Don't Blink

First off, I know that I showed you guys my new products yesterday, but I forgot to talk about one of them. I did a WordArt collab with Jen of Graham Like the Cracker. She got 4 WordArts to sell, and I got 4 WordArts to sell. Her's are all Friends themed, and can be found in her store by clicking on the image below.

Mine is here, and can be found at ScrapOrchard, on sale, this week only, for $2.00. Aren't they pretty! You can get to the Wordart pack by clicking on the image below.

Next, I just wanted to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my Father-In-Law, Paul! Love you, and hope you have a FANTASTIC birthday! Eat an extra piece of cake/ice cream, JUST for me :) Miss you lots!

So, I took a few pics from our Girls night on Thursday. I know you're just dying to see. Here's Andrea on the Wii. She was playing Wii fit. Here's her doing the tight rope walk. Too funny. It's all about keeping your balance, which she had some issues with - hehehe. Not that I'd be much better - I didn't even attempt it - LOL!

And here's her doing the hula hoop. Dang, was she good! She can really twist those hips! You go, girl!

And, here's a movie of her doing the hula hoop. TOO funny. She'll be so pleased to see her video on here, I'm sure! Love ya, Andrea!!!



So I went to bed at 4am on Thursday night (well, I guess that's Friday morning), and was up at 8am. I didn't really wanna be up that early, but it just kinda worked out that way.

At 9:30am, Andrea came and picked me up, and we went to Visit Teach a lady in our ward. She suffers from SEVERE seizures. So much so that she has to live in a rehabilitation home. She's the youngest resident there. She's in her early 3o's. Poor girl! But, she has her own room, which is super cute and girly. I loved the purple comfortor (that matched with the cute purple curtains). I also found out she played the cello. Jacob's played a few years in Orchestera, and is enjoying it.

On the way out, when we were in the parking lot, some old guy whistled at us. Kinda weird, but in a flattering kinda way, I guess - ROFL!

Andrea dropped me off at my house at 11:30 (we stayed in her rig and chatted for another 2o minutes after she got there) and decided to meet at 2pm to get our eyebrows done. The girls had heard of "Threading". You take a lenght of string, tie it in a circle, twist it a few times, and use the twist to pull out unwanted hair. Very cool. We tried it out at the girls night, but we weren't very successful. There was a kiosk at the mall that did it. Only $11.00. So, we thought, What the heck. Might as well give it a try.

So, I got the kids some lunch (with what little groceris I had in the house), and I headed off to the commisary. Grocery shopping day. I think that everyone else at Ft. Bliss was there too. It was SO crowded. But not as crowded as Wal-Mart. I just kept repeating that to myself. LOL!

I got all the food I needed, and came in $8.00 under budget. There were soldiers bagging at the commisary, so I gave one extra dollar for my tip. I know, you all think I'm cheap, but I tip one dollar per hundred spent. When my hubby makes the next pay grade, I'm gonna double my tip amount. $2.00 per hundred spent. I know, you probably still think I'm cheap. OH well. I do my best :)

We was back home by 1:30pm, and got all the groceries put away. I read my book for a few minutes, then left again with Andrea. Katy and Kim (the girl we helped with the Burritos on Tuesday night) were there too. Jake was babysitting his siblings, so we were kid free! ON to the mall :)

We got there and started wandering around, looking for the kiosk. I didn't realize that so many vendors approached people with their products. I guess because I typically have 5 kids in tow, they all leave me alone. But 4 women, in a group, and every vendor there wanted us - LOL!!!

So, we find the "Threading" place, and we're SO excited to get our eyebrows done. We say "We're ready, who goes first". The ladies were sitting near their kiosk, and we notice that they have plates of food. "We're eating", they say. "Come back in 40 minutes". Um, what? There's 2 of them. Stagger your lunch break, so you can accomodate your customers. It wasn't even "Oh, I'm SOOOO sorry, but you caught us at lunch." It was kinda rude. VERY poor customer service. We decided that we didn't wanna go to them. They didn't deserve our money. hehehe. We even went to the mall info place, and filled out comment cards, and complained. Apparently, those girls had been complaining that their sales were down. Um, I know why! They're turning away paying customers. Duh!

