapter. It's pretty awesome. Also, I love Edward Cullen more than any of you. If you don't believe me, then tell me, my 'obsessed' people. What's his Full name, his birthday and birthplace, and his parent's name. (haha, beat that!)
• Maximum Ride. It's another really good book series. It's about these kids that were born with wings and they can fly. It sounds kinda weird but it's really good.

Random, Surprising Facts-

• I now have 900 emails in my inbox. Let's see how long it takes to hit a thousand! i'm betting on a month and a half.
• I can play a few songs on Expert on Guitar hero, and I'm getting better at the drums on rock band. I can play on medium if I really concentrate.
• I have a 30gb iPod Classic. If I fill it up with all of the movies I've put on iTunes and add my 6 playlists to that, It would be almost full.

Okay, that's it everyone!

Tag, you're it! I tag Holly, Mike, and Hannah! (Haha, *not* Sorry guys!)

AMERICA...LAND THAT I LOVE

Happy 4th of July !!! We've been lazy about blogging lately. I guess we needed an event to kick us in the rear and get blogging again. We have a 4th of July omlette breakfast in our neighborhood that is always a lot of fun. They have a parade and snowcones and it's always been a fun party. I always notice neighbors that have moved away, still come back to celebrate. Everyone contributes with the food and the same men do all the cooking..after all the years of doing it, they've become pros with the omlettes. After the breakfast, our friends up the street invited us over to an "extended" party at their pool...just a couple of other families so its really nice. Tonight we'll walk over the the Holladay City park where there is a '50's and '60's band, the Salt Lake Symphony and then the fireworks...they actually do a very nice show. We hope you all had a great 4th!!!