Ward Campout

Sometime back our bishop asked Justin if he'd plan/organize the ward campout.  Justin said he would if I was his co-captain.

Any guess on how that turned out?

To make a long story short, another lady in my ward that has a lot of experience (or at least access to someone with a lot of experience) and I put together a dutch oven dinner for 75.  (A little rain scared a few off, so we actually fed closer to 55).

The place was great!  If anyone needs a group site with RV hookups, lots of grass and tree's, covered pavillion, with electricity and a bathroom with showers, let me know.  It was just outside of Midway and we were all impressed with the place.  Plus, since it had rained the night before I think it got rid of the bugs, because we didn't even see a single mosquito while we were there!

Anyway, 30 pounds of country style ribs, 50 pounds of potatoes, 20 pounds of chicken, 15 dutch ovens, a brand new Camp chef stove and a dozen or so helpful friends and we had a great dinner.  The bishop provided entertainment with a movie, complete with an impressive sound system, a few s'mores, and a couple of awesome and close by trees for the kids.

Saturday morning Justin was the "omelette in a bag" chef for about two dozen of our ward members. It's an easy cooking meal - plastic bags add eggs and all the fixings, seal and boil for 3-5 minutes. We did it a few years ago and people loved it.

It was a success! Which is too bad, because when you do something right in the church, you're usually asked for a repeat performance.

At a glance

In no particular order... And a few of these might end up with a separate post, if I ever get around to it.

-4th of July weekend celebrated with a few Hardcastles, a couple of Leathams, several dogs, and the outdoorsy types that wanted to beat the heat and most of the crowds at Mirror Lake.  Kate peed in the mountains, Milo cracked his head on the pavement, and Hyrum caught a live fish with a butterfly net.  Then a day later we met Mimi and Papa at the club pool for some swimming.  The kids loved it and Hyrum was really brave and put some of the swimming lessons into practice.

-Hyrum finished (graduated) from Preschool.  He'll miss his best buddy, Joshua.  On to Kindergarten!

-2nd Healthy Living Challenge completed for the year.  20+ pounds lost.  Discovered clean eating and Whole30.  Didn't win all of the $, but Justin more than made up for it.  I'm buying clothes the same size or even a size smaller than I was wearing when I met Justin.

-New cousin was born, Charlotte LeeAnn Hardcastle, on Friday the 13th.  No one will ever forget her birthday!  Its so fun and a little sad to watch new parents be created too.  The loss of sleep and order is always apparent.

-Kathy was in town for a week.  We cultured ourselves at the Utah Arts Festival.  Saw interesting people, lots of cool art I'll never buy, a few strange street performers and had sugar for the first time in 11 weeks.  It was all awesome.

-30th Surprise Birthday Party at Classic Skating for Jessica.  The kids practiced yelling "Surprise!!!!" for days.

-Lunch with Bryon and Steve (and Kathy and 2 out of 3 kids).  I was brave, (or maybe Bryon was brave) and took my kids to a kid free 'fancy' house.  Everything survived without too much damage.  Had sugar here too.  I missed sugar.

-Swim Lessons for all three kids.  The youngest and I do a mommy and me class.  He doesn't love it, but tolerates for about half the time the other kids are swimming.  Fine by me, I can get out and get him dressed before I have to wrangle the other kids out of the pool.

-Fathers Day while Justin was doing his annual Navy training in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Grandpa Lafeen's helicopter from Melanie Lafeen on Vimeo.

-The end to spring baseball.  The kids played great and learned a lot.  We didn't win the championship, but the last game was the best we had played.  I think the only ones that noticed they didn't win were the parents.

-Memorial BBQ with most of the Petersens and another one with the Goughs.

-I changed the car battery in the Honda.  By myself.  (With the help of a few texts to my brother and a you tube video)

-Big Kids spent 3 nights away when they went to the family reunion with the Lafeen's.  They loved it.  Hyrum caught a fish 'as big as my arm' and "I'm not even lying".  He wasn't, I saw the photo.

-Les Mis.  The kids are obsessed.  To be honest, I didn't start the 'obsession' but I certainly didn't put a stop to it early on.  The big kids ask for "Look Down" the opening song before we even get in the car and Milo wakes up singing it.  They have a few other favorites too, The Confrontation, 'Gavroche's song', Castle on a Cloud, Lovely Ladies, and all the 'fighting songs'.  Hyrum can pretty much follow the story line through the first half too.  (I suppose the love story doesn't do much for him).

-Justin has a new job with the Navy that he starts next month.  He'll be drilling in Denver and supporting Africa, most likely going to Mozambique this fall.  And yes, I had to google how to spell Mozambique.

-We haven't watched any World Cup Soccer at our house.  Sorry.  We don't hate America.  Just don't follow soccer.  Justin may have watched some when I wasn't looking (but I don't think so).

-Justin participated in his uncle and aunts sealing at the temple

-Trips to the zoo and the farm with friends.

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