2-fer Tuesday.

TWO BOOKS I am reading:

The Continuous Conversion

I have LOVED reading this one.

Very uplifting and inspiring.

It's an easy read.

I remember Brad Wilcox speaking at an EFY I attended back in the day.

He is great.

The Beginning of Better Days

Just BARELY started this one. 

I had been eyeing it for the past few months, each time I went into Deseret Book.

Finally decided to snag two.  One for my mom for Mother's Day and one for myself.

I pretty much love anything that Sheri Dew has a hand in.

TWO things I am 

LOOKING FORWARD to:

1.  Celebrating the 4th of July in Prescott with my family.

It's just for one night and it's our only trip planned for the entire summer, but it means....

Cooler temps!

And a cute little town.

2.  Going to Disneyland in September.

Wa-HOO!

I'd pack the kids up right now and take em if I knew it wasn't the most crowded place on earth this summer.

We like to go when it's not busy.

Like.  Not busy at all.

My kids are already talking about which rides they want to ride first.

Joe and I are already talking about which treats we want to eat there first.

{Everything seems to taste a little extra magical there, no?}

This Weekend:

* We ran errands.

Hot, nasty, errands.

I've contemplated hibernating this summer.

I have a daughter though who would NEVER let that happen.

Why?

Because she now insists on going to Target every.single.day.

I thought I was obsessed.

Nope...she's got me beat.

* We said goodbye to our very favorite 1st grade teacher on the planet.

{Sniff, sniff}.

Ms. Avery you will be missed.

Like.  A LOT!

Pennsylvania is SO lucky to have you.

{P.S. Thank you for teaching me how to make bows before you left. It's about time I learn!}

* Friday night Pool Party and BBQ with some of our very favorite peeps.

Thank you Catmull's for hosting us.

Your farm is the bomb-diggity.

I made THIS cake for dessert and it was a BIG hit.

Super easy. Super yummy. Super recommend it.

* Saturday morning Joe golfed and the kidlets and I slept in until 9:30.

{Bliss I tell you!}

* Costco run.

Thank goodness I left the kids at my parents this time.

Costco + Saturday + the heat + a bajillion people = Gross.

* Saturday night we celebrated Father's Day with my side of the family.

An adult dinner at Black Angus.

Oh my yuminess.

We were so stuffed they had to practically roll us out afterwards.

So grateful for such a cute and fun loving dad.

*Churchey-church on Sunday.

Watching the kids sing to Joe in Sacrament meeting made my heart melt.

{As usual}.

Such a good lookin group.
Proud to call them MINE!

So grateful for my hubbers.

Blessed indeed.

* Sunday night we celebrated with Joe's side of the family.

Swings...water gun fights and a friendly 'Nerf gun competition' 

between all of the dads.

And I don't mean to brag BUT.......

my hubbers won.

Grateful for such a fabulous and loving father-in-law..

Joe and I are SO blessed to have the dads we do.

It's so comforting to know that, if we ever needed ANYTHING at ALL...no matter WHAT time of DAY...either of them would come to the rescue in a heartbeat.

{Not to mention... they are both such great examples to us all!}

A very good weekend indeed!

xoxo

Priesthood Keys Handout.

Today I taught my cute girls a lesson titled:

What are the Priesthood Keys?

I put my 'cheesey pun' thinking cap on and this is what I came up with for their handout...

Easy peasy.

I rounded up some useless keys I had laying around my junk drawer 

{doesn't everyone have one of those?}

 and attached it to the ribbon.

For a copy of my FREE printable click HERE.

I am truly blessed because of the power of the priesthood.

Grateful to the worthy men in our church who hold the priesthood keys.

Girls Camp Part 3 - Decorations and such.

The theme for our Girls Camp this year was:

One Step Closer.

The whole week centered around taking 'one step closer' to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Left: the backdrop that our stake ladies made for all of our evening and morning devotionals.
Right:  our stake camp sweatshrits.

The color and value that our ward was assigned was:

Purple and Integrity.

Score. 

My favorite color!

Here's a little peek at how we spruced up OUR spot in the forrest.

{Sorry for the poor lighting in most of these pics.}

A chore chart is ABSOLUTELY mandatory at Girls Camp.

Everyone must pull their weight.

{Some?  Do it better than others.}

My cute secty made up the chart which I thought was darling. 

We hung it on a tree.

My cute Beehive advisor and I whipped up some purple gingham bunting beforehand to hang all around our main awning. 

 I also made up another banner with our ward's name on it 

{see last year's HERE} to hang up as well.

