Girls Camp 2009

Here's what you've all been waiting for... this is really long, with lots of pictures. May I present to you,

GIRLS CAMP 2009

First of all, some history of my time involved with the Springfield, OR Stake Girls Camp...
1994-1997: 1st - 4th year [1995 = Trek #1]
1998-2000: Stake Camp [2000 = Trek #2]
2001: Off [mandatory year off between being a stake girl and a unit leader]
2002-2004: Unit Leader
2005: Ma & Pa leader w/ my brand-new hubby for Trek #3
2006: Unit Leader
2007: Off [brand-new baby to attend to!]
2008: Unit Leader
Which equals a total of 7 years attending as a youth, 6 years as a unit leader (including Trek #3) and brings us to...
2009: Stake Adult - Jigsaw/Jamboree w/ Lori Bradford and Heritage Mtn/Certification w/ Shelly Johnson

W/ Shelley, my partner in crime all week. Loved getting to know this woman better and becoming closer friends. (And I'm not really that much taller than her!)

This year's theme: She who possesses values is the fairest of them all.
Stake Girls: Royal Value Jesters
Stake Adults: Queens and Kings
The other units were all princesses!
1st years: Giselle and Belle
2nd years: Pocahontas and Fiona
3rd years: Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel
4th years: Sleeping Beauty

Monday
- Set-up w/ stake adults and stake girls. I had to work part of that day and then ended up having a ton of stops to make along the way and finally made it up there by about 5pm while most everyone else had been there since about 11am.
- We ate dinner and then Shelley and I set up our tent and unloaded my gear. Decided it was too dang hot to put the tent fly on.
- Later that night I went to "train" the stake girls on their jobs during jigsaw certification.
- Late night showers to try to cool off. The water heater was still turned on, though, so we were clean but still hot. Slept on top of my sleeping bag until about 2 or 3am when it finally cooled off.
High temp: 102

Tuesday
- Early morning wake-up courtesy of Shelley and I!! We woke up with the sun a little after 5am and chatted for a bit. Fell back asleep for 1/2 hour or so and then were up and talking (a little louder) by 6am. We got lots of dirty looks that morning and yet no one had yelled at us. If they could hear us when we were talking at a normal volume, why didn't they just yell at us to keep it down?! I'm thinking we are not the only ones to blame for their lack of sleep!! :)
- Eat biscuits and gravy for the first time in my life. Not bad, but a little heavy for me first thing in the morning.

It cracked me up that Christine parked right in front of the 'No Parking' sign. Goober.

- Girls arrive and do their set-up.

I love my sissy!

- Find out my cousin Heather, who was supposed to come, was in an ATV accident and in the hospital and will probably have to have surgery.
- Soooo HOT!! Higher than average number of girls go to swim in Rambo lake/mudhole.

The heat was really getting to some of the leaders. We do cRaZy things when it's triple digit temperatures!

- Day 1 of unit inspections and Shelley and I's first nightly Heritage Mtn. skit as the witch and mirror."Wise council, wise council in a frame... tell me how to make it rain."
- Late night showers. They finally turned off the water heater but they're still warm.
High temp: 106

Wednesday
- Destiny w/ Bishop Luke.
- Jigsaw (certification) in the morning.
- Crafts: Jewelry making. Also paint wood cookie per request from our head cook, Sis. Farralley.
- Annual water fight with Alicia Turley. I love this woman!! We have carried on our water fight for 10 years now... it started when I was a stake girl back in 1998. I think the Trek in '05 was one of the worst. I love it! And for the record, she almost always starts it (she's sneaky)... but I make sure to finish it!!
She is also our "bead lady" and paints all of the early bird, attendance, jamboree, etc. beads.

- Unit Leader dinner w/ a royal theme and several courses to the meal. Cooks make mental note that stew is not an easy meal to prepare for a large group when camping. There was lots and lots of prep work involved. I don't envy them, but I definitely appreciate them!

- Letter from hubby! Yay!!
- Heritage Mtn. skit: "Wise council in a frame... this heat is driving me insane!"
- Sing-A-Long: Our words were chloroform, indignant and serendipitous and our actions were playing ping-pong and synchronized swimming.
- Late night showers officially part of the pre-bedtime routine. Shelley and I decide we cannot go to bed stinky and sweaty. Gross. Christine joins our shower groupie.

