It's only hair

I surprised my husband several weeks ago when I told him I wanted to cut my hair short, or even shave it. He asked why I wanted to shave it,  I told him all of my various reasons and he said, "Why is it, that in 12 years of marriage I never knew you always wanted to shave your head?"

Truth be told, since high school, I have had this crazy desire to shave my head. I don't know why but there is an "I'm okay with who I am and others don't need to tell me how to look"message. But I was always too chicken to do it. However, when I know or hear of someone I know who has done it, it reminds me that I've always wanted to do it too. 

In high school, I remember one of my friends had seizures and would have to have brain surgery over the summer. I told her I would shave my head so she wouldn't be the only one with no hair. I thought of it once again when my friend MB lost all of her hair during chemo treatments for the cancer that eventually claimed her life. Last year a friend of mine shaved his head to show support for his nephew fighting cancer. And most recently, one of my friends in UT shaved her head, long story with that.

While I was waiting in a very long line with some friends a couple of weeks ago, we started talking about hair. I said I was toying with the idea of going really short of just shaving my head. One of my friends said she'd shaved her head and it was the most liberating thing ever. It took me a good long time to really settle in to my decision, and when I told LT when I wanted to do it, he said, "Well, I want to be the one to do it."I love that he's knows me well enough to respond the way he did.

So, last night was the night I'd picked a week ago to do it. We used an 8 guard on the razor so it's not bald, but it is short. Now, I realize that if you've never wanted to do it, you'll never understand. But I've found friends who totally get it. And now that I've done it, I get why it is so cool and liberating. 

Okay, I can take this off my bucket list. 

Partial tour of our yard

My mum has been hounding me for pictures of our property and I finally got out of the house and took some. I love everything about our place and I couldn't be happier here. When we tell people we live on a wooded lot they usually don't really get it until they visit. It is shaded a good part of the day and I love that I feel like I'm on a hike when I go to get the mail.

Enjoy

Alright, here is our property from the street. It is kind of hard to find because our driveway sneaks up on you and it's hidden by all of the trees and vines.

Here we are looking at the top of our driveway.

Now we are heading down our driveway.

This is what I see when I look right. Our property extends quite a distance in that direction.

I'm continuing down our driveway and getting closer to our house.

 You can actually see it through the trees.

Ah ha! Here is our front lawn, and more driveway.

 I am still on the driveway looking right toward the house.

This view is from the very same spot as the previous picture and I am looking up our driveway towards the street.

Now I'm at the bottom of the driveway looking up toward the street.

I am in the same spot but turned toward the garage.

To the left of the garage is the goat pen.

I am looking at the end of our property which stops a few feet before the fence in the background. Here are our curious boys begging for my attention and food. The white ribbons are the electric fence that keeps most of them in. Rocky is so little he just come out when he feels like it. Fortunately goats are herd animals and Rocky won't stray too far from the others.

 I've stepped over the white ribbons. To the left of me is an area that used to look like the wooded picture from the driveway. We've done a lot of clearing out and the goats have been doing their job of eating the green stuff. 

This view is in the opposite direction of the last picture. You can see the bottom of the driveway and some of our sheds. You can even see the blue tarps at the goat pen.

Here is an area in the back of our property near the fence.

What O says

We were at a birthday party a little while ago and the hostess was asking the children if they wanted a vanilla or chocolate cupcake. When it was Os turn to answer, she said, "Both." One of the other moms told her, "You are a girl after my own heart", to which O responded, "Ya, most people like me because I'm funny and I have a good attitude."

This morning LT and I were talking before we got out of bed. O stumbled into our bedroom, flopped on the bed and asked in a chiding tone, "What was that talking I heard?" We told her it was us. She said, "It woke me up, I'm not happy about that." What a character.

O likes to tell people when they are being annoying. In primary yesterday one of her friends was being a little goofy and saying the same thing over and over again. O said to her, "Will you please stop that, it's annoying me." For some reason, I think it is funny that a little 6 year old tells others when they are annoying. She let's us know too when we are annoying her. "Mom, stop singing, it's annoying me."

Last week O had a rash and had to take a nasty tasting medicine to help fight it off. She was hilarious about it. She really is a total drama queen. She would put the cup to her lips, close her eyes, and then dramatically thrust the cup away and declare, "I can't. I just can't do it. Okay, okay, I'll be brave. I can do this" and then try again. "No, I can't." And then she would breathe hard as if she'd run a race. It was killing me. She did end up taking it, finally. We bribed her with a piece of chocolate.

We sold one of our goats last week so some guys who were going to eat it. They gave us some goat steaks to enjoy. When I picked O up from school on Tuesday I told her we were having stew for dinner. "What is in it" was her question. I told her some meat from the fridge. She asked, "Did it used to go mehhh?" (her goat sound.) When she tried it she said it wasn't bad. Unrelated, the goats name was Oreo, so we had Oreo for dinner. Sounds healthy, huh?

