The "3R" Sister's Weekend

We got together with my sister Amy and her family, and my "other sister" Camille, one of my best high school friends and her fam at Am's this past weekend.  It was so fun!  We realized that all of our married last names start with R - Ryerse, Rogers, and Rollins!  So we were making pirate jokes "RRR" (we think we're pretty funny!) and such.

We got there and greeted everyone, it is always so good to see them!  The kids played and ran around "the Rollins Ranch".  Then we enjoyed a BBQ outside.  I just love summer nights out in the open, fresh air!  We had burgers and all the fixings, it was good.

We went out and played with balls and played tag in the fields.  We tried some glow in the dark bubbles - Pinterest FAIL.  We made some s'mores, one of our favorite treats!  To finish the night, we set up the movie projector in the back yard next and watched "Angels in the Outfield".  That was one of our favorite movies growing up and we watched it so many times I think we quoted most of it while watching.  The kids (and husbands - Dave was Mystery Science Theatre-ing it up!) liked it too.  "It could happen!"

Then we got ready for bed and crashed.  The next morning, I took the kids on a nature scavenger hunt, where they collected certain objects from the outdoors in a brown bag.  They liked that, and gave the adults time to make breakfast.  We had a yummy pancake bar that Camille and Jeremy put together.  Then Kolby took the kids around to ride one of their horses, Sally, who is a very chill horse.  They loved it and none of our kids were scared this time.  They were more eager to ride the little four wheeler though, Cal was waiting for that the whole time!  The kids chased the chickens and cat, Scratchy, the whole time!  We played bocce ball, baseball, and card games.  Then we ate lunch, we made srirachi chicken sandwiches and brought a bunch of other snacks and sides.  That afternoon, it was time for Kolby to harvest the honey.  So Jeremy and Dave and Amy helped him do it.  The kids were fascinated and loved watching the process.  We did a bunch of water balloons.  We brought a launcher, and shot them out into their fields.  That was a crack up.  We also got each other with the water balloons too.  The kids found a frog and were enjoying observing and holding that.  And finally, the kids got haircuts from Aunt Amy in her super cute "Silon".  They thought it was so cool - it was Lucy's favorite part of the trip, and said she couldn't wait to tell all of her friends about it.  We've gotten hair cuts from Amy, but it's always been at other places instead of in her salon.

Every time I leave my sisters house, I think about how grateful I am to have such a wonderful sister!  And also such wonderful friends, some of whom have become close like family, like Camillie, our other sister!  They are all so good to me, and great examples!  I love them!  What a great time we had with our families together!

President Packer

Recently (Well, more than recently, but I never got to finish this post), President Boyd K. Packer, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints passed away.  It's always sad to see them go, it's amazing how you almost develop a connection to the apostles, since the way revelation works, it seems like they are sometimes speaking directly to you!  Boyd K. Packer was a man of learning, he always developed his talents, had a strong and firm testimony of our Savior, and you could tell he loved his family fiercely.  I found it not surprising that his last General Conference Address was about marriage and family.  What a great example!  Here are some of my favorite quotes from President Packer over the years...

  “Keep the fire of your testimony of the restored gospel and your witness of our Redeemer burning so brightly that our children can warm their hands by the fire of your faith.”  

"(Christ) is the anchor that holds us and protects us and our families through the storms of life."

"Family time is sacred time and should be protected and respected."

"True doctrine understood, changes attitudes & behaviors."

"There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother."

"Parents today wonder if there is a safe place to raise children.  There is.  It's called a Gospel-centered home."  

"Mature love has a bliss not even imagined by newlyweds."

"Our lives are made up of thousands of everyday choices. Over the years these little choices will be bundled together and show clearly what we value."

                           

lds.org

lds.org

President Packer hasn't left us because we are still learning from his words.  What a blessing that they've been recorded and the words of the living prophets and apostles are so available.  We can read, listen to, or watch them anytime we want (my preferred time to listen is while folding laundry or doing chores after the kids are in bed).  But we still will miss this great man!

August Activities! (...I love alliteration - can you tell!?)

This month was a great one!  The end of the month got a little tricky as the kids "checked out" and felt they deserved a break since they've been working "hard" all summer (really people!?  Your chores, practicing, work book, and reading take maybe 1 hour and 30 minutes of your day to complete, but they drag it out all day).  Anyways, after what felt like all day of trying to get them to finish up their stuff, we did do many fun activities that we all enjoyed.

We did our first Primary activity this summer.  We had a great turn out, including many kids who don't come to church.  We let the kids decorate their own flags for their teams and then did a torch relay to get things started.  The Young Men helped us put on the event.  We had an obstacle course, basketball, frisbee golf, fencing, discus, and soccer.  They were so cute with the kids!  We finished the event off by giving each of the kids medals and popsicles.  A great time was had by all!

We had a Harry Potter birthday party with our good friends, the Walkers, who are also HP fans.  We hid pics of Myrtle all over the house, and put up some "Wanted" posters from the movies.  We had a BBQ with muggle food.  We made some wands out of chopsticks, glue sticks, and then the kids painted them.  We watched one of the movies and had popcorn with themed candy.  We also made butter beer (non-alcoholic, of course) which was de-licious!  Glad for good times with good friends!

We had fun during the week of the fair!  We enjoyed the parade, the kid's favorite entry was the missionaries from Martin's Cove.  We went to the cat show, saw all of the exhibits, went on kid's day and were able to see our friends in the junior rodeo clown competition, saw what ribbons Emma and Cal's artwork got (Emma got a blue ribbon and Cal got a green!), squealed over the animals, and Emma and Daddy went on a special date to the demolition derby.

We visited Vedawoo in Medicine Bow National Forest with our friends the Schaefs.  It was beautiful and oh, so fun!  The kids loved the rock formations, and got a kick out of naming them, and Cal was in heaven climbing around.  We hiked on the rocks, and then we had a picnic dinner near the pond in the state park.  They're such sweet friends and we love getting together with them whenever we can.

We also tried geocaching for our first time, and it was pretty fun!  I was surprised how many treasures are hidden right here in our neck of the woods.  We had good luck finding t o, but couldn't find the other two we were looking for.  The kids loved it and keep asking to go again!  So I think we will try it again.

We also got to go to Martin's Cove to attend a baptism, push the handcarts around, and check out the Visitor's Centers.  What a neat place with a special spirit!  The year since Emma's been baptized has flown by, and it brought back some sweet memories being there with the family.

Well, it's been fun, it's been great and it's hard to believe fall is on it's way soon!  Let the good times roll!