High temp: 106

Thursday
- Destiny w/ Bro. Neilson from Ashland area... "No! No, Goliath!"
- Day 2 of Jigsaw
- Crafts: Painted boards w/ "Reflect on Eternity" lettering and temple-etched mirrors... I wasn't much help this day, but I did get Megan's Giselle unit beads painted, complete w/ sparkle glaze.
- Heritage Mtn. skit: I don't even remember our opening rhyme, but we both lost it big time. I was able to compose myself though, for my "I'm a lean, mean rhyming machine" line. Good times. (Check back for when I get the video!)
- Skit night. Stake adults were given Snow White theme w/ focus on all 8 YW values. In the end, I was the echoing wishing well to Susan Wright's singing Snow White. Very fun and it meant I didn't have to "wear" a dress!

DeLacie Barney, our camp nurse. She is so cute and fun! I really liked getting know her... so happy and positive!

The value gems in their sparkly princess gowns.

The priesthood leadership was the dwarves "mining" for the value gems to fill an order for Camp Alpine. We had Doc, Dopey and Sneezy (aka Sleazy). Too funny!

- Star-gazing. For the first time all week it was actually chilly!
- Late night showers continue. Feels good to be fresh and clean... even if it is 11pm!

Friday
- Morning Exercises: Shake Your Foot, courtesy of the stake girls.
- Destiny w/ Shelley: It. was. AMAZING! The spirit was so strong and everything came together well. I think my favorite, though, was all of the adult leaders singing "Walk Tall" to the girls. Wow.
- JAMBOREE!

Lizzy doing the balance beam at Jamboree.

Love this girl's smile!!
Alicia getting in on some Jamboree action. No injuires... yay!

3/4 of our Stake YW presidency. Just missing Eileen (who was home with her beautiful new baby, Lalia).

- Crafts: Pot-holder first aid kits. I had NO TIME to make one. Will have to beg Danae for use of her sewing machine later.
- PM Flag: Get to announce Jamboree winners w/ Lori Bradford.
3rd place - unit # 3 + 2 = 5
2nd place - unit # 8 - 6 + 2 = 4
1st place (drumroll please....) - unit # 3 cubed minus my age plus the # of days we'd been at camp plus the square root of 36 divided by 2 and minus 2 = (anyone, anyone??) 3
(this was very fun to announce!)
- Heritage Mtn. skit: "Wise council in a frame... is this skit getting lame?!"



- Bishop's Mountain-top
- Testimony meeting
- Stay up late, but not too late, to tabulate points and Heritage Mountain results.
- Dump cake was a bomb. No, not da' bomb, a bomb, as in not good. Whose idea was it to buy white and lemon cake mixes?? Dump cake is a strictly yellow cake mix recipe. Hope the lesson was learned with that one!
- Last night of the late-night showers... tomorrow we go home!

Sisters. Aka 2/3 of the Toftdahl girls.

Saturday
- Take down units and clean-up.
- Final Flag ceremony.
- Morning Exercises: Muay thai kickboxing, courtesy of me. I was up on that dang stage way too many times that week! Nobody booed or threw rotten fruit at me, though, so that was good.
- Heritage Mountain results and final skit.
"We can do one more rhyme, for old time's sake. What rhymes with great....? Unit number EIGHT!!"
- Circle of Friendship in the amphitheater (too hot to do it in the field).
- Drive home... finally have cell coverage and can listen to all my voicemails.
- Traditional stop at Dairy Queen for burgers and ice cream.

Oh how I missed MY BOYS!!

Ahh... it was a good week.

I hate this game.

The waiting game that is.
It seems like that is what we are doing right now.
Waiting.

Waiting to see what, where and when Sean's next job will be. Hopefully the when will be soon!! The what I am less concerned about, so long as it brings in the $$ - just being honest, here. And preferably a little more $ than the OSB job so that I can cut back my hours at work. The where I am the least concerned about. We love our home, but are also willing to move if needed. Salem?? Portland/Vancouver?? Or stay right here in the Eugene area??

On the same lines, waiting to know when/where Sean will go back to school. This seems to be contingent upon the job. What/where/whenever that may be.

Waiting to see what my next calling at church will bring. Our stake YW president and her family is moving as of the 11th of this month but I found out they won't be releasing us until our stake conference on September 20th!

