Young Women's Winter Camp!

I was asked in December if I would help with the YW's Winter Camp. I, of course, said yes and was very excited to be a part of it. The young women in our ward are a lot of fun! We had a few meetings to plan things out and I helped get things ready. We were planning on leaving Fri, Jan 3 and coming back Sat, Jan 4th. We were staying at the Payne Lake Lodge. No roughing it this time!! Ha ha!

We woke up Friday morning to the wind howling. It was crazy windy outside. Plus it was threatening to snow. But we were going to go. I had my things packed and ready to go. I had told the leaders that we should just plan on taking vehicles with 4 wheel drive. Good thinking on my part!! Anyways, we all gathered and stuffed our vehicles with bags and girls!! Then we were on our way.

We went straight to Waterton where we were planning on snowshoeing up to Cameron Lake. Well we got there and it was snowing pretty heavily and it was still windy. They were just closing the road when we pulled up. The guy told us the road was too icy and dangerous. So we decided to just go into Waterton and hike around the town. It was beautiful out with it snowing and fun to hike in it. Good thing we didn't do our original hike. I'm not sure the girls would of made it. They were all really tired and complaining when we had only been going for 10mins. I had to laugh. I think they all partied too hard during Christmas holidays!

We took over the road, putting on our snow shoes. There was enough for everyone to do it.

On our way. I am in the middle with my white coat and I have my ski goggles on!!

It was snowing really hard. Here are some of the leaders.

We took a few breaks. But we did hike around for about 1 hour. It was so pretty out. We stopped at the lake too. I was surprised that it wasn't frozen. The nice thing was there was basically nobody else around. We were the only crazy ones hiking around! ha ha!


Some of the girls were exhausted!!

Here are a few making snow angels!

A mom and daughter. This is Kristine Strate with her daughter Miranda (in the blue).

A cool picture of the girls sitting on the edge of the lake.

Love the big fluffy flakes.

Some of the girls. The 4 looking at me are l-r, Ursula, Bailey, Addie and Meagan.

Hannah and Emily!

Here comes Bishop Killian with his daughter, Mikayla.

We got back and had lunch by the vehicles. We just sat outside in the snow and ate our lunch. Even though it was snowing, it wasn't very cold out at all. So that made it nice. Then we were taking the girls swimming at the hotel there. We had called ahead and they were expecting us. We stayed for about 1.5hrs. I opted out of swimming and had fun visiting and watching the girls.

Eating our lunch. I am sitting on the ground, I have the white coat with a black stripe up the middle.

The girls playing a game in the pool.

We then headed back toward Mt. View to go up to the Lodge. I was the only one that knew, exactly where it was. So everyone was following me. We got to the turn off and we waited till everyone caught up. Then we started going on the gravel roads. So glad we all had 4x4's. The road was really steep getting up to the lodge. But we all made it!

Here's a picture of the cabin and all our vehicles.

Then we unloaded and got settled in. We had to set down a few rules, but other then that we let the girls figure out where they were sleeping. The lodge is huge and everyone was able to have a bed. We had 28 girls with us and 9 leaders. It was still snowing when we got there. It was so nice a cozy to be in a big cabin with the snow falling and we were surrounded by mountains. Loved it!

We relaxed and some girls helped get a quilt going. They all learned how to tie a quilt. We got supper ready and ate a yummy dinner. It was lasagna with a salad and garlic bread. After supper was cleaned up I helped some girls dehydrate some apples. Well we got them into the dehydrated. It takes over 12 hours. Then other girls were making home made donuts. I have to say that they were, by far, the best donuts I have ever had. Delicious! They put some candles in some and we sang happy birthday to Jaymie. It was her 18th birthday that day.

Some of the girls, tying the quilt.

Tiffani peeling and coring the apple.

Addie and Bailey dipping the apples and putting them in the dehydrator.

Mikayla eating the apple peelings!!Ha ha!

Singing Happy Birthday to Jaymie.

We then had a fireside, where Cianna (the YW's President) talked about the new YW's theme. Which is, "Come Unto Christ". She told us that it is an invitation that we need to accept. Then it went into a testimony meeting. The spirit was very strong. I was fighting a major headache at this point but was able to ignore it so I could enjoy the meeting. At the conclusion, Cianna told all of us that we are loved and are not alone in the world. Not only does the Savior love us but our Mother's do too. Then she started passing out letters to the girls. She asked everyone to quietly read their letters. Then she passed out letters to the leaders too. I got one from my mom. I was surprised! I read it and it brought tears to my eyes. I have an amazing mother and am so lucky that she loves me so much. It was a really good meeting.