The nice lady at the office said that someone would call us tomorrow, and that the Sunland Park Mall had a kiosk with the same company, just different employees. We're planning a trip for there for next week. But still, I was disappointed that we didn't get it done. I'll just be bushy for a few more day :( LOL!

So, in order to not spoil the entire trip, we made a run to Sonic. I hadn't EVER been there, and since I'd had a bad week, eating wise anyway, I decided to have a "blizzard" type thing. I think it was called a Sonic Blast, Oreo. OMGosh was it good! Of course, the fact that I hadn't had ice cream since April or so probably helped. hehehe.

Here's a few pics from the suburban - Katy and I (it was SO dark, that I lightened it up, but it's still kinda funny)

Andrea and Kim

Mmmmm, dessert!

So, back home by 4:00pm, and Captain America was already home. The kids had done their chores, and were playing around. I cooked an early dinner for the kids (because they were STARVING) of Sausage, Eggs, Cheese, wrapped in a tortilla with sour cream. It was a BIG hit. They also got bananas with that. Mmmmmm.

Joe was wearing the fUNNIEST thing today. He had on shorts, no shirt, and a sock hat. Yep. Classey dresser. Then, he decided he was cold, and wanted to put on my black hoodie. And one black sock. Don't know what that was about. Then, he wanted his picture taken - Seriously, the kids' a riot! Oh yeah, I almost forgot. He also had on gloves. That he and Jimmy had taken scissors and cut the fingertips out of, while I was out. Nice. Good to know that Jacob watches them well - hehehe.

And Eme was wearing Jake's shirt

I love how Joe's got the tough guy, boxer, look going on, and Jimmy thinks he's a ninja - ha!

The kid has the most GORGEOUS eyes. Ever.

Eme thought she was SO funny - LOL!

Captain America had decided to take a nap after work, and I kinda forgot he was in there. It was our date night, and we'd planned on going after the kids went to bed. The movies started at 9:20. We were gonna see Land of the Lost. It was at the $2.00 theater, so that wasn't too bad. I'd heard it was a dud of a movie, but we hadn't seen it, and it was cheap.

I woke Captain America up at 9, asking if we were still going, or did he just want to sleep. He TOTALLY didn't know what day it was, and wondered why I was so dressed up for morning - hehehe. It food about a minute for him to realize when it was - ha! I've done that before :)

We got ready real quick, and headed out. It was obvious that we weren't gonna make Land of the Lost, so decided to see Year One. Katy wanted the girls to go and see it together, which was fine. I could see it twice.

OMGosh! It was horrible. I don't wanna see it twice. It was raunchy and nasty. Lots of gay jokes. Lots of body function/secretion jokes. Just dirty. OK, so a few places had me laughing. But really. Not such a good one. I wouldn't pay to see it again. No thanks, I'll pass.

But, it was still a date, so I still had fun. After the movie, we went to the Wal-Mart on the East side of town. It's a little bit more fancy. Captain America needed Protein Powder for his shakes, and we needed some household items. We got body wash, toothpaste, tampons, paper plates, dishwasher soap, cleaner, bike pump needles, a mouthguard, and a few other random things. You know, since we've been doing the envelope system, we've really cut down on unnecessary spending. When you know you only have $100 a month for ALL those kinds of supplies, you become much more choosey about what you do or don't put in your cart.

We headed home, and got there by 1am. Another late night. And I swore that I would not design this late anymore. So, I can't be held accountable for what I design. And it'll probably have a typo - hehehe.

But first, check out these FUNNY Facebook photos I made. I saw that Katy and Andrea did it on their facebook , and I couldn't resist. You just upload a pic of yourself, and it'll put it into these hairstyles. TOO funny! Here's a few of my favorites of myself. Some of them don't look a think like me - ha!