For now we are just trying to remain positive and be thankful that I have my job. We are both still comforted that there is a definite plan for our future (thank goodness or I think I would be fReAking out here!) and we just need to continue to have faith, but also be proactive regarding our future. We did find out that 2 of the jobs Sean applied for fell through (one in Salem and one in Eugene) so that has been frustrating because it had seemed that one of those could be the answer. Meanwhile Sean continues job hunting and we wait.










Grrr... I hate this game.

Have you missed me?!?

To say we have been busy would be a total understatement. I'm really not quite sure what happened to most of the month of July. Sean was working all last month (but having to commute on his own since he had a slightly different schedule) and then I spent the last 1/2 of the month preparing for and then being at Girls Camp last week. Sooo... Girls Camp is my excuse for no posts last week. I left Monday and was not home until Saturday afternoon. I think I'm still trying to catch up on sleep! I have several posts in the works so check back to read/see what we've been up to!

* Ethan lovin' the warm summer evenings and wanting basically to live outside.
* GIRLS CAMP with my sisters.
* Anniversary - hopefully we can celebrate it with a night out sometime this month!
* Our soon-to-be-bountiful garden.

Exciting stuff, folks. And yes, I realize I promised an anniversary and garden post the last time I posted about everything I still need to post. Was that confusing enough for ya'?!

Sometimes it pays to be a renter.

Like last week.
When we got our place painted.
No extra work for us.

No hiring a painter.

Just the pleasure of coming home to a much more polished outward appearance on our lovely duplex.

He started out the Friday before by pressure washing the whole house (being careful around the garden) and also the patio. That alone would have been awesome! The place looked so clean after he was done.
But he wasn't really done. He came back on Tuesday and prepped the house with primer and then taped up the trim, windows, etc. Then he came back the following day and painted all of the house, front door and garage door. He was back again on Thursday to do the trim and some detail work. Finally he was there one last time Saturday morning to paint the back door.
It looks good.
Painting was the one thing Sean and I were going to mention to the landlord that would need to be done soon, assuming it wasn't done yet whenever we were to move out. And now we get to enjoy it! Sweet.

I survived. Barely.

Late this morning, Sean, Tory and I went for a hike up Mt. Pisgah. I am not a hiking kind of a gal. Not that I don't like the outdoors. On the contrary, I love a good nature walk. I've just never been much of a hiker. Even when I was in really good shape and working out at the gym 4-6 days a week with a variety of cardio I was not much of a hiker. So last week when Tory came over and invited Sean to hike Mt. Pisgah this weekend I rolled my eyes and said in a scoff, "Pffft. Have fu-un." But then, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I could really benefit from a good hike. We've been so busy the last couple weeks that I haven't made it to the gym much. So despite my rational thought warning against it, I all but begged to come along. Last night the arrangements were made. Tory's mom, Melanie, would watch Ethan while the rest of us went on the death walk...err... hike. We started at about 11am and by about half-way I was dying. Whose idea was this anyway?! Finally, after many stops along the way, we made it! All the way to the top. I had to take pictures to prove it.

View from the top.

"Whadja say, sweetie?"
We are here. Yep, right here.

Striking their manly poses. "Monster trucks. Big gulps. Hunting. Outdoor cooking."That there over yonder.

Me and the boys.

Going back down was much, much easier though my legs were getting kinda shaky towards the end. And after a total of 5 miles we were back in the car, A/C blasting on our way home, but only after a pitstop at 7-11 for some slurpees to replenish the lost fluids and combat the increasing temperature. And now? Now, I am sitting on the couch in front of the A/C, post shower, with freshly shaved legs and non-sweaty, clean shorts and a t-shirt. My legs are still hurting and I know I'll be sore tomorrow, but I'm glad I went. Just don't ask me to go again or I might just beg you to come along at the last minute.
Anyway. Just thought I'd let you know I survived. Barely.

Equal Parts: Friends, Family, Fireworks, Fun

I love the 4th of July.

Really, what's not to like?
Family and Friends.
Food (BBQ is a MUST).
Fireworks up the wazoo!
Fun times.
Freedom.