The girls really wanted to play some night games in the house. So Cianna took them downstairs and they were playing Murder in the dark. By this time I was so ready for bed. My head was pounding even though I had taken medicine and put my oil on. I was just relaxing on the couch, visiting with the other leaders. The girls then came up and told everyone that they were going to play Security Guard and were going to use the entire house. They wanted all of us to play. I had girls pulling me up from the couch. So I decided, why not. So they explained the rules. We were all downstairs in the laundry room. There were 2 security guards that walked around (in the same pattern) the house with a flashlight. If the light shone on you then you are out. We had tasks we had to do, throughout the house. Then when we made it back we could check it off. It was crazy, because it was super dark. I wasn't too sure of the game. But then it was my turn to run up the stairs and turn off the Christmas tree lights. The rules were you can hide and then make your way down the stairs when you think it's safe. So I dove behind the piano and waited. When I thought it was safe I turned off the lights and made a run for it. Well it was pitch black and I ended up stumbling down the stairs, but I made it. I crashed into so much things through out the game. But I never got caught. It was actually really fun and exhilarating. They were calling me, Sis. Spencer the Ninja!! Ha ha!

By then it was pretty late and I was exhausted. Surprisingly enough, running around like that made my headache go away! I went up and got ready for bed. But it was a sauna upstairs. No exaggeration. It was so hot! But I was tired and I finally fell asleep. I slept straight through till 7:00am. I got up and my head was pounding again. So I snuck downstairs to get a drink of water to take my pills with. Brother Olson was the only other one awake. I went back upstairs to go back to sleep but it wasn't happening. It was so hot and my head was pounding. So I quietly got dressed and ready for the day. Then I went down and decided to go for a walk outside. By this time Brother Olson was outside too.

So I got my stuff on, and went out. It was beautiful outside. Not too cold, but it felt so good after being so hot. It was so still out too, not even a breeze. So I strapped on some snow shoes and went for a walk. I told Brother Olson where I was going. I never went out of his view (you know, to be safe and all!). It was a good work out. I loved it. So beautiful! It was a great way to wake up.

So pretty outside.

Me on my little hike!

With snow shoes on!

There's the pathway behind me!

I got back to the cabin and noticed a few more were stirring. So I helped get breakfast going. We had some fresh fruit, with French toast, sausages and bacon. Of course, we had to have the delicious coconut syrup that Ciana makes. So yummy! I think half the girls were still so tired. Some of them stayed up till 3:30am. Crazy girls! So most of them were like zombies at the breakfast table!

The girls cleaned up and we were ready for our morning side. Sister Barnett had asked me ahead of time if I could conduct it and give a spiritual thought. So we started with a song and prayer. Then I talked about how we can "Come Unto Christ". I bore my testimony and then turned the time over to Bro. Olson. It was just a short morning side. We ended with a prayer. Then we told the girls that they can do whatever they wanted. But they had to do something. I told everyone that I was going back outside and whoever wanted to come could go snow shoeing with me. Some wanted to go sledding. So I mentioned that we could go find a good hill. Others did some baking in the kitchen with some of the other leaders. We got a few girls to come sledding. That was so much fun. I've never laughed so hard! So funny. I had my snow shoes on and didn't want to take them off. It made it so much easier to come up the hill. So I ran and jumped on my tummy onto the sled. I flew down and couldn't stop. I did a face plant right into a big snow bank. Everyone had some crazy crashes. We all had fun!

Sis. McMahon helping the girls bake some cinnamelts!

Miranda learning how to bake the melts.

Madison helping too.

Everyone up on the hill. Here comes Sister Lowry.

She was flying and ending up face planting too! So funny!

Me at the bottom of the hill.

Getting out of the snowbank I ran into!

Here's the group of us that ventured out to go sledding!

Then me, Sis. Strate, Katie, and Sis. Barnett went for a walk with our snow shoes. The snow was really deep but the snow shoes kept us basically on top. I was leading the way. I was showing them where I went for my hike, earlier that morning. I heard a scream behind me and looked. Sis. Strate had fallen forward right on her face. But her snowshoes were stuck in the snow. So her butt was up in the air. I have to say that it was super funny. We were all laughing.

Me, Katie and Kristine going for a walk.

Cool picture through the trees.

Kristine and Cianna.

The Bishop and Bro. Olson were nice enough to go clear some of the snow off the ice. The girls were very excited to go out and try ice skating. That was a huge hit! Then we came in and ate the yummy cinnamelts that the other made for us. They were so good. We relaxed. Some knitted some scarfs. Others napped, and we also played some games. It was a fun day.