OK, I think I'm ready now for WordArt. This WordArt request comes from Tricia. What a great song! And I think it lends itself very well to WordArt. Plus, it's the name of my favorite Doctor Who episode. The one with the Weeping Angels. SUPER creepy! Don't blink! Don't even blink! Sorry, if you haven't seen the new Doctor Who, you don't know what you're missin'!!!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared

FONTS:
Don't - Susie's Hand
Blink - Title Wave

Idiot

I almost forgot to blog about my new products! How could I forget - LOL! Here's my 5 new WordArt packs for this week Click HERE to go to my store, and get them for $2.00 each! That's a 20% savings!!!



Hey girls! It was another fun day at the Harty Household. I went to bed at a decent time the other night (midnight), so I was able to get up at a decent hour and not be too tired. I was able to get up and fix breakfast for the kids. If by fixing breakfast, you mean pouring their cheerios, adding sugar, and pouring the milk - LOL! It’s still morning, you know…

I spent the morning checking emails, playing on the computer, and reading. I’m now reading “City of Bones” by Cassandra Clare. So far, so good J I’ll let you know if it’s still good when I get done with the 3 book series. I SO love reading a good book.

At 9:30, Jimmy and I went to Big Lots to return the pair of Capri’s that I bought last Friday. They fit too tight. I was upset, because they were a size bigger than I usually wear, but still didn’t fit. Dang! When I brought it in and asked for a return, the girl said “They don’t fit, eh?” She said that EVERYONE was bringing them back in, because they were 2 sizes too small. What’s up with that??? At least it wasn’t just me. That made me feel a lot better.

After that, we headed out to Wal-Mart. I wanted to get some hot dog buns for lunch at the pool, and a swim shirt for me. I was tired of putting on Sunscreen on my back. I had to have people help me. And you know me, I’m anti-social (ROFL!).

I thought about getting a white one, and a tank-ini bottoms, but when I tried on the white top in the changing room, I discovered it was almost see though, and NO ONE wants to see that! So, I went with dark blue, and decided to skip the bottoms. No, I’m not going bottomless. I’m gonna just wear my old swimsuit with it. Geesh! What kinda girl do you think I am?

We finished up, and headed home. I heated up the hot dogs, got the kids ready (yeah, right - they got themselves ready - hehehe), and headed off to the pool. Andrea and Andrea were supposed to be there, but it was just me and the kids. A few other ladies from church were there, but it wasn’t my girls. Oh well.

I got in the pool and played with the kids for a little while, and at about 12:30, Katy and the kids came! Woohoo!!! We had fun and exercised for a while in the pool. We were there until about 2pm. We came home, changed clothes, at some snacks, and relaxed. I read a bit in my book, and face booked for a while. Yeah, I’m a bit obsessed - hehehe.

I decided to try and take a nap, but after about 5 minutes, Captain America came home. Oh well. I woke up to chat with him. After dinner, we made up some cookies, and took them to the families that Captain America “Home Teaches” at church. We delivered them to 4 out of the 5 people. That last house we didn’t get to until after 9pm, and we figured it was too late to visit someone we didn’t know - hehehe.

We came home, put the kids to bed, and I headed out to Katy’s house. We were planning on watching a movie, but decided to just hang out for a while. I brought my laptop so I could design and pre-blog. I’ll upload this when I get home . You remember what happened last time I designed after midnight. Hehehe. So, I’m gonna sign off now, and go play with the girls. I’m being kinda boring, just typing while they’re playing. On google maps, by the way. You can find your house on it. Nice, close up pics of your front door. Give it a try. It’s sweet!

K, I'm back briefly. It's 3:42 am and I just got home. Everythings uploaded and blogged. We ended up going on Katy's facebook account, and getting on Farm Town, and going to the "inn" and harassing people - ROFL! We got people to play tag with us, to follow us around the room, and such. It was SO funny. Or maybe it was just so late - LOL!

Then, we played Wii fit. I'd never played it before, but could see how stinkin' fun it would be! Andrea was the guinea pig, and played. I just watched. I'll come back again and play when they're aren't kids around that make fun of people. I don't need that hit to the 'ole self esteem right now - hehehe. A girls gotta know her limits :)

I decided that I wanted to do an Attitude quote for today. I guess I’m just feeling in an attitude kinda mood - hehehe. I even made a layout to show you. Aren’t I nice? Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared

Kits - Krystal Hartley (Oh No You Didn't) & Sherrie JD (Teen something)

Grandpas/Grandmas

Remember how I said that nothing eventful happened on Tuesday, except for mopping the floors? Well, I guess that would be eventful in and of itself. I don't think I've mopped since Captain Americacame back from Georgia. Dang, did I just admit that out loud? Now you know how horrible of a housekeeper I am - hehehe.