We started our Independence Day celebrations with our traditional Eugene Em's baseball game and Fireworks display. The Em's were, once again, away for the 4th so we went to the home game on the 3rd. We picked up my sisters and then met up with our good friend Rodney. He was nice enough to save us primo seats on the 3rd baseline since I didn't get off work until after 5pm (game started at 6:35pm). It was close, but we made it with about 5 minutes to spare before the National Anthem. The Em's were ahead, 3-2 at the bottom of the 7th inning, but Everett came back at the top of the 9th to score 2 runs and take the lead. The Em's were scoreless in that final inning and lost 4-3. Bummer.
After the game we headed do to the field to watch the fireworks. A fantastic show as always!! That's pretty much the real reason I go. I like watching the baseball game, but having to get there early and stay the entire game and deal with an antsy toddler in the heat is not really my idea of fun. The fireworks make up for it.What was supposed to be a nice picture of Ethan and I watching the fireworks. Uhhh.... Check out everyone behind us making faces. Even the guy behind Lizzy's head!

The next day, on the 4th, we started our day by sleeping in!! Oh, heaven. Then we met over at my family's house for BBQ with all the fam that was in town... Toftdahl grandparents, g-ma Mary, auntie Kay, Tengans and Gary and Linda. And talk about yummy food. We had quite the spread, I must say. Main dish was fried chicken (yuck for me, yum for Sean) and bbq hot dogs. You can guess which one I chose. Then of course potato salad, fruit, chips and desserts. I, myself, brought blondies, mississippi mud brownies and a lemon pie but opted for Linda's marionberry pie because that is one of my favs and I am not a pie-maker! Baker, yes. Pastry chef, no. It was great to chat with everyone and a little weird to be the only ones there with a little one in tow since none of the Graham boys and their families were there (we missed you... and not that we expected Nick and Christi to show up from Vegas). But oh-so-nice to kick back and relax and bask in the glory of living in a free country and not having to be at work.
I don't remember what he was so upset about here, but see, it's not all rainbows and bunnies at this house. We have our moments. The main thing is to check out his cute $3 Wal-Mart special of a flag shirt!

Ah, happy again and enjoying some watermelon. He eats that stuff like it's going out of style!

Sean, Ethan and I were the last to leave, but since it was a BBQ lunch we were unsure of how to spend the evening. We decided to rent a redbox movie and also stopped for some snacks (hello, there was absolutely no microwave popcorn or soda in the house!). I don't remember what we did when we first got home, but eventually we decided to go looking for Uncle Tory around the corner at his usual 4th of July stomping grounds. Boy do we wish we'd gone sooner! What a show his neighbors put on!! Bucked up for the big illegals from WA so we got to sit and watch more fireworks to end our day. Awesome. We headed home sometime close to 11pm (waaaaay past Ethan's bedtime) and practically fell into bed.

Happy 4th!

June Recap

So you may be really hating these monthly recaps by now, but I'm just gonna keep on truckin' and do them anyway! Lots of pictures this month, though!

* Portland Trip #1 - June 6th: This was the Katie weekend. Sean was super nice and let me go in for Katie and Javier's sealing in the Portland temple while he stayed out and watched Ethan on temple grounds. Afterward we stocked up on some new g's and grabbed a snack while waiting for the other Katie to get home from the hospital with her new baby girl, Molly.

We only stayed for a little while because Ethan was having too much fun exploring their whole house and the new parents looked pretty tired. Our late lunch/early dinner was at one of our favorite restaurants, Sweet Tomatoes!! It's practically a Portland tradition since we don't have one in Eugene. We ended the day at Katie and Javier's reception back in Eugene.

* Portland Trip #2 - June 20th: Sean and I went up for our ward temple day while Ethan stayed and played with great grandparents. We grabbed a bite to eat at our first (and probably last) visit to Burgerville. The food was good, especially enjoyed the fresh strawberry milkshake, but not quite what we expected and kinda spendy for what you got. Wish we had an In-N-Out Burger, or the Five Guys my sisters keep raving about, nearby. We stopped in Woodburn for a couple sweet deals and then headed home.

* Movie of the Month: STAR TREK!!

Ok, I am SO NOT a Trekkie. Just the word makes me cringe. BUT! Sean had been wanting to see this movie and I figured I'd just go with him... until I saw the TV preview. Genius move on the their part with the "This is NOT your Father's Star Trek" in BIG BOLD letters. That made me sit up and take notice for sure, non-Trekkie that I am. Anyway. GREAT movie. Loved it! Would see it again except that we only make it to the movie theaters once a month!

