Youth Conference 2014

Just one more (major) event to add to July! We planned this when we did so we could catch our YW who are on drill team and rehearse all of June and all of August, but somehow their practices started the last week of July this year and we weren't able to get any of them up there with us. It makes me sad that they are missing out on so much but we had an amazing turnout regardless which makes all the planning and preparation so worth it!

We kicked things off up at the church and introduced the theme Your Four Minutes.Then we were off to Big Cottonwood Canyon for some repelling. Our original help for that activity bailed on us just a few days before our activity and we were kind of stressing out! Luckily we have the coolest ward and after a Facebook plea we had new help lined up in the Lifferths. They had a new, new baby, just a few weeks old, but it meant that Jake was on paternity leave and eager to get out and do things. It worked out perfectly and the youth were so willing and brave. Only one YW, Addie, had done it before and the others were really nervous but tried anyway.

 

As it neared dinner time we tied things up and headed up to my parents' cabin. They are incredibly generous to share with us again!! We had all the boys set-up tents in the backyard while the girls' shared a few rooms upstairs. As we prepped dinner our guest speaker arrived. His name is Andy Phillips and he's kind of a big deal—a U of U football star but before he got there, none of our youth really knew much about him. He ate dinner with us and then gave an awesome fireside telling his story: he grew up skiing and racing like crazy until he was part of the US ski team and slotted to go to the Vancouver Olympics. The timing seemed perfect but he got his patriarchal blessing just before turning 19 and it said he would serve a full-time mission. After a lot of praying he decided to go on a mission and put the Gospel ahead of skiing. He shared more about coming back and having his coaches doubt his ability after 2 years of absolutely no skiing, but he ended up racing faster than anyone else. Sadly, the coaches didn't approve of his ditching out for a mission so they kept him off of key teams and he decided to quit skiing and instead try...kicking a football! Apparently he was really good at it, but he put in a lot of work and practice and sent tapes to to every university he could think of in the hopes of getting on a team, and ended up at the U.

By the end of the night Andy was a huge hit (especially among the YW. It didn't hurt that he's a cute boy, kind of a local celebrity, really outgoing and very down-to-earth, and full of lots of light and goodness. Oh, those girls were majorly cracking me up over him and I saw a ton of myself in them from 20 years ago! )

 

Good thing little Andy is married and expecting a baby very soon with his darling wife!

It was also the twins' 16th birthday that night so we celebrated with candles, singing, cake and ice cream. Jasmine (on the left) and Tyler (on the right) are the twins and their sister Anna is between them in the pic. These kids are seriously awesome and some of favorites! They have so much to offer and make every youth activity more fun, but they are also among the kids I worry and pray about the most. They have come from such hard circumstances and have struggled with a lot but they keep trying and we all love them tons so we just have to be there for them when they need us.  

The next morning we drove everyone deep into Jeremy Ranch to hike the Mormon Pioneer trail up to the top of Big Mountain—a beautiful, solid 5 mile hike up, up, up.

 It was quite a huge endeavor in the end—much longer than we thought and long drive to and from the trail head (we dropped an extra car at the top so the kids only had to hike up and then we could get everyone home in cars). One of my YW has a bunch of health issues and was in tears like 1.5 miles into the hike. She said she could last a little more but I didn't want her stuck out in the middle of nowhere so she and I turned around and went back to my car and drove up to the top to meet the rest of the youth. We had to wait for over an hour but she and I had a good chat and enjoyed the view from Big Mountain. It was really great how that worked out because my phone hadn't had reception that morning until I was at the summit of Big Mountain. Then I saw texts from both my mom who was needing the address of my friend Lindsay's house (she had my kiddos that morning) and a parent needing to come get his daughter right away for a sudden family thing that had come up. I probably spent at least half the time time up there figuring these issues out so I was glad things worked out how they did.

For our last night we had a testimony meeting, and it was pretty epic. It lasted a couple of hours and nearly every single youth stood up and shared their hearts and souls. It was such a beautiful night and I could just feel so much faith and love in that cabin

 The Mia Maids singing a song for us for their assigned devotional. It was the perfect start to our testimony meeting.

 

 These guys really bonded over the weekend and after testimony all piled up in this group hug—

love it!