Fun, skating on the pond!

Me, Sis. Miller, Katie and Avery playing scum!

Addie (in the middle) showed Bailey and Miranda how to knit with your hands!

Then it was time to pack up. We got everything loaded and tidied up the cabin. Then we had lunch and away we went. It was a lot of fun. I think we wore the girls out too! Everyone in my vehicle zonked!! So cute!

Meigan and Tally sound asleep. This is on the way home! Fun times!

It was a really fun camp. I am so happy that I was a part of it again. I LOVE Young Women's camp. So much fun! The girls are a blast to be with too. The leaders rock too! It was a fun weekend! I was totally exhausted when I got home. But that's to be expected!!

New Years Eve and Day!

On New Years Eve, we decided to take it easy and just have fun as a family. Oh I should mention that we moved Richard's parents that day. We moved them into the new house that they bought. So that was a crazy day. We got home just in time for me to make supper. I had thought ahead and got some yummy finger food that I could throw in the oven. That worked out perfect.

The kids got their jammies on and we put on a movie and we all watched the movie and ate our food together. It was very fun and relaxing. Especially after a crazy day of moving! Then Richard and some of the kids got our new puzzle out that we got from my parents for Christmas. They started working on that.

DJ and Cadence helping dad turn over the puzzle pieces.

Brianna loves to work on puzzles with her dad.

Cadence and DJ playing Rock the Penguins game. Too funny!

Cadence put all the penguins on the boat.

The rest of us watched another movie down stairs. The kids thought it was just fun to be doing things together. Plus they knew it was getting late and they were still up!! Ha ha! Around 10pm, we decided to ring in the New Year together. We didn't do anything too fancy. I opened up our Sparkling Apple Juice and poured it into the kids tiny A&W glasses. Then we counted down from 10 and yelled, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Then we all clinked our glasses together and took a drink. The kids thought it was fun.

Abbi curled up and watching a movie.

I was watching with her while playing on my ipad too! ha ha!

 

Saying cheers with our glasses.

Yeah, Happy New Year!! DJ discovering that it was HOT!! Ha ha....he doesn't like anything carbonated.

Then we let them play a little bit longer. DJ and Cadence had fun playing some games together too. It was a fun night. Love my family so much! Glad we can have so much fun together.

Richard and Brianna still working on the puzzle.

We had a relaxing morning on New Years Day. We got things ready to go and left our house just after 12:30. We went in to Raymond to my parents church. We booked it again for the day. We have so much fun doing this. Everyone brought goodies and food to share.

It was absolutely beautiful outside, so dad had David bring the quad. All my kids were excited to get pulled behind it. Grandpa was a little bit crazy....ha ha...not too bad though. He pulled me and DJ and he scared me a few times. We were flying. But DJ thought it was hilarious. Crazy boy! My girls never got tired of it either. Cadence always requested Grandpa to go slow when she went on! Jill went on and it was funny to watch her and David. Then all my girls wanted to ride with her!

My 3 cute girls ready to go on the sled!

Grandpa pulling the girls.

This is so funny! Jill screaming before they even got started!! ha ha!

Aunt Jill and Brianna going for a ride!

DJ driving with Grandpa, pulling his sisters!

Then the kids found a big snow pile and were playing on that for a while. We left them outside playing. Love that my kids can have fun outside by themselves. They had fun together. They came in a bit cold but warmed up quickly!

Cadence, Brianna and DJ playing on the drift.

There were lots of different games going on inside. We had fun playing Ticket to Ride. I think that is one of my favorite board games right now. So fun to play! Then their were some Rook games played. Maureen and Darcy showed up with their family. Then Ken and Deb with Drew and Brittany. We had some awesome games of Bump going. Man, I feel like I got a work out. It was a blast.

A mean game of Rook going on!!

Then we had our yummy dinner that everyone helped out with. All in all it was a really fun day. It always is. All the cousins got together and played Pounce. It may of gotten a little CRAZY!! Oh but there were a lot of laughs. Maybe a little bit of pushing a yelling too. Ha ha! We take it pretty serious!! Ha ha!

My kids were just a little disappointed that they were the only kids there. They did have fun with Aunt Maureen's kids though. Even though they are older, they were so nice to my kids. We had a lot of fun. Then everyone pitched in and helped clean everything up.  We were there for over 6hrs, and it went by really fast!

It was a fun way to spend the first day of the year! Hope everyone has a great year!!