* Uncle Tory - We are absolutely loving our time with Uncle Tory home from college and pre-mission. He truly is like the "little" (he towers over me at about 6'2"!) brother I never had... hence the reason Ethan calls him Uncle Tory. It's so fun to have him over, especially because it only take about 45 seconds for him to get from his house to ours (just around the corner). I really like watching him and Sean interact because it is very similar to Sean's relationship with his brothers Todd and Ryan. And one of their favorite past-times? Playing the piano and singing... quite loudly I might add! Tory is an amazing pianist and organist and has a special talent for site-reading so we love to have him on the keys which also frees Sean up to sing (always a delight). They make a great duo! :) You will find Sean and Tory "rockin' out" almost every Sunday evening at our house!

* Fire Station Open House - We nearly missed the newly-remodeled fire station open house. When they had the ground-breaking ceremony for the new project, we got a postcard invite in the mail since we live so close and figured we would get something similar for the open house. No such luck. I just happened to catch the info on it in the Sunday paper just a couple days before.

Inside the ambulance and fire truck.The view from one of the windows... that's our house on the right. They look right into our living room window!

It is a very nice station house and the only one in Springfield that is two stories, i.e. a fire pole to slide down. Unfortunately, that wasn't open to the public. ;)

* Volleyball:


I have been going to play volleyball Tuesday nights... very fun but I do feel a little awkward playing with all the YSA (young single adults). They make me feel so old! There are a few other marrieds that play so that makes me feel a little better.

* Relief Society: I had my first opportunity to teach Relief Society in our ward. The lesson was on member missionary work and I realized as I was preparing for it that I hadn't really taught a lesson in church in about a year and that was in young womens! It had been over four years since I had taught in Relief Society!! No pressure there. I thought the lesson went really well, though. I think I have a bit of a different teaching style than what they're used to (especially since I'm used to working with the youth) so I'm hoping I was able to mix things up a bit. There was lots of participation, questions and comments and that always helps to keep things moving instead of just standing at the front and talking or reading a lot. I am always grateful for the input! We'll see if they ever ask me back though. ;)

I'm getting complaints...

Ok, maybe just one written complaint. But a complaint just the same. My youngest sister, Lizzy, seems to think I need to update my blog more frequently and to be honest, so do I. I even have quite a few posts already in the works. And for the most part, I seem to average a new post every 3 days. So why have I been slacking lately?? Because NO ONE seems to be reading my blog! I've read quite a few people's similar complaints within the past couple weeks. Where IS everyone?? I don't want to look like I'm begging, but I really, really, really do enjoy reading others' comments and it makes me much more likely to be more consistent in how frequently I post. A big THANK YOU to Shalene... I think she is my #1 commenter! She rarely misses adding at least a little somethin' in the comments section of my posts and I really appreciate it! :) Now, I know that I can slack a little in my comments. I have a really bad habit of reading blog posts with every intention of getting back to them later when I have a little more time to think about what I want to write. Unfortunately I don't always make it back to comment. BUT!! I have been trying to be much better about it because I know how much I like to get comments.

SO!

Here is what you have to look forward to... I will try to get busy this weekend and get some new posts and pictures up.
* Father's Day... yes, I'm a slacker and still need to do a post on this!
* June Recap
* 4th of July
* Tengans Visit
* 4th Wedding Anniversary
* Garden Update... we are SO CLOSE to having yummy, fresh veggies! One of my tomato plants has now grown up past my waist and we have little, baby cucumbers all over the place.
* My broccoli/veggie spaghetti recipe... I have received several requests for this (poor Lynnie asked for it months ago) so I thought I'd just post it here so others can enjoy it as well. It's great for the summer if you have a veggie garden.

Sorry, Lizzy. This isn't a very exciting post, but it is NEW!! Check back soon and don't be shy on those comments!

Saturday Project: Clean Our Room!!

