Nauvoo Pageant

Tonight was our combined youth activity to Nauvoo. When we rolled out from the church tonight our group was a 3rd of the size it was this morning, and we had way more siblings then youth going. The weather the last few weeks has been awful. The temps have been in the mid 90's with tropical humidity, which results in heat indexes (what it really feels like outside) in the 110-115 range. I think the weather tonight had some part in so many families deciding to stay home.

When we drove into the parking lot Rebecca real excitedly pointed and said "Look, the Temple!" She was so excited to see the temple and since no one had said anything about it up to this point, it showed us that she recognized it all on her own, and her excitement showed us that she knew it is an important place.

We got to Nauvoo with enough time to play some of the games. We started with a potato sack race. The 1st race the boys asked me to race with them-and I SMOKED them all!! But then I had to rest because I don't do so well in this weather. So I caught the 2nd race on film. Lots of smiles, jumping, falling and fun was had.




Corrine and Rebecca made rag dolls, Ammon and Simeon sawed a log, all the kids made button spinners and Rebecca played with the rope climbing bears.



We met a family in the pageant from Washington. After talking for a few minutes we found out that they also had a Rebecca as their youngest and they knew a girl named Corrine in the pageant. We got to meet Corrine, who lived in Rexburg Idaho, which is where Johann and I met and where we heard the name Corrine and fell in love with it.

The kids all enjoyed watching the pageant. Rebecca LOVED watching the temple being built and driving by the real temple in and out of town.

It was a nice night to remember the sacrifices that the early saints went through to build the temple and restore the Gospel.

Girls Camp 2011

This year I was able to go to Girls Camp with the young women from our ward. We had 6 girls going. 2 were YCL's so they went up a day earlier with our camp leader Merry. Back in April we drove over to the camp (Beer Creek) after family camp to check it out. It was nice to know what the camp looked like before showing up.

Back row standing- Jessica Brown, Merry Powell, myself & Haley.
Middle row leaning over-Sister Gelder, Bishop Gelder, Mandy Brown & Kathleen Cannon
Front row sitting- Hanid Valdez, Lucy Goodman, Emma Elzinga & Kara Hartley

The theme of camp was B.O.O.T camp. Building Our Own Testimonies. Everyday they talked about a different branch of the military and how their motto or theme was relevant to us and how er could apply it to our lives.
Our wards name was the "Bling Warrior", taken from the stripling warriors. We were glittery and sparkly and very blingy.



There were the typical Girls Camp activities: making dinner at the campfire, swimming, hikes, certification, skits, testimony meeting, faith walk, Bishop's night and plenty of time to just hang out.
I started to not feel good within a few hours of getting there, and by bedtime the first night my throat was on fire and I knew I had a cold. It really knocked me down. I tried so hard to not let it effect what I could do. Friday morning I woke up and went to the leader meeting, where I was told to go back to bed. So back to bed I went. I rested then showered and then had to rest again.

On Saturday morning I left camp to go pick up Simeon. His camp was about 25 minutes north of the girls Camp. It worked out perfectly that I could go get him and bring him home with the girls. To get to camp you drive past this barn, that I just love. So today I stopped and took some pictures of it.

Suits and Future Missionaries

The boys got new suits a few weeks back and we hadn't gotten any pictures of them wearing them yet. I think they look so handsome in their suits.


I feel like we need to start preparing them now in what they wear when they go to church. That way when they start to pass the sacrament and go on missions wearing a suit, white shirt and tie is natural. They both have future Missionary tags for their suits, but didn't have them on today.

Simeon has been reading the Gospel Principles book lately so he's ready for his mission in 9 years. What sweet boys we have!


When Johann was the ward clerk, he'd get up and count how many people were at church every Sunday. He wore a suit, and soon Ammon (he was 4 at the time) was asking for a suit. On Sunday when Joahnn got up to count, Ammon would grab his notebook and pencil and follow him counting the people and making tally marks in his notebook just like dad. It was such a sweet thing. Since then Ammon will only wear his suit to church.

One day Ammon came out of class dragging his suit jacket. I told him that missionaries treat their suits very nicely, and if they need to take their jacket off, they either lay in nicely next to them or hang it nicely on the back of their chair. That has changed how he treats his suit jacket-most of the time.