One Year Older...

We have spent a few days celebrating Blake's birthday.  Thursday Blake and I had dental appointments.  When we got back the girls had decorated the house for his birthday and made dinner.

We opened presents quickly before Cora took off for the fire department.

He was quite excited to get all those Eatmore bars.

Friday was his actual birthday.  He wanted to make his own dinner.  He made BBQ chicken pizza and fruit.  We were in a bit of a rush to make it to Shakespeare in the park. (That is why we opened presents Thursday.)

He did a good job.  He had requested a chocolate cake for his birthday.  I didn't have any candles so we lite a few matches and he blew quick.

Shakespeare in the Park was again a delight.  Cannon, Nicole, Kailey and Levi came this year.  They found some very long licorice and shared it with us.

Today we picked up some of his friends and went to the new water slides at the pool.  They had a really fun time.  It was so blazingly hot, I thought I was going to melt.  The line up for the slide was long, but they didn't mind.

After swimming we grabbed a frosty at Wendy's.

He said he has had a great birthday and was excited to do something this year.  He seems to have gotten gipped in the birthday party situation.  Last year we were in the middle of a family reunion and the two years before that we were camping.  So we promised him to be at home with nothing else but him this year.  He loved it.  Happy 11th Birthday Blake!

Especially For Youth

Especially For Youth is a week long camp that our church provides. It is an amazing spiritual experience for youth 14-18 years old.  There are not a lot of members in our area and it was wonderful for me to see how happy and excited Cora was when we picked her up.  And amazing for her to be surrounded by so many with the same standards and values.  Cora has talked to us for literally hours.  I can not possible express to you all that she experienced, so you get a whole lot of pictures and some of my favorite stories.

Everyone at EFY is given a T-shirt, bag, and book for notes.  Each day was started with a morningside and ended with a fireside.

They had four classes a day they would attend.  They would choose which classes they wanted to hear.

She loved everyone she attended.  Some of her favorite were Bro. Russell Wilcox, Sister Shupe, and Bro. Clint Ude.  Thursday was their 'church day'.  They wore church clothes all day and had a testimony meeting in the evening.

In one class they had everyone raise their hand.  The speaker started with with more than 500 members in your high school put down your hand.  He then went down and down, 400,300, till he was at 100. Around 150 most people had their hands down.  When he got to 80 a guy behind Cora mentioned he was surprised she was till up.  She told him to 'just wait for it'.  When they finally got to 3 there was only Cora and one other with hands still in the air.  She was amazed.  Cora didn't realize how many people have a great number of members in their school and how she really is standing alone.

She was also required to do a personal study each day.  Cora decided to study Joseph's first vision.  I liked her insight.  She talked about how Joseph was overcome with darkness before Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father appeared to him.  How Joseph had to push through that darkness.  Cora said that sometimes we don't feel like reading our scriptures or going to an activity, or even studying for a test and how that is our personal darkness that we need to push through to the light.

Sounds like she had a really fun group of guys in her company.  They had tons of fun together.

She got lots of girls and guys numbers and Instagram to keep in contact.  

Above is Becky, she loved everyone in her company and made lots of great memories, but Becky she seemed to bond the most with.

Cora joined the music club and tried out for a solo.  I was surprised when she told me that.  She said her confidence and testimony have definitely grown last week.

Each time the company went anywhere the boys escorted the girls.  On one escort she was trying to think of what to say to the guy. (this guy is not shown) She asked him if he played any sports.  He said yes, jiu jitsu.  Cora mentioned that she didn't know anything about that and he processed to give her an entire history of the sport.  Cora says she now know everything about it.  :)

One of them decided to lay on the ground... others then joined and started dabbing. Who know why.

 After the boy got their pictures it was the girls' turn. The leaders were trying to get pictures of the girls when the boys decided it would be cool to make this pose behind the photographers. Crazy boys.

These two pictures are among of my favorites.

       

I have been trying to write this post for an hour.  Cora has added some in here and there.  I honestly can not convey to you how wonderful this was for her.  The stories need to come from her so you can see it.  I just don't do it justice.  It was a fabulous experience and so worth the money and time.  I hope she can keep all she felt for a long time to come.

Idaho

Last week we took Cora to EFY in Idaho.  We went out to my parents house the night before we left.  My mom kindly said she would go with me since she had been to Rexburg before and could help me find my way down and around.  I really enjoyed this time with her.  We talked about a lot of things and it was great to talk and listen with her for all those hours.  I really appreciated her help and she even put up with my kids all the way and the scary hotel I had booked for the first night.  One the way down my mom found this sign.  Cora really appreciated it.

We made it to St. Anthony's and found our hotel.  I was a little nervous.  It was a sketchy place.  And not to clean.  In the end all we could do was laugh.  My mom was laughing so hard she couldn't even talk.  We had not slept much and she woke up at 5:30 laughing at Leah.  Really a wacky place.  We got to Rexburg the next day, checked Cora in and then grabbed a quick lunch.  She had been wanting KFC for a few months, so I had decided to take her and surprise her.  Every one had kept it a secret, then I accidentally ruined it right before we went.  Then back to drop her off for the week.

After we started the drive over to my sister's in Boise.  My mom had been wanting to stop at Manwaring cheese.  My grandma Southam, my mom's mom was a Manwaring and related to the person that makes this.  We found that and tested lots of cheeses.  It was a cool little spot and many delicious cheeses.  Next made a stop at Reed's Dairy which did not disappoint.  We could see and smell the milk cows behind the building.

We got to Kita's that night and she had a wonderful meal waiting for us.  We spent the week totally just relaxing.  The kids rode bikes to go swimming a few days and played games.  Kita made my favorite taco's and we had lots of fruit.  Leftovers or whatever.  No fuss.  One day we went to the rope swing and took a picnic.

In the afternoon and evening there was people that would just show up and hang out.  One night turned into a spa night.

We attended her enrichment night.  It was a neat idea, something I think I might try for YW's .  Kita took me to Trader Joe's so I could see what all the talk was.  Neat store.  We went to see the new Meridian temple.  It looks a lot like Cardston and when it is dedicated next year will be my sisters temple.

Friday it was time to head back.  We stayed in Idaho Falls this time and had to hit Reed's Dairy again.

It was a better hotel this time.  We watched some of the open ceremonies for the Olympic and went to sleep.  Up very early the next morning.  We picked up Cora just before 7.  She had sooooo much fun.  We headed straight to the Rexburg temple to to baptisms then started home.  

After baptisms I said to Cora she had 8 hours to tell us all about EFY.  I was kinda kidding.  4 hours later she started to wind down, but only because she thought we were getting bored. ( EFY will be the next post so you can read about it then.)   On the way home I was trying to figure out what to have for Sunday dinner.  I figured Dave would be out of food and I couldn't go grocery shopping.  I was seriously thinking we might just have pancakes.  Dave said having no one home sucked.  It was really quiet and lonely.  But he does get lots done with out us around.  He had done a big shop and stocked up our pantry and deep freeze.  It was wonderful. So I had options for dinner today. He got all the doorsdone, except closets because the are the wrong size and he has to fix them. That is not going to 

be a nice job. He got my dresser sink done.

And this morning when I went to grab a spoon to make Jell-O  I had this wonderful surprise waiting for me.  I thought this drawer organization would be years down the road.  It is better than I had planned and I love it.

Lots of driving, but we made it.  Stay tuned for Cora's EFY.  :)