Anyway, what I was really talking about was that after I got the kids to bed, I went over to Andreas house. She was helping a friend make Breakfast Burritos to sell the next morning at some army function as a FRG (Family Rediness Group). She wanted to know if I wanted to come and watch/help/moral support them. I headed over at about 8:30ish. Katy came too.

Well, mostly Katy and I watched them work. hehehe. I did fold a few tin foils on the burritos, but I think I did them backwords - LOL! Oh well. I said I was coming for moral support. We cooked, chatted, and laughed till the wee hours of the night.

Kim (the FRG leader girl) left when the food was completed, since she had to get up at 5am to sell them. Katy, Andrea, and I stayed and chatted FOREVER. We convinced Andrea to try and let her baby "cry it out", and he ended up sleeping through the night! I was so proud of Andrea for not getting him. He cried for a while, but it wasn't an out of control cry. It was more of a "come and get me, i'm awake" cry. So proud! I started letting my kids cry it out at 6 months. I'm all about my personal space when I sleep, and don't like interruptions. hehehe. Not even Captain America. No touching. I have my 1/3 of the bed, he has his 1/3, and there's the 1/3 buffer in the middle. It's amazing we have 5 children, eh? ROFL!

It was good to hang out with the girls. It'd been about a week since we'd stayed up late talking (really, was it only a week??? it seemed like longer), so it was good to catch up again. It was a long weekend for us. Crazy how we cram so much life into our days, that they seem like weeks - LOL.

Anyway, I came sneaking home at quarter to 5am. In fact, by the time I crawled into bed, laid down my head, and snuggled into my pillow, Captain America's alarm went off - LOL! He had no idea I was just coming it - hehehe. I didn't even her when he came back home after PT (Physical Training), showered, changed, and headed back to work. I woke up a few time because kids needed me, but I briefly answered them, and immediately went back to sleep. I was up for the day at 9:30am.

We quickly threw on some clothes, and headed out to the "free lunch" park. Kelly park. It was a hot day, but the kids enjoyed the cool water there. I tried calling and talking to my mom before my friends got there, but she wasn't answering her work phone. Hmmmm, curious.

My friends go there at around 10:30am, and we let the kids play, and then lunch was at 11am. Ham and cheese hoagie sandwiches, pork n beans, watermellon, and milk. Mmmmm. My kids like it :)

I had Emily (Katy's daughter) take a few pictures while we were chatting. These are for you, mom! They do this every Wednesday from 9:30 - 12:30, along with free lunch. No charge for the fun or the food. Gotta love army life!

Eme and Joe

Joe and Eme

Eme

Joe, Eme, and Ben (Andreas #2 boy - Joe's grade)

And, I couldn't let the opportunity pass to take a pic of me, and my friends!

Katy

Andrea

So after free lunch, we headed back to our houses. I stopped by Andreas house to take a look at her computer. I'd installed something on it the night before, and it was freaking out this morning. So, I rebooted it, and it worked just fine. Just call me the computer genious - LOL!

We ended up staying and hanging out until 3:30pm. The kids had a BLAST playing. Katy and Emily came over to visit too. We had a good time.

When I got home, I started my final desiging for the week. I finished up the WordArt packs, and played a little facebook. I tried for a mini nap, but it wasn't happening. I worked on my Cub Scout stuff, getting the Parent Meeting all organized. We were plannign a Bike Rodeo, and a Marshmellow Gun evening. Fun times!

Captain America and the 11 year old scouts (Jake's group) were going on a 5 mile hike, so we had 2 separate activities. They left the house at about 6:20pm, and we left at about 6:40pm. We, of course, were one of the first ones there. This ward runs SO slow. Anyway.....