Saturday morning was busy with all the packing, cleaning, and more packing and cleaning! But once we were mostly ready to head out we gathered up one last time to encourage the youth to write about what they felt up there and what had been important in their spiritual growth. Then we sent them out all over the property to find a quiet spot alone to think and write and pray for 30 minutes. I was working for a good portion of that time but when I did step away and find my own spot on the stone steps surrounded by daisies and those amazing views, my heart was so full. I had been so stressed getting this whole event planned and organized and then figuring out babysitters for my kiddos yet again that I was very relieved it had turned out to be such an awesome thing and felt nothing but positivity and gratitude about all of it. It was very comforting and just what I needed to feel like all had been a success.

With Katy (my 1st counselor) and John (YM pres.) and Randy (YM 1st counselor). The four of us basically ran the show and I'm so grateful for their constant help and communication and hard work in making our youth conference happen! I have since learned that many other wards have their bishopric in charge of this event and that the youth leaders are there to help in various ways and participate with the kids but not run the thing entirely. How did our ward miss that memo?! That sounds glorious! Our bishopric did show up for a few hours on our last evening but I would have loved to have them running things and planning it all out and also spending that quality time with the youth. I will have to pass along that info for the next time I guess :)  

 Such cool C.O.W.s! Love these awesome kids.

More From July

 Some fireworks and sparklers out in front of our house. Bentley was begging me for fireworks all month in June so we bought a little package. Simple pleasures :)

 I tried to get to some major messes and projects but it was such a crazy month that I only managed my own closet floor. I did my side too but Joseph's was better for before and after pics!

 Date night with these awesome friends. We met at BYU thanks to modern dance. Erin and Tanja were some of my favorite people who danced with me and we all got married during our years in Dancensemble together so our husbands made fast friends too. When we hang out I feel like I'm 22 all over again and it's just so much fun!

Playdate at the reservoir with Erin and Tanja and all our kiddos 

(plus a few cousins and minus a Bentley who was at cub camp).

 Cares went on an activity days day camp and spent the day up at This Is the Place heritage park. She loved getting to go with these cool girls and had the best time.

 Evening at 7 Peaks Provo

 Luke being totally adorable in the gelato shop next door to Settebello (family date night downtown)

Maddie and Cares completed a week long dance camp up at Tanner Dance where they learned ballet, modern, and folk dance as well as created a bunch of cool artwork to help inspire their movement and choreography. They danced from 1-4 pm each day and on Friday had a little informance to show parents what they had learned. I raced down from youth conference in Park City to see her dance and it was awesome! I always love reconnecting with those great teachers and women in the Tanner Dance program too.

Right after this performance I packed up Cares and Livs (who had come with Cec) and drove to my mom's house to collect my boys. I then took my crew of kiddos farther south to Sandy to drop them off to Joseph so I could head back up Parley's to be with the youth. Joseph proceeded to take ALL 4 kids camping from there so he could participate in the brothers' and kids camping event they had wanted to do all summer. I should make Joseph write a blog post just about that adventure as it was full of red flags and lots of stress and suffering just to finally get it all to happen for a quick 15 hours in the canyon, but he was determined and I know our kids loved it! 

Maybe I'll just copy and paste his Instagram post to record for posterity. Nothing like barfs, rain and  a 2 year old to keep things real!

Lake Powel (part 2)

 We got so many great pictures this year of these kiddos (and grown-ups) playing in the fantastic Lake Powell "playground" that they needed their own post!

 Tye and Marsh before one of many crazy high cliff jumps

 Bentley surveying the scene before taking off into the water. He was seriously the bravest boy this year and jumped from some really high spots. I was so proud of him and he never made it a big deal but just sucked up his fear and went for it. He is so fun!

 

 Marsh and Joseph on a jump

 Cute Livs rockin' her shades

 Joseph waterskiing—that background is just too beautiful

 I fit in my annual waterskiing, in the middle of the day even! We hit some unusually glassy water one afternoon while my whole little family was out with my dad on the Malibu. My kids were super excited at the prospect of seeing my ski so I had to pull out my A game. It was pretty fun to hear them cheering and rooting me on!

 One of my favorite LP pics of all time—pure joy on that girl's face!

Cute blonde girl up on the red rocks

 Brave Livs trying out some higher jumps

 Family jump with uncle Marshall a little hidden in the back

Stacey and I got our nerves up and tried out some cliff jumps too. I don't think I've jumped from this high in many, many years but it was pretty fun—total adrenaline rush!

 Glassy morning glory

 Beans cruising around on the knee board

Late one afternoon we wanted to hike around the cliffs by our site and so we took these kiddos while Luke napped. It was such a sunny, hot day that we had to keep taking dips in the lake along the way to cool off (even though we were mostly soaking wet already.) 

 Our houseboat is peeking out of the left hand side of this picture. We had such good shelter from morning sunshine and crazy wind due to these big cliffs.