So, I'm hoping Sean and I aren't the only ones that do this, but our bedroom is SO neglected on the household chores chart. It is ALWAYS the last room we get to when we clean... IF we even get to it! Especially when people are coming over, the living room, dining room and kitchen always take priority, followed by the bathroom and Ethan's room. And the biggest mess factor in our room? Laundry in laundry baskets! It's not that we don't put our clothes away - I'm really good about getting Ethan's folded or hung up and also kitchen and bathroom towels, but I am horrible about putting my own clothes away and we are notorious for having a basket of whites laying around that never really gets put away. [[sigh...]]

A couple of Saturdays ago we took charge! The rest of our house was already pretty much picked up and clean - just needed to clean floors, so we tackled our room. I am happy to report that BOTH of our closets are now neat and organized. My dresser, both the top and all the drawers, is clean and organized. Our "nightstands" (we're poor and waiting to invest in a nice, coordinating bedroom set - so our nightstands are really just plastic crates on their side - I know, very "college dorm room" but it works) are clean - well, Sean's is really neat and clean, mine is picked up, but not very organized. Floors are vacuumed and surfaces (TV, mirror, dresser, etc.) are dusted. It looks SO MUCH better! It's still not perfect - I have a box of girls camp stuff to go through, but it's nice to have all the floor space back and I swear you sleep better in a clean room. (My dad is probably nodding his head vigorously in agreement about now!) Now we just need to finish tackling some laundry - there's a couple loads that we didn't get to Saturday afternoon.

Overall findings for the day:
- 42 bobby pins
- at least 3 lip glosses/chapsticks I didn't know were missing
- 6 hair ties in various colors
- a fancy pair of dangly chandelier earrings that I had forgotten I own (I think they were a Christmas present last year... anyway, I wore them to church the next day!)
- $11.76 in change :)

And our reward? We went out to Red Robin for dinner with my dad so Sean could enjoy his free birthday burger. And an added bonus - Ethan was very well-behaved at the restaurant (he usually does okay, but this was above his typical antsy, only mildy entertained restaurant demeanor).
Now, bets on how long our clean room will last?!??

Update... we got a new bedspread! It's not my "dream" bedding set, but it's in the colors I like (cream, dark brown and sort of a robin egg blue/green) with some nice textures. And the bonus? I got it for $35 with a pair of coordinating pillow shams. Sweet. I'll add a pic soon, I really just wanted to get something new posted.

One Year Shy of THIRTY!

Happy Birthday, SEANY!!!

So last Thursday was Sean's 29th birthday... though if you were to talk to him you'd think he had already turned 30! Instead of enjoying the fact that he just barely turned 29, he is already focusing on next year's big 3-0. Too much negative energy if you ask me! Actually, he is much better now, most of his complaining came earlier in the year.

Anyway...

Sean's birthday did not have the best start - a 12:30am wake-up call from a 2 year-old having nightmares makes for a long night. Breakfast was a little better... piping hot cinnamon rolls courtesy of Mr. P. Doughboy. Yum! Of course, I had to work all day and then Sean had mutual (story of our lives) and I had a baby shower to go to. We did just a small celebration LATE that night to open presents: a web cam (that's right, we can officially skype now!) and new dress shirt from me and Ethan, along with a dozen long-stem roses (I know, kind of a girly present but he still liked them!) and then some new broadway musical piano books from Lynnie and his dad. Then, on Sunday we finally had birthday cake and sang to him! Homemade "Disappearing Chocolate Cake" w/ freshly-made chocolate icing as per Sean's request. I even put ALL 29 candles on his cake... Whew! Talk about generating some heat! Tory, Ethan and I were the only ones at this little "party" so Tory and I got to sing Happy Birthday as a duet! More celebration to come... my family was out of town and Sean got his b-day list to Lynnie pretty late in the game, so his birthday package is still on its way.

Some memories of birthdays past...
Golden Birthday (25 on the 25th): Went with me to the Portland, OR temple when I received my endowments (very special day). "Gave"/showed him his wedding-band-to-be (complete with engraving). Two weeks later we were married.
26th Birthday: Nobody knew yet, but we were talking a lot about trying to get pregnant... by August we were!
27th Birthday: Celebrated with a 2 1/2 month old newborn baby boy.
28th Birthday: Celebrated with all of my cousins in town. Again, with homemade chocolate cake. Guess he really likes it!

I'm going to save all my gushing over how wonderful Sean is for the Father's day post I still need to write! But, let me just say how much I love my Seany! He is an excellent husband and father... Happy birthday, sweetie!