Our family spoke in church yesterday and we gave O the option to speak too. The plan was to have her state her name, age and grade and then recite the first two Articles of Faith. She was thrilled when we practiced in family home evening and then Saturday night she told us she didn't want to speak. Okay, we told her she didn't have to and we weren't going to make her. So, she went back and forth. "I'm going to speak, I'm not going to speak." Sunday morning she decided to do it. She was amazing. It is so much fun being her mom.

Drama Mama

This is too good not to share.

O is full of spit and vinegar and she is in fine form this morning. She'd been watching TV for awhile and LT told her it was time to turn it off and help him work outside. This is what I heard from the kitchen.

LT - "Okay O, it's time to turn off the TV and work outside with me."
O - "I don't want to work outside, I'm not a worker."
LT - "Well, it's my job to teach you to be a worker."
O - Very dramatically "You're trying to make me be a maid." Then she runs to her bedroom. LT had to come into the kitchen to gain is composure. We were both laughing about it. Once he was straight faced, he went to talk to her. She wouldn't talk to him. He came back into the kitchen with me. A few minutes later O was dragging her blue elephant stuffed with toys out of the sun room. LT went to talk to her as she was heading up the driveway to the street. She's mad because "My Little Pony" was about to start on TV and she really wanted to watch it.

She just came in the house and I asked what was going on and she said, "Nothing, I'm just relaxing on the porch."

Oh dear, she's only 6. I'm not looking forward to the drama that is to be had when she is a teenager.

B.O.O.T. Camp 2012

Well, the theme for girls camp this year was, Building Our Own Testimonies. Joanna, the stake camp director, made sure there was pink on our shirts. She's a fun girly girl.

Anyway, the pictures I'm about to share are all borrowed. I left my camera in the glove box of my car all week. Oops. The stories are not borrowed, they really happened, and I'll try my best to write them down in a way you can understand them.

This year I was in charge of our ward and the 4th level campers. Camp started on Tuesday so we went up on Monday as a family. I wanted to have our gear set up so I could help the girls when they arrived. Also, I wanted O to see what girls camp was like and help her understand why I'd been so busy and why I'd be gone for the week. It was pretty cool.

O was funny about sleeping in the tent and in her bag. "I don't want to sleep in my pajamas, they're ugly. I don't want to sleep with a blanket, it's ugly". (That's her curse word). We warned her that it would get cold at night and we didn't want to have to get her dressed in the middle of the night. Anyway, in the middle of the night we hear a lot of tossing and turning and then, finally, "I'm cold". In my mind I thought, "well of course you are, you little stinker".  We warmed her up and all was well. The first thing she said, when the birds woke us up at 5:30 in the morning was, "let's do it again." Alright!

On the first day of camp LT and I were busy getting others settled and O "helped" out too. She spent a lot of time tagging along with one of her favoritest people in the whole entire world. K. (We are huge fans of K at our house.) Here is O with K in her tent.

This is simply one of the coolest pictures I've seen. Not only is the ariel chest bump amazing, but the shadow of a butterfly it makes is even more so.

The lady in the middle is the Stake YW Pres. She's got all of her troops in order.

Actually, for my Oakcrest buddies out there, she reminds be of Barb, in a lot of ways. 

That is likely why I chose to prank her the ways that I did.

Here is a more accurate depiction of what the presidency is like. It really captures their personalities. 

Here I am with M. We were asked to work together with the 4th year campers. She is a lot of fun and I got a real kick out of her sense of humor. I had her make the chore chart for our group and she didn't put me on it. Isn't that AWESOME?!?!!? 

Here is the group of girls and leaders I worked with for the week. We got up at 4:something obscene in the morning to go on a hike. This stake likes to make their 4 years get up for a sunrise hike. However, there wasn't anywhere to hike to with a summit, so we just noticed it gradually getting lighter.  We had a lot of fun on our hike. Well, at least I did. In fact, it was the best girls camp hike I have been on. No one complained and no one lagged behind. It was AWESOME!!

I photobombed the YCL picture. I hid by some of my girls ankles and when J, the photo dude, said "3", I jumped up and this is what we got. The leaders had NO IDEA what was going on.

I call this picture, "the scene" and I have E to thank for these. I don't know what overcame me on the tail end of our hike, but I was feeling mischievous and called camp and told them we needed help. Once I got off the phone, I realized we didn't have a good prank. CRAP!!! So, a few minutes later, I called back to let them know we were okay. WELL, I was told someone was already on their way.

 Side note: Christy is a nurse and once they got off the phone with me she went into action. She was in her search and rescue mode. Everything was removed from the bed of her truck her massive first aid kits were loaded and she had someone else drive so she could get out quickly once they found us. Of course, I didn't think about her being all nursey like that when I called. 

So, when I called to tell them "never mind" it was too late. CRAP!!! We needed to come up with a good joke and fast. E had a great idea of us all laying down and pretending we were dead. Sure, why not. So, we did. I'm the one in the red shorts in the picture below. Yes, we have a picture, because when you die in the woods, it needs to be documented, otherwise it didn't happen.

Christy arrived and to make a long story short, once she realized we were joking, she sought me out and took me down. I told her I was impressed with her quick response time. I did my best to defend myself, as you can see.