A long time back, a past Young Womens president in our ward purchased these cute white lanterns from Ikea.  We made two rows with shepherd hooks and hung these lanterns on them {with battery operated lights} and lit up a little pathway to our tents each night.

My camp director printed off a whole bunch of different printables from online and then we staple gunned them onto stakes {stakes were spray painted purple of course!} and then hammered them into the ground, all around our campsite.

My other camp director was a preschool teacher and had this cute mailbox on hand.

{Our stake does a really cute mail system with the girls at camp each year}.

Dishes.

Bleh!

But this is how we hung them to out to dry.

We had three bins:

One to soap em up.  One to bleach em. And one to rinse it all off.

LOVED this idea though from another ward...

They had each girl wash their OWN dishes and then they each their OWN mesh bag with their name tags on em, and they hung em out to dry until the next meal.

A couple other ideas I LOVED around our stake campsite?

Isn't the entrance of this tent ADORABLE?

Made from colored plastic tablecloths.

And I LOOOVED this idea for storing snacks, from another ward .

So nice and neat compared to having open treat bags and snack boxes all over the place.

Hoping to remember these for next year....If... I'm still in.
{Smile!}

Girls Camp Part 2 - Pillow Treats and Printables.

Pillow Treats = little goodies left on the girls' pillow each night before bedtime at Girls Camp.

My leaders and I were each in charge of a night.

Here's what I came up with for my night:

Scored the flashlights at Target {duh!} in the $ bins.

Let me tell you....these are GOOD flashlights.

Like super bright!! 

And the girls could clip them to their backpacks too so they always had em.

Flashlight printable HERE.

And because I have such FANTASTIC leaders and because I knew we'd have such FANTASTIC Youth Camp Leaders over our girls...

I knew I wanted to make pillow treats specifically for them as well!

I had so much fun leaving these on THEIR pillows each night.

Sweedish Fish printable HERE.

RIESEN printable HERE.

Donut printable HERE.

Nail Polish printable HERE.

Of course, I took my name out of each of them and left it blank for you to write in your OWN name.

*Hope this helps make YOUR Girls Camp  a lil' easier!*

XOXO

Girls Camp Part 1.

Another Girls Camp has come and gone.

I still STRONGLY dislike camping.

{Port o' johns, dirt, bugs and freezing cold temps...BLEH!}

I still STRONGLY love my girls.

{Like.  A lot.}

It's funny how I can dislike something SO much...yet STILL manage to have a fun, spiritual and uplifting experience.  

Girls camp....darn you....you did it again!!

{Smile.}

How cute are my girls??!!

Our color was PURPLE and so each day I gave them some sort of PURPLE accessory to wear in their hair. Scored these purple cheetah hats at the Dollar store!

They LOVED washing each other's hair during free time.

Funny how girls that age can be SO SO messy.
{And funny how it bugged me SO SO much.  One thing I learned?
 Just Let-it-Go! 
{Chuckle!}

Grateful for such FUN and I mean FUN leaders up there.

They were the best!

Don't believe me?

How many leaders get their KICKS outta putting on a mask and scaring the girls after bedtime?

Other highlights included:

*The Iron Rod walk

* Evening Devotionals

*Our DARLING youth leaders

* Craft time

*Painting nails

*Braids.  LOTS of hair braiding.

* Hot scones with honey and sugar.

*Endless amounts of hugs.

*Campsite mail.

*Ward chants and cheers.

* Having our 4th years visit on Friday.

*Hearing the girls chit chat.

*Chit Chatting with the leaders.

*Skits.

*Singing the camp song.

*Bishopric night.

*Laying on our hammock, feelin the breeeze.

Good times indeed.

Truly grateful for this experience.

Still to come this week:

Our camping decor, pillow treats and LOTS of free printables!

xoxo

It's good to be back!

Scripture Frames.

I've been up to my eyeballs in all things GIRLS CAMP these past few days.

We head out tomorrow for 5 days in the nice cool mountains.

Can't wait to share pics of all of the things I've been working on when I get back!

Wanted to share real quick a little craft I made up for my graduating seniors this past weekend.

It was cheap, quick and easy.

Awhile back, I had asked the girls what their favorite scriptures were and then made note of it.

I found these cute unfinished frames at Micheals ON CLEARNCE for $1.99.

I'm now wishing I would've bought EVERY last one.

Shoulda.Coulda.Woulda.

{LOVE that they're table top frames with an easel on the back!}

Added 2 coats of paint to each frame...

...and then embellished each one by hot glueing decorative flowers on them.

I played around with my computer fonts a bit and I was super pleased with how they turned out!

I'll be back to regular posting NEXT Monday June 10th.

WISH ME LUCK!!! 

{Smile!}