Gardner Family Reunion

For the Gardner Family Reunion this year we decided to take part in a Whitaker Tradition of going to Bass Lake and Yosemite! (Yes, it was my idea! haha). We did a lot of hanging out at the cabin and playing games. The one thing you can always count on with the Gardner family is some really great game playing! I love it!

Monday started with a great day in Yosemite! We hike the mist trail which was amazing! It really is one of my very favorite hikes in Yosemite. Not only is it beautiful but it is a really fun hike that has you hike right near the waterfall so you get all wet. It is a fun hike and the view from the top was great. (Even Gavin and Cael made it to the top! haha). We were all pretty tired after the hike so we drove around afterward, looked at the gorgeous views, and of course walked to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls. I am sorry to say, however, that we did not climb split rock. I guess that always leaves something for next time!

The next 2 days we spent on Bass Lake. We rented 2 jet skis to play on the lake, which was so much fun. Jumping the waves of the other boats and trying to throw one another off. It was pretty great. We swam in the water, laid out (some in the shade and some in the sun...) We played games on the dock and just hung out. They were some pretty great days, that is for sure! I'm pretty sure I need to live close to a lake one day and go there often. Perhaps we should own jet ski's one day...

Thursday was again another day in Yosemite. This time we didn't do any crazy hikes. We drove up to Washburn Point and Glacier Point to see the amazing views of the valley. Gorgeous! Yosemite really is the best place on Earth! We also did a hike to Taft Point--just a short little jaunt to an amazing view that made us all sick because of the cliffs that you stand on up there. Crazy! We ended our trip in Yosemite with the Giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove. These trees were HUGE and so gorgeous.

Our last day on Friday we spent again at the lake. Ok, the girl's did. The boys did what the boys do best. Golf. They enjoyed it and we enjoyed our lake day--the last day to soak up the rays!!

We had so much fun on our trip and can't wait to go back to Yosemite and Bass Lake!

View from Glacier Point of Half Dome

Eating out on the deck at the cabin

Jet Skiing!!

Cousins!

Cute Cael and Gavin

The boys walking around on the rocks at the bottom of the Lower Yosemite Falls. This is the funny sequence I caught of Ben trying to jump from one rock to the next. Funny!!

View of Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Tunnel View with the whole group!

Ryan and me at Tunnel View

Youth Conference

This year I had the amazing opportunity to go to Youth Conference with our YM/YW group. It was really awesome to be on the leader side, making everything special for the youth so they had an uplifting, fun, and spiritual experience.

Youth Conference was at Reed Ranch this year which is a camp near Strawberry Reservoir. The camp we stayed at had fun activities that we could do any time we wanted. They had archery, swimming pool, lake with canoes and paddle boats, horseback riding, volleyball, basketball, soccer fields, frisby golf, etc. There was not a lack of things to do and if anyone was ever bored, it was their own fault.

The first day was pretty relaxed. We mostly just hung out and played a lot at camp. That night we had a fun skit-in-a-bag night where we made up ridiculous skits to perform in front of each other. It was a blast, really! Those kids are so funny! We had a small devotional within our small groups that night and then sat around the campfire playing games that night. It was a blast.

The girl leaders, Nicki, Chantal, and I, got to stay in Chantal's camper which was amazing. I never knew that camping could be so luxurious. We all slept on a king sized matress and stayed up till who knows how late talking like girls do. I swear we get less sleep than the youth at things like this! Haha!

The next morning we had breakfast, some free time, and then we played the funnest game of "Minute to Win It" that I've ever played. We split up into our groups and each group had to have one person accomplish each task. It was so funny watching the adults do such silly things in the attempt to win!! Our group didn't win, unfortunately, but it was pretty fun anyway!!
That afternoon was probably my favorite part of Youth Conference. We had the funnest game of "Arizona Snowball Fight" ever!! For those of you who don't know what that is, let me explain.... Basically, you take women's pantyhose and cut them into 3 inch pieces. You tie one end and then fill it up with flour. Tie the other end so it is basically a ball of flour. Then you just throw them at each other like you would a snowball. When they hit you they just poof flour all over you! There was flour all over the place and we were a total mess but man, it was so much fun!!

Friday night was the spiritual night where we had our Iron Rod activity. For anyone who has ever been a youth in the church you know exactly what this is. There is a rope that is snaked through the forest and the only advice the youth get is to never let go no matter what! I thought for sure no one would let go but man, I think there were only a handfull of youth that didn't let go of the rope at some point. After the youth finished the journey, they were led to a quiet place in the woods where spiritual music was playing and they were given a letter from their parents about how proud they were of them for making it through the journey. Obviously, this represents the iron rod in the Book of Mormon and our journey through life. I think the youth had a great experience and it helped build their testimony of the gospel. A short devotional and testimony meeting followed and the spirit was very strong. I'm so grateful to be able to serve with such amazing youth and to be able to share these special experiences with them! It is the best calling I could ask for and I love those girls so much! They impress me all the time with their testimony of the gospel and their courage to do what is right.

In the morning we basically packed up and headed home. We stopped at Dairy Keen on the way home, a favorite milkshake spot. Then headed home for a much needed shower.