There is much, much more to the prank story, but it's the kind of story where you would have to know the people and had to have been there to really appreciate it. D teased me "When it was you on the phone, we knew it must have been real because you wouldn't do something like that. You've lost all credibility." When I told K our ward YW leader she laughed and said, "They don't know you at all."

I'm so glad it was well received over all. I did feel bad about crying wolf, but seriously, why would they believe ME??? Also, since we moved wards just before camp, I knew it would be my last year up there because my new ward already has a rockstar camp director so I didn't mind dishing out the pranks. Wrapped cars and bouncy balls in sleeping bags were my favorites. 

BUT, you need to hear the rest of the story. You need to hear about the SUMO fight. That evening at flag ceremony I called Christy out for her unnecessary roughness earlier in the day. I challenged her to a contest. (I had a bruise on my ankle but I'll get to that later.)

Susan, a neutral party, said a sumo match would settle it for once and for all. So, we saddled up in our bandanas and went for it.

Front view

Back view

The stare down.

The move

Susan called it a tie, I think. I couldn't really hear with the crowd cheering my name. ha ha ha.

Then again, I think Christy should have been disqualified for that horrible wedgy she's giving me here.

I mentioned I had a bruise on my ankle. When Christy attacked poor, innocent me I got hit by something. I don't know if my leg hit a sprinkler head or if Christy is made out of cement but I came away from our first encounter with a mother of a bruise on my ankle. I'd had something like it before. I was hit in the shin by a baseball and it was the same sensation so I knew it would bruise and then go away months later. So, I didn't ice it, thinking it was the same type of injury. Plus I couldn't be bothered with sitting still at camp. Sheesh. Well, later that night my ankle swelled and I mean, really swelled. I've been blessed with wonderful ankles. In all of my soccer, basketball and tennis playing, I think I've sprained my ankle once, they are really durable. So, when it swelled, I knew something was wrong. So, I had to swallow my pride and have the camp nurse, who also happens to be Christy, to take a look at it. I was teased and teased and teased, wrapped up and then told not to walk at all. So I was given a ride to my tent. Well, I hadn't brushed my teeth and I needed to go to the bathroom. Fortunately, KC was staying in my tent that night and she needed to go to the bathroom too. So, we drove there. Stake people were there and once again I was chided for walking and I promised I wouldn't walk anymore. I did point out I'd been driven. Well, that night, there was a really loud rainstorm. I mean, really loud. I was wearing earplugs and the thunder sounded like it was right over my tent. I tossed and turned but couldn't go back to sleep. I had to go to the bathroom, drat!! The thunder woke up KC and she wasn't able to get back to sleep either. Well, it was the thunder or her bladder, because she was like, a gazillion months pregnant. Anyway, her car was parked over by the bathroom and neither of us wanted to walk. So, jokingly, I said I should call Christy for a ride. We laughed and I thought, I SHOULD call Christy for a ride. So, I did. It was 5 something or just before 6 in the morning and I called her. She answered quickly. She was really cheery and was happy to pick me up. I'm not kidding, she really was. I still laugh when I think about it.

I can honestly say, this year was one of my better camp experiences. I feel so blessed to have been involved with girls camp everywhere I've lived. It is something I LOVE. And, I will end now, because this post is long enough, and I need to go to sleep.

More to come

Here are some of the highlights from our summer. The stories will follow.

Girls Camp 2012

The epic Sumo Match

Cousins

Uncle Matt and Aunt M.

Canoeing on Red Fish Lake, ID

Temple session at the Twin Falls temple.

Grandpa

Rock Climbing

 Shoshone Ice Cave

The Gorge by Twin Falls

more cousins

Riding with Aunt Tab

SPICE!!!

Oquirrh Hills Temple

AND

PARAGLIDING!!!

and...

I know, it's been too long since I've posted. I need to put up pictures of our house and from Girls Camp, but my computer is having a wee bit of trouble. I woke up one morning and everything in my mail file and photo folder was gone. Yep, just.... gone.  LT wants to rebuild my computer, I just want a new one. I have a feeling, he'll win.

Any who.

Here are 2 O moments that are too good to pass on.

This morning O started telling me a story, it went like this.
"This guy woke up and he was a zombie, but he was sad because he wanted to be a fairy".

Last Saturday O saw the box of Sweet Potato Pancake mix in the garbage and dramatically declared, "OH, this is the worst day ever!!!".  I pointed out we still had another box and she then, emphatically stated, "OH, this is the best day ever!!"

On a different note, we may get two more goats. I'm suppose to pick them up Friday. They are fainting goats. LT laughed out loud when I told him. Oh dear.

My phone died and I bought a new one. I have no idea how to use it, but O has already discovered the camera and video settings. No fair.

This week we went to 6 Flags and O braved the Tower of Doom. She asked to go on it again as soon as we finished the first time. She is so brave and a total daredevil. I love that she is so tall and able to be my ride buddy.

I still can't find a bunch of stuff since we moved.

I'm excited to head to ID soon. Hooray for Sun Valley and hooray for vacation.