sorry... short rant!

Mean people who also feel that they are entitled to anything they want really stink!! Had one ruin my day today, but hopefully tomorrow will be better. Two days of schedule pick-up done at LMS... 2 more to go! YIPPEE!!

Miss Megan

Megan gave her first talk at church yesterday! She did such a beautiful job. I am so proud of her.

Meg will be starting Middle School this year. She is so fearful of finding classes, forgetting her locker combination, not having friends in her classes. I keep trying to tell her to relax, and it will all be ok. She has seen 3 older siblings go through all of this, so you would think that she had a pretty good understanding of how everything works... but no. She seems to be more nervous and stressed that the other 3 combined! I have reminded her daily that it's ok, and I am right there if she needs anything, but that is not helping. I am going to take her over to school in a few days to show her where everything is, and help her with her locker combination. Hopefully that will ease her mind a bit.

Can't believe that she is growing up so fast!!

Winding down... and catching up

I'm so sad to see Summer winding down. I only have a few more days of "freedom" left before I head back to work. I volunteered to work schedule pick-up at Liberty, since I'm a bit territorial and wanted something done my way (hey... it's something that I am going to have to deal with when I really do get back to work, so I might as well get it done the way I want it in the first place and NOT deal with cleaning up someone else's mess... know what I mean?!).  Schedule pick-up is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week, then a few hours on Monday the week after that. Then, on Tuesday, the 4th, I go back to work for real. I am not ready to see Summer go so quickly, and really have a ton more that I want to get done before it's gone. I guess that I need to hurry and pack it all in to the next few days! :)

Josh headed out for his high adventure activity yesterday. They are camping out, and going white-water rafting down the Ocoee. He is so excited, but I had to remind him to be safe and not do anything stupid. Stupid is not in my plans for the remaining summer! He will be home tomorrow evening, and I can't wait to hear all about it.

On a sad note... I had to take Kayti to the doctor yesterday. She has been complaining of a back ache for about a month now, and we have been treating it with Advil and a heating pad. Yesterday it started hurting her again, so I once again gave her Advil and told her to go take a hot shower. She was feeling somewhat better until she got out of the shower and bent over to pick up a towel... then she was in an extreme amount of pain, and could not stop crying. I called the doctor, but couldn't get her in until late yesterday afternoon. When we finally got there she was still pretty tender, but she was moving a bit better. As it turns out, her vertebrae are out of align... something caused probably by our long hours in the car over the summer. She got a shot of steroids, and then was told to do some stretches and gentle walking everyday. She also is taking Aleve to help with the pain. I feel so bad for her! I can relate to back pain, and it's NOT fun!

Megan is going to spend the next couple of weeks up at the farm with Grandma and Grandpa. It will be so much easier for her to be there and not stuck in the house with her brother for the next two weeks. She was going to head up there today, but she was asked to give her first talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, and she didn't want to have to call her Uncle Nate and tell him that she couldn't be there, so I will take her up on Monday.

Barry was off for a few days earlier this week, and we spent some time together as a family. It was fun being together. We went out to the movies twice... HAD to see Harry Potter and Transformers 2... and we also went out for ice cream one night. We started our school supply shopping as well. Oh fun! Barry is now covered over with work, and he will not get another day off for a while.

Kyle is... well... a 13 year old boy! He has reached the stage where he is officially driving me crazy. The teenage attitude is seeping from him something fierce. I miss my sweet boy! I think I will lock him in his room until this passes!

I am going out to lunch today with my mom and sister, so I had better go and get ready! I am still sitting here in bed in my pj's, playing on the laptop! I guess that is something else that can be added to my list of things that I am not ready to give up... sleeping in and staying in pj's the majority of the day!

Fourth of July... a little late

I realized today that I failed to document our 4th of July. It was a pretty quiet day... Barry had to work, and the kids and I slept in since we were all exhausted from both girls camp and scout camp. We did some laundry, watched some TV, then we ran and picked Barry up from work around 5:00 so we could head out to the Callahan's for a family celebration. That was great... we had yummy food, great company, plenty of babies to pass around, go-cart and 4-wheel riding and ended it all with a wonderful fireworks show! Thanks, Dawn and Shawn, for having us all over. We really enjoyed ourselves!

Girls Camp and Youth Conference '09

I was blessed to be able to attend both girls camp and youth conference this year. I was really afraid that I wasn't going to get to since I am no longer serving in YW, but I was asked to do the crafts for the Stake for camp, and be a ward chaperone for youth conference. Both of these events were fabulous!

Camp
This was Kayti's last year, and Megan's first at camp! I really wanted to be there for both of the girls, and so I was thrilled to be asked to go. We were extremely blessed with wonderful weather, and a great week all around. The theme for camp this year was "The League of Extraordinary Young Women" and was based on superheroes. Each level was named after a superhero, and each ward was given a superhero power.

Kayti earned her "Pearl of Great Price Award"... this is a special recognition given to the 2nd year YCL's who have physically attended camp all 6 years that they are able. They get a certificate and a pearl necklace. She decided her first year at camp that she was going to earn this award, and I am so proud of her for doing it.


Megan was thrilled to finally be old enough to go to camp! She has been watching me go since she was 1 year old, and has been begging to go since she was old enough to realize what was going on! Our ward was assigned the superhero power of "energy bursts", and our girls had a fun time with that. They gave each girl a nickname based on energy, and Megan was "Mighty"! She was a mighty powerful girl at camp, too! She was energetic, and active, and very willing to do whatever she was asked to do. She couldn't wait to get up on the ropes course. I missed seeing her up there, since I was doing the crafts at that time, but I sent my camera up with another girl, and she got some great pictures for me!


The girls had a great week, and enjoyed seeing their cousin, Savannah, as well.


Youth Conference

The youth this year went back to Troy University for Youth Conference this year. We have been before, and it is such a wonderful, uplifting experience. This was Josh's first year to attend YC at Troy, since they did Trek for YC last year. He was really looking forward to going, and I was excited to be there with him and Kayti. We left out on Thursday morning, and the kids participated in a service project, fireside and a dance that day. On Friday they had wonderful workshops, lots of free time to socialize with friends, then another fireside and dance that night. Saturday morning we had testimony meeting, then headed home after lunch. The kids had a great time, and enjoyed spending time with friend. I think they learned lots... at least they said they did!

Out on the Lake

Towards the end of our Tennessee visit, we talked my bil, Eddie, into taking us out on Tim's Ford Lake in their houseboat! We had a fun afternoon. My sister, Carol, made lunch for all of us to eat while we were out, and we enjoyed the view and the company.
This is their boat, The Free Bird:


The scenery is just beautiful!


And there are some amazing houses on the Lake:


And even some campers:


The kids were LOVING it... especially Kayti:


We got a chuckle out of some of the other boats in the marina. Their names were just too funny! Look at the size of some of these, too!


A couple of those are hard to see... the one in the upper right hand corner is the "Tiki Barge" (and it's for sale, by the way!), and the one under it is the "Six Pack".

Thanks, Carol and Eddie, for a fun afternoon! We sure enjoyed it and appreciate you!!

Kayti's senior portraits

The portraits that the studio took can be found here:
www.gregmachenphotography.com
click on session viewing, and enter the password, "mayfieldk513"

Here are a few that I took of her in Fayetteville