We planned our events, and let the kids run hog wild in the background. I have 5, Kayley Kirkman (another mom) has 4, and Andrea has 3 (but her's weren't there). We all know how to tune out the craziness, so it wasn't too bad. We decided that it would have driven a dad INSANE. Well, the dad in my family, at least. Captain America wasn't designed to deal with kid commotion - LOL

Back home, and more designing. I got all my products loaded in the store, and started blogging. Captain America came home, and I download the pics he took on the camera from his activity. They hiked the Canyon. We did that one day - it was pretty hard. Jake said he had fun, dispite the big blister he got on his foot - poor kid!

Here's Captain America

Jake's wearing the red ball cap and blue shirt

Thursday is pool day, and I'm excited. I'm still kicking around the idea of going to Wal-Mart and getting myself a swim shirt like the big kids. I'm tired of lathering on the sunscreen on my back. At least I'd only have to put it on my neck/arms/face if I had a shirt. I'll have to see if I have enough money in my personal fund. The girls and I wanna go get our eyebrows done, and that is $11.00. hmmmm. Off to count my money - hehehe

OK, so I know the temptation is to make EVERY possible variation of Grandpa/Grandma, but I just don't have the time. Or the enegry. Really. I don't :) OK, so maybe I do, but I don't wanna spend it on that. I guess that everyone has the same amount of time, right? 24 hours in a day. We just spend it on different things. But I chose to not spend it on that - hehehe. Sorry, girls. See, Andrea. That's how you say no - LOL! Anyway, this WordArt request is from Audry. Hope you like it, girl!

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared - Grandmas
4shared - Grandpas

Music

So, I was officially a bum yesterday. I didn't leave the house. I didn't even change out of my pajamas. I was up late reading the night before, so I slept in until 8am, then just farted around all day. I did mop the floors, and clean up a bit. Does that count? Does that salvage the day? Maybe? Just this once - hehehe.

Do you ever have days when you just feel blah? Like you no nothing really bad is going on, but you just kinda feel down in the dumps? For no reason? Yep, it was one of those days. I played a lot of Facebook, listened to a lot of Paramore, designed for a while (4 of the 5 WordArt packs for the weeks are almost done - NICE!), grouched at whoever came near me (sorry, kids!), and just felt lazy.

I think I need structure. All of the comings and goings we usually do keep me positive. Wednesday is Free lunch at Kelly Park, then I have a Cub Scout parents meeting in the evening. That'll keep me busy. Then Thursday is pool day. Another busy day. Good. I like busy. It's a lot better than whatever Tuesday was - hehehe.

WordArt Wednesday time again! Since I was making "Distressed" WordArt this week for a WordArt pack, I decided to make one up for a freebee for you guys. OK, so it's not that "distressed", but it's the same steps. hehehe. See how I have a justification for everything - ha!

Anyway, I can't wait to see all your music layouts! I LOVE music! Click HERE to go to scraporchard to download the zip file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

Great Book

First off, I just had to say "HAPPY ONE YEAR Army Anniversary, Honey"!!! It was one year ago today that I sent my man off to boot camp. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Sad to be losing him for 6 long months, excited/apprehensive about moving across country with 5 little kdis and a homemade trailer in tow. Look where we are today! Living on an army post, as a family again, in a BEAUTIFUL house, with lots of friends around. I'm loving life (knock on wood!), and really happy for this drastic change in the diretion on our life. Thanks, sweetheart! You did good for your family! Real good :)

So, how was your Monday? Glad for a new week, or ready for it to be over already - hehehe. I was up at about 8am with the kids, and spent much of the morning catching up online. I facebooked a litte, Farmtowned a little, and even chatted with a friend who I hadn't chatted with for YEARS on facebook. Gotta love it - I say it's the lazy mans way of being a friend - LOL!

Anyway, she recommened this book to me, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. I started reading it, and almost couldn't put it down! I managed to leave it alone long enough to get ready, and head to the pool with the kids. Laurie and her kids were there, and we hung out till about 1pm. The baby pool was shut down for cleaning, so it wasn't an easy pool day. The little kids had to swim in the big pool, which meant that the mommies had to get in the pool - LOL! We're so lazy - Ha! We LOVE the easy baby pool. Oh well. It's good for us - ha!

