Gallaughering.

Mid-August, Darren and Isis came to visit us in Arizona. :) Yay!!!

We love visitors-- and love Darren and Isis even. more.

They drove out here early afternoon on Thursday, the 16th-- and got here just before Freddy got home from work that day.  We spent the first night at our house-- eating dinner and then playing games 

{Isis and Tracy: Reigning Taboo Champions Forever}. 

The next couple days we stayed at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Scottsdale-- 

and we sure had fun!

Swimming in one of the many pools..

Freddy "surfing" on Darren's back. :) What talent.

Cute family picture. Way to look at the camera, N. ;)

Darren and Isis! We just love them! :)

Girls hanging out in the Lazy River. :)

The view from our balcony. Thank you upgraded view room. 

That night we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse {Delicious!} and played games in the hotel room. Let's just say that we generally play boys against girls-- and let's just say that the boys tried not to cry from all the times they lost against us. Just saying. 

Stay tuned! More to come!

Girls' Camp 2012

This year I was able to join our young women at Girls' Camp from July 12-14th. (Plus! I even got to go on the canoeing trip with the 4th years the day before {on the 11th}-- and then join the other girls the next day).

Our canoeing trip on Wed, the 11th. SO. MUCH. FUN! I'm not gonna lie, I was concerned that we would totally tip over.  But no, we were expert canoers.  Go. us.

It was seriously so gorgeous! I totally want to take Freddy there sometime.
Hm. Now for the actually having a canoe issue.

Our theme was to Arise to the Occasion-- just like the heroes of the Book of Mormon.  We were assigned Moroni-- the one that buried the golden plates/the one that became the angel Moroni. Do you love our trumpet? Brilliant, right?

Eating a little lunch together. Shot out to the camp cooks. 

Our ward (minus a few YCLs that couldn't be there for the picture!)

We all had an amazing time-- especially during the Iron Rod activity/fireside that we had. Seriously-- one of the most spiritual experiences of. my. life. It was so great to see the girls having so much fun together. :)

On the flip side, Nathan stayed home with Freddy-- boys week(end-ish) together! They would sleep at my in laws' house and then in the morning, Freddy would go to work and my mother in law would watch Nathan.  After work, Freddy would take Nathan home for a few hours, and then late at night they would head back to my in laws' again.  Nathan surprised us all by being so so good! It was my first time away from him for that long, and yet he survived just fine. :) Such a relief for me!

The hardest part was when I'd call at night to talk to Freddy and Nathan-- we even video chatted once or twice.  It was so heart breaking to hear my baby ask for me to come home, telling me how much he missed me, etc., knowing that I still had a couple days left. He told me about his new little airplanes that Grandma had gotten for him that day, telling me all the colors of them.  I asked if I could see them and he said (with a whimper in his voice), "You can't, because you're at camp... but you could come home, and then I could show them to you." And another time, "Come home Mommy; I miss you-- I need you!" :(

Sighhh.. It was a wonderful experience to be at Girls' Camp-- but I was definitely glad to be back at home with my family!