Hi. It’s me…I know it’s been a minute. I did that thing again where I totally overestimated my own ability to not get overwhelmed. Then I did it a second week in a row. Two weeks ago I was feeling overwhelmed by getting ready for girls camp and then last week I was feeling overwhelmed having just got back from camp. Giving myself grace and being patient when my energy just runs out on me is a good thing…it just means that sometimes my blogging is not as consistent as I want it to be. This week has also been rough. Our dog died last Sunday and while it was an accident, at the end of the day, it was my fault. I’m sure I’ll write about her eventually but for now I’m finding very strange solace in the fact that our cats have taken over her bed and so I can’t possibly in good conscience consider getting rid of it yet.

The men in my life got completely overlooked with regards to a Father’s Day post. It was planned and I was going to write about the Dads and future Dad and Husband man and then my life exploded. I do have to say I’m grateful for our Dads. I’m grateful for my son who is off training to be a great Dad as he buckles down and develops his relationship with his Father in Heaven. And then my husband…continuing to pick up the pieces when I’m sad and have a cold and just need someone to listen to me and love me anyways. I love watching him be the father of my children. [Swoon]

Now on to the main event:

My girls make me so happy. This year was the first year we were all there together and it was fabulous. We have at least one more year, possibly two, where all three of my girls are at camp and I’m looking forward to tagging along as Layna’s +1 every year she goes.
We did a 4 mile hike, swam in a lake, and zip-lined. We also survived one of the hottest weeks on record and slept through crazy thunder and lightning storms. We only kind of had our tents flood and Layna spent the last night with a heat exhaustion fever. (Fun story: I knew I had a cooling towel in my backpack, so at 2 am when she was restless with a fever but it was pouring rain outside, I dunked the cooling towel in my water bottle only to remember that it was full of Gatorade. She smelled a little citrusy the next day).
The way it works here is that one year we do Girls Camp with our whole stake (that was this year) and then the next is just done at the ward level. Our stake has a tradition of giving out pins that can be traded and they do other fun things with them. The cover image for this post is Corra’s collection. I’m not sure what the plan is for next year but I’ve heard very strong opinions against tent camping. Naomi was a Youth Camp Leader (YCL) and really did great with her group of younger girls and helping to run things around our camp. Layna did zip-lining mostly on her own (and loved doing a few tandem runs with the owner, Mr. Keith). Corra was just here for all of it…She was a ham during the skit, made tons of new friends and soaked up everything she possibly could. Watching my kids grow up is better than I thought it would be.