When I got back home, we'd made plans to go back over to Lauries house and let the kids play. I got everyone changed, cooked them lunch, and managed to fit in a few more chapters. We went to Lauries house, and were there until about 3:30. The kids had a lot of fun playing, and I had a lot of fun grown-up chatting. Adult conversation is SO nice :)

We came back home, the kids did their chores, and went to their various activities, and I read. I stopped for dinner, and read some more, then stopped for Family Home Evening, and back to reading. The book was FABULOUS! Not the typical fluffy book that I so love to read. This one made you think. Not that it was hard to read, or used big words, or anything like that. But the subject matter made you think about how people interract, and systems of government, and right and wrong. Very thought provoking. I though it would be great for a book club. And I'd never head of it before. My friend told me the're thinking of making it into a movie. It'd be a great one! AND, book 2 is coming out in September. I'll be getting that one, for sure!

Well, this WordArt isn't a request, but if I had a picture of me from yesterday, I would TOTALY be lost in my book - hehehe. I could take pics of Jake and Tom that woudl be FABULOUS for this WordArt too - hehehe. I'm sure you all can use the same for you kids (or yourself - hehehe)

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. AND, the typo is all fixed, as of 8:00am MST. No more designing after midnight. My brain just doesn't work right - LOL!

4shared

FONTS:
Great - Smiley Monster
Book - Smargana (or something like that )

Born 2 Camp

Wow, I'm gonna try and not skip a days worth of blogging stories. I just live too much in a 24 hour period to skip a day - hehehe. I apologize, but this is gonna be ONE LONG POST. hehehe.

So, Captain America got off work at 3:35pm on Friday, just like he thought he was gonna. Woohoo!!! He came home, changed, and started packing. I'd done a lot of the pre-work, so it wasn't gonna be too bad. But there was still a lot left to do.

He found the camping boxes (totes with EVERYTHING you could need to go camping - lanters, propane, utensils, plates, pancake mix, syrup, dish washing stuff, toliet paper, paper towels, oven mits, it's ALL there), the Civil War chairs, and some other needed things. He packed it nicely and neatly into the trailer. I got the food organized while he was at it. While the Church was providing the food (and my kids were excited to eat it), it's not on my menu, so Captain America and I brought our own. I got our dinner, breakfast, and lunch for the next day organized, plus snacks.

We finally were loaded and ready to go at 5:00pm. We headed out to the Shopette (Army gas station) to top off our gas, get ice, and, since it was getting late (dinner was served at 6pm, but it's a 2+ hour drive), get us some dinner. Captain America and I both got something at the shoppette. He got some tuna type fish in a pre-packaged foil thing, and I got the chicken. It was pre-seasoned. Kinda tastey. Kinda - hehehe. I ate my veggies that I packed for dinner, too.

It seemed like we were at the Shoppette for HOURS, but it coudln't have been that long. Could have something to do with the fact that we sat in the truck, and it was 100 degrees outside. No AC, remember. We were sweating buckets by the time we rolled out.

We stopped at LIttle Caesears to get the kids 2 $5.00 pizzas, and were off again. It was 6pm by the time we were finally leaving El Paso.

When we got to New Mexico, they had a boarder patrol station that we had to pass through. The mountains just behind it were SPECTACULAR!


Anyway, we waited for at least 5 minutes in line. Again, no AC makes stopping almost more than I could handle - hehehe. There were about 6 or 7 boarder agents checking vehicles. They asked if we were all citizens, looked inside our truck, looked in the trailer, the dog smelled our truck, then they let us pass. Pfew! That's a little nerve racking, and we weren't even doing something wrong :)

Here's tom and Jimmy, enjoying the drive :) Ok, maybe not Jimmy so much- ha!

And me :)

As we got closer to Alamogordo (Andrea called it Alamofat - LOL), and started up into the mountains, the terrain changed. I once again saw green and trees! It was amazing. Unfortunately, it was too dark for pictures. But it was gorgeous!!!