We had so much fun at Youth Conference and it was a great experience for everyone that went!

Draper Days

This year Ryan and I decided to be a part of the community and go to Draper Days! It was this weekend and it had a bunch of booths with fun vendors and food--the smoothies were pretty delicious--and fun games. We walked around and then ended up watching the Broadway Dolls perform some fun Broadway music and 1960's songs. It was a really good time and I think we will go back next year for sure!

Happily Ever After Girl's Camp 2011

(Sorry this is so long but this is my journal and it's the only way I can remember everything that happened!)

This week I got to go to Girl's Camp with my ward and see how they do things here in the Draper Stake. It was both a BLAST and a totally great experience for our girls and for me. I love our group of YW because they all get along and there are no "clicks". Everyone just hangs out with everyone else. Even the new little beehives hung out with the older girls. This made for an absolutely drama-free time, which is what I'm all about, so it was great! It was also fun to get to know the girls in a new environment and spend time talking to each of them. We had some serious fun! The first day we arrived to camp and began setting up our tents (yes, they use tents in Utah, not the great cabins he had in our Stake growing up). The girls were very good at setting up their own tents and clearing the weeds so they weren't sleeping on big lumps. I was very impressed. We then headed down to the stake meeting to sing some good ol' camp songs. Only one problem though--I had no idea what they were singing. Utah camp songs are so different from California camp songs. I mean, they didn't even know Granny in the Cellar!! Can you believe it?! I couldn't. There was no Malo, Malo, Malo either. It was a shame. But I did learn some of their funny songs, so it was still okay I guess. We then had a special speaker, Caralyn Buehner, talk to the girls about being happy even when live doesn't feel like you are a princess and you can still have your "Happily Ever After" even if you aren't a princess. She is the author of Fanny's Dream and other children's stories. She talked about how she came up with the story of Fanny's Dream and how it has impacted her life. It was a wonderful talk and inspired me to work harder and to "be useful" as she puts it. Back at the camp we played some pretty fun Minute-to-Win-it games. Let's just say those are way harder than I thought they'd be. Some of them were pretty easy but some I couldn't do no matter how long you gave me! haha. For dinner, we had Lasagna cooked in the Dutch oven and even won the Dutch Oven cookoff and our ward won a brand new dutch oven!! I was impressed with the prize!! It was pretty awesome. That night we had a stake meeting where the theme was introduced with fun games and obstacles. It started raining that night though so we left early and ran to our campsites to be in our tents or under the canopy to keep dry. It rained hard that night, which was a bummer, but at least it kept the girls in then tents so we new where they were! Haha! The leaders all stayed in their own tent and we were up talking later than all the girls. There is just something about getting a bunch of girls together that makes for a fun, late night, no matter what your age is!!

Wednesday we had to get up early to eat breakfast before we headed to the stake meeting where our Stake YW Counselor talked to us about overcoming trials and choosing to be happy. It was pretty cool because she actually knew Elizabeth Smart's mother and so she had Elizabeth Smart write a letter to the girls. I think that was very memorable for the girls and so it was awesome. The other thing she said that impressed me was, "A day is just a day. It is what you put in it that counts." We can always choose to be happy no matter what is going on in our lives! After this we split up and did some certification. I'm amazed at how much has stayed the same over the years. They still have the same camp book and go over the same poisonous plants and identify the same clouds. After 6 years of going, however, I still cannot do any of these things! haha. Oh well, that is why I married and Eagle Scout, right? After a review of all the plants we can eat and those we can't even touch, we headed over to welcome the 4th years back from their 4th year hike! Every year the 4th years go on a overnight backpacking hike and then hike into the camp, welcomed and congratulated by the rest of the camp. (I know what you are thinking: there is no way we could ever get the girls from Cypress Stake to go on this kind of hike. It was painful enough to hear all their whining and crying from walking the 0.2 miles to the lake every year!) But our girls are tough!!! We welcomed them with some delicous sandwiches for lunch and some fun crafts! There is nothing that says "girl's camp" more than some good girly crafts! We made adorable block letters of our initials that we painted and put cute scrapbook paper on it. They turned out really cute! After this it was Lake Time!! There are rumors that there are leeches all over the lake so I was pretty leary to go swimming. I opted for a nice canoe ride on the water and it was a miracle that we didn't get tipped over by all the little girls swimming in the lake. But I just couldn't resist when I saw how much fun the zip line over the water looked. I forgot about the leeches for a while and went sailing over the water with some of the young women. It was really fun and really cold but it was nice to get all the dirty and stink off me. I actually felt clean by the end. As we were leaving, however, I spotted some leeches just hanging out on the dock and I was totally grossed out! Like 10 of them just sitting on the dock! I thought it was all just rumors but apparently it was true! I was glad that I hadn't seen them before I got in the lake because it really was pretty fun! All the girls and I went back to camp and washed our hair in the freezing cold pump water that made our heads go numb. It was worth it though because of how clean I felt after. (In case you couldn't tell, we felt really gross without showering the whole time we were there.) After dinner we went to our skit night with the stake where our girls put on a cute little skit about choice and accountability and they made me crack up with their funny New Jersey accents and funny hair! After skits we headed back to camp to have delicious scones as our dessert. It reminded me of New Years Day at Gma Donna's and since I haven't been there for a couple of years now, it was very needed! The girls planned their skipe hunt for the new beehives. (If you don't know what skipe hunting is, I strongly urge you to go to girl's camp and find out! It's a blast! You should have seen the beehives faces! I wish I got a picture of them in pure shock It was comical!) That night we had some pretty funny times in the leader's tent. I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants! I just love the young women leaders I serve with. They are great people spiritually, but man are they absolutely hilarious too! Love them! As we were laying in bed laughing and ready to go to sleep, one of our girls gets out of the tent and totally throws up. Apparently she had one too many scones that night (can you blame her though, they are so good!) That one girl being sick quickly turned into three girls being sick so we just made everyone go to sleep and by the morning, they were all fine! Sleep really can cure anything!

