Girl's Camp: Intro

I am the assistant director for the girl's camp in our ward. I have wanted this calling FOREVER!! After serving my 8 month sentence in nursery (which cured me of ever wanting to have children), I think the bishopric decided to throw me a bone and let me be part of girl's camp.

This past week was girls camp at a really nice place in Randleman NC. We were "camping" (I use the term very loosely) at a Woodmen of the World campsite which included cabins with air conditioning (which technically we were only allowed to run at night), a mess hall with air conditioning, large swimming pool with a deep end and diving board, archery range, shooting range, high ropes course with a zip line and a putt-putt course.

I'm still in the process of getting the pictures off my camera and sorting through the good ones and the bad ones, so pictures will have to wait, although there are several on facebook, if you're willing to look for them.

I honestly think that pairing me with Sister Starritt (who was really in charge) was inspired. We balanced each other out really well. I have never gone camping before where I had to pack everything that we would need for the campsite, but Sandy thought of everything. I brought several things that she didn't, though. I brought all the meds (which was very fortunate because we had a couple of girl's get sick over the week). I also brought extra bugspray, sunscreen and other things like that, that Sandy forgot. I think ultimately, though, I supplied the energy and enthusiasm.

I firmly believe that 90% of how wonderful, or how terrible a situation is comes from our attitude towards it. If you believe you're going to have a great time and are always upbeat and positive about a situation, then chances are, you're going to have a great time. But, if you focus on the negatives of a situation, that's all you'll think about and that's all you'll remember. Having this in mind, I made it my job to excited about everything at camp (Even the KP and bathroom cleaning duties). And it made a lot of difference! Even some of the girl's who didn't really want to be there were excited! We all had so much fun (even when it was cold and rainy or hot and humid!) and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

The newly reorganized kitchen!!

We have recently been running a bed and breakfast out of our house (or at least it feels like it!) We had some friends over Friday through Monday for Memorial and then Matt's uncle and aunt and one of their kids came to visit last night. Since there have been guests at my house, parts of my house have been clean! :) Which means you get morepictures of my house! This is one of my favorite rooms in the whole house. It's about neck and neck with the green room. *note: I finally got around to paintint those horrid orange cabinet doors. They are now completely white and fabulous looking. Any way, here is the kitchen:

This picture is taken from the sink. That doorway leads into the living room. The kitchen is on the backhalf of the house.

Turning to the right, is our baker's rack because I have too many kitchen gadets to fit in my cabinets!

Moving farther right, is the little half bath tucked under our stairs. I kind of wish it had been a pantry, but I really like having a bathroom downstairs. If you turn more to the right, you would see a doorway into the green room.

Here's a cool picture of my favorite light fixture ever! And our table. You can see the porch out the windows too.
This was taken with my back to the baker's rack, table to my right and the bathroom to my left. We just put up those little racks under the cabinets. We got them from Ikea
(I think Heaven will look like an Ikea)

This the bottom corner of the previous picture, you can see the corner of our island. This pot rack hangs on top it. Also, on the left side of the picture, you can see our side door to the driveway. The the left of that is the laundry room.

And hidden in the island is our dishwasher. Clever, no?

I like the corner sink. When I wash dishes (which is hardly never thanks to my wonderful husband) I can look outside at the trees. *sigh* I love the trees around our house.

And those are all the pictures I have for now. I think next, I'll do a tour of the upstairs, although it will take some time to clean and organize that stuff.

I have been remiss

In my duties to you, my readers. I've been a bum lately and let me tell you, it feels great!! After working so hard this past semester, I'm reveling in the nothingness. :) I haven't been a complete bum though. I've planted my tomatoes finally. Well, they were planted before, but they kind of outgrew their pots. I'm growing them on my porch in the hopes that little critters won't eat my tomatoes and also because it's the only part of the yard that gets any sunlight.

And so, it efforts to show you my house, I give you "The Porch". It's a pretty decent sized porch. I also love that our view from the porch is all trees. The pictures are intended to give you a 180 degree view from the door, starting to the right.




That is the grill (on the far left of that photo) that our friend Tim is letting us borrow. He's in Japan right now. Thanks Tim! Here's a view of the porch from the back

Notice that most of our yard is actually dirt. The one drawback of having so many huge trees is that the grass won't grow. *sigh* Oh well. I'm ok with it for now. So, there you have it. I'm working on reorganizing the kitchen currently, so that will be the next room on the grand tour. I'm hopeing to get a downstairs tour together soon too!

Wedding bells are ringing!

It seems like I am in the time of young adulthood where most of my single friends are starting to get married. This is very strange to me. I don't know why, but it kind of freaks me out. Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy for everyone but I've been the only one that was married for so long, that it seems odd that everybody else is following suit.

Any way, this past weekend I was participating in Becky Lou's wedding. I love this woman to death! We worked together at the church bookstore a few years ago and despite my inability to stay in contact with anyone I don't see on a regular basis, she has kept track of me! :) She and Ryland were sealed on Saturday. (One of the perks of getting married so young is that I have been able to attend the ceremony in the temple for many of my friends) Becky looked wonderful and Ryland looked like he'd just won the best prize ever.


Becky called me earlier this week and asked me to play the music at the ring ceremony in Greenville, which I hesitantly said yes to. I think it turned out alright even though half of my music mysteriously disappeared a few minutes before the ceremony only to reappear a minute before I sat down to play. I've learned that I don't deal well with crises and don't do well under pressure. I'm going to be the hysterical one running around screaming if I'm ever in a hostage situation. You know, the one that gets shot first. At least the end will be quick... Any way, I digress.

The ceremony was short, but a classic Verne Pyne performance. I love that guy! I wonder how many ceremonies he's performed over the years. Any way, the reception was nice, the cake was delicious and everything was great. I really liked Becky's "going away" dress. It had a cool vintage look to it. I hope that they are happy together forever!