On our last night we made a little campfire, lit sparklers on the beach, and made s'mores. It was Luke's first s'more (I always like to put him to bed before we do fires :) Stacey caught that classic shot of my Dad jumping up because Luke had just burned him with a sparkler...ergo, Luke and fires don't mix well!

 Cute pics of snuggly cousins

The boys pulled out their handyman skills and fixed a sinking wave runner. I think they were pretty proud of their work and the machine held up great for the rest of our stay. Meanwhile the kids gave themselves relaxing spa treatments in the "special, soft sand."

The saddest part of our trip began with Tye's busted up finger from a ricocheting ski rope handle. It got worse and worse after he hurt it so he and my parents made a plan to head to Page early the next morning and get him an x-ray, but just before they drove off in the boat that morning, my mom tripped on something in the dark houseboat and really hurt her toe. She went with the boys anyway to find out if she had broken her toe and we ended up with two broken patients! They were both badly hurt but rallied for our last day on the lake. 

 

All too soon it was time to head back to the marina and unload off the lake. It was perfect timing really as Mason was getting sick, Tye's injury was not feeling good, and all the littles were worn totally out. It's always hard to leave this beautiful place though—such an awesome family tradition!

 

Our 2014 Lake Powell crew.
Thank you mom and dad for yet another amazing LP adventure!

Postscript: we pulled off the lake on a Saturday and decided to make the quick 2 hour drive to St George to stay for the rest of the weekend and unwind before heading home. As soon as we got to the SG house our kids were searching for their swimsuits so we could take them up to the pool! Never enough water play for these guys:

Lake Powell (part 1)

 

Matching boys on the shuttle bus drive from Page to the marina

Heading out on the houseboat! I love how ecstatic my kids are every summer to just get in water already! We took our first dip out in the channel and I only captured the little ones as Joseph and the bigs were jumping off the top of the house boat first chance they had. It was the beginning of thousands of jumps that week :)

 Our campsite this year. Gorgeous views surrounding us and a ton of sand to play on. With the water level so high this year it was tricky finding a good spot. We had to clear away a lot of prickly bush debris but it was so worth it. These kiddos had a ball playing in the shallow water and 2 sandbars near our site.

 

 Last time my Luke came to LP he was a tiny babe so this year he was in heaven! This boy has a pure love of water and jumping and "diving" and just playing his little heart out all day. I loved catching him enjoying the lake so fully!

Paddle boards were a big hit again this year. 

These 2 have mastered them and used them to explore all over our bay.

 Please pardon those amazing white thighs in this picture of our great little beach :)

 Mermaid Caroline

 And merman Luke (of course he begged for a tail once Cares got one)

 His hair this summer was the best down there! It dried amazingly fast in that desert heat and would fluff right up as it did so. So cute!

 View from the houseboat looking back at Gunsight. We usually camp on the other side of that butte but this year Padre offered the better beaches.

 Livs and my dad taking a quick swim together

Getting in an evening swim before bed one night. This year I mostly hung out with Luke a ton since he was so eager to play and be swimming but not as eager to do stuff like cliff jump or knee-board or paddle board. I sent Joseph off with the bigs on lots of adventures and had great toddler time with my baby boy.

We always plan a day for packing up lunch, sunblock and tons of drinks and taking off in the speedboat on a good long excursion.

 Livs and Luke all ready to go.

 This crew likes to sit up front and snuggle up as we go.

 Marsh and Tye brought the wave runners along too for more canyon exploring.

Stacey and her cute boys.

We lucked out finding the best shady spot in this rock arch up Labyrinth Canyon. In the heat of July the sunshine feels awesome for playing in the water but it's too hot for eating lunch, so shade is a must. 

 Joseph nabbed this cool shot looking up from our shady alcove.

Lots of water play on our adventure

 

And jumping and diving. All that time spent on dives last summer has totally paid off! My olders are getting so good at it and they still love doing it over and over.

Baby Stanford even got in a for a few minutes to cool off. He's so tiny and cute all bundled up!

Straight across from our shady spot we found a great little rocky ledge...perfect for family jumping of course!

 Snuggliest boys on our drive back to the houseboat. Mason has given Joseph the affectionate nickname of Papa Joe which we think is super sweet and kind of perfect. I love how lulling the boat can be for small kids—it took about 3 minutes for Luke to fall asleep and he wasn't kidding about that nap that day. He slept for 2 more hours even after we unloaded him and took of his life jacket and got him into a real bed. LP wears that baby out!