Thursday morning we got to sleep in a little bit later (much needed) and started breakfast at around 830. We had french toast, bacon, and some buttermilk syrup that could kick magelby's butt! (and I don't take that lightly!) We then headed to our morning devotional with the stake where we heard from a lady who is a paraplegic. She talked about being happy through all your trials. One thing she said that I really loved was this: Even though we can't hug or kiss our Heavenly Father like we can our earthly father, we can still blow him a KISS every day (Keep the commandments, Indivuality: love yourself for who you are, Sing daily, Smile). These things will show our Heavenly Father that we love him until one day we actually can give him a hug and kiss when we make it back to him. She was an inspiration and I think the girls learned a lot from her. After the devotional we had the rest of the day pretty much to ourselves as a ward. We went back to camp and had another craft day where we made cute plaques that said, "Princess, Daughter of a Heavenly King." They turned out way cute! After lunch and some more Minute-to-Win-it games, we had our lake time again. This time it was pretty overcast so none of the girls got in the water but we went canoeing again and just relaxed. It really was beautiful there. We got back to camp in time to finish making dinner and for the Bishopric to arrive for the evening festivities! We had pot roast, carrots, and cheese potatoes made in the crock pot for dinner. Our camp director is the bomb at making camping food, let me tell you!!! We headed to our last nightly devotional with the stake where they talked about going through life making the right choices so we can have our own Happily Ever After. We then went back to our camp and made a campfire, sang camp fires, and made s'mores (complete with a reese's peanut butter cup in the middle!) After we were nice and full, we began our testimony meeting. It was a great meeting and the spirit was there. I'm so grateful for the girls in our ward. They have such strong testimonies and are such good girls! I'm so grateful to serve in the YW with these wonderful girls and leaders!

Caroline, Angela, Me at camp. (Angela is going to marry Jeff, just fyi. haha)

Me, Makaylee, and Nicki hanging out at camp

Me "camping" (if you call getting a backrub camping!!) and getting my hair done by Makenna so I can look like a "hippy," as Ryan calls it!

Here is the leech-filled lake. (We are on the orange canoe.)

Jenga!

We had a fun night with Brian & Rachael (the newlyweds!) of games and wonderful ice cream cake! We started off playing Banana-grams where I actually kicked all three of their butts (first time ever that I actually won in my life!) We played the longest game of Jenga I have ever played in my life! Seriously, I thought it was going to fall over and then 10 rounds later we were still going! Unfortunately, I lost and made the whole thing come tumbling down but that just moved us on to the next round of fun: ice cream cake so really, I won!

It was a great night of welcoming Brian and Rach into the married club!! :D

Happy 24th Birthday to ME!!

Oh my, I cannot believe I am 24 already! Where is the time going?! This is just crazy.

Anyway, this year I had an amazing birthday. You see, I was supposed to work on my birthday but my friend at work was kind enough to take my shift so I wouldn't have to! Oh, it was wonderful because that meant NOT getting up at 5 in the morning on my birthday.

However, it WAS fast Sunday and I had to teach the lesson in Young Women's! (I know, total bust of a birthday kind of, but what do you do.) Because it was fast Sunday, that meant no breakfast in bed (totally stinks!) but it's okay because I got blessings, right? Haha. I pretty much spent the morning planning my lesson and waiting for my hubby to get up until I realized it was 11 and he was still asleep!! *gasp. So I had to go wake him up to remind him that it was my birthday and he was sleeping through it! Anyway, I then got ready, went to church, and taught my lesson. Then the partying began.

Ryan planned an amazing BBQ for me and it was really fun. Nate, Brooke, Gav, Lynne, Dave, Owen, Laura (Ry's aunt), and my friend Laura from nursing school and her hubby and little girl all came over for the event. We had hamburgers, bratwursts, watermelon, and most importantly a home-made ice cream cake!! Lynne really outdid herself on this one. It was so amazing!! Gotta love an ice cream cake!! After the party we played some games and I finally got Gavin to like me! (Best present ever!! haha) I had a great day! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with me!!

Yes, that really is 24 candles on that cake!!!

Dibs on top of the cake!!! So delicious!!