We got to camp about 30 minutes after dark. Nice. hehehe. But, we're pros at setting up in the dark. The camp was WAY up in the mountains, inside a pine forest. We had to navigate though the trees to find our campside. There was no road, they just spray painted a stripe of white on the trees that a vehicle could pass between. Nice, eh? Just a little stressful. Especially since we were towing a trailer. Those trees were pretty tight. The camp was owned by the church, which I thought was pretty cool. Each year, our ward has a Ward Campout.

Anyway, we found a spot next to the Reay's (who had gotten there before dark - lucky!), and one that wasn't too bad. The whole camp was on a hill. Our spots were relatively flat. We set up a ten for Tom, one for Eme, one for Joe/Jim to share, one for Captain America and I, and up above the fire pit, one for Jake. His job was to guard the fire :) It's his favorite job.

The kids really wanted to run off and find their friends, but we made them stay and help set up the tents. Finally, it was all set up. The kids were off, in the dark, to find friends. Captain America got the fire going, and we grilled up some Turkey hamburgers. By this time it was 10 something. We gathered the kids, and hit the sack.

I got to sleep on my cot. Sigh. My cot. The one that I slept on for 6 months when Captain America was at trainings, and I was at my parents house. It still hurt my hip - hehehe. I am ever so grateful for my nice, big, comfortable bed!

It was a long night. There were a ton of babies on the campout, and it was pretty noisy. I had a friend ask if I was annoyed by it, and I could honestly say that annoyed wasn't the word. Joyous that it wasn't me having to corral a crying child in a tent was more like it. I've put in my years with babies and toddlers. I'm just SO grateful that I've moved past that stage - hehehe. Yep, Joy was the right work - LOL! Sorry, girls with little babies! You'll be where I am some day :)

I was up for the day at 7am. Tom and I headed off to find the bathroom. There was a big lodge with showers and flushing toliets. Not too shabby! I got the fire going again, since it went out over the night, and got stuff ready to make pancakes.

The church was cooking Pancakes, Bacon, Sausage, Fruit, Juice, and milk for Breakfast, but I knew that woudln't be for a few hours, and I needed something to do (and to feed my kids until then). I made a few pancakes to tide them over.

Here's Captain America at our fire pit. Jakes tent is in the back.

And me. Don't you just love "hair hiders", or Bandanas - hehehe. And, I put on enough make-up on Friday before we left, and slept careful, so I had "leftover" makeup for Saturday - LOL!

I thought this pic was cool. The sun was making Jake's tent glow!

Here's our truck and campsite, inbetween all the trees.

Tom

See my perfect pancake? I just love cooking over the open fire. Propane stoves are for wimps - LOL! The trick is to have a nice bed of coals. Thanks, Captain America, for the PERFECT coals for my pancakes :)

So, no pancakes for me. I had my standard Apples and Yogurt.

The kids decided to go and play at the Reay's (Andrea's famiy) campsite. They were still asleep in the tent. Nice. I know I sure couldn't sleep through that. hehehe. Sorry, guys! But your campsite was the happenin' place to be.

Another shot of our site. The black/red/yellow tent was mine and Captain Americas, the next one was Jim/Joe, and the one in the back was Toms. Eme's is hidden behind them. Check out all the smoke from all the different campfires - hehehe.

Captain America tending the fire.

At around 9am, the food was ready for camp. We all wandered back behind the lodge, to where they were serving it. My kids LOVED the meat. Bacon and sausage usually aren't on the menu at our house :) I'm more of a "get a bowl of cereal" mom. Sad, but true.

Inside the lodge, there was a basketball hoop. The boys LOVED it. Here's Tom, who actually got the ball as I was snapping a picture. Perfect!

And, Andrea finally got up! The baby woke up at 3am, and didn't go back to sleep until 6am. He was still sleeping at this point with Ryan (his daddy)

Andrea and I went back to her camp to hang out, and Captain America, Jim, Eme, and Tom went on the hike to the waterfall. I was feeling tired (and frankly, weak due to altitude and lack of food), so decided to sit it out. I sent the camera with Captain America.

It's not a big waterfall, but not bad for 2 hours from the desert. :)

Tom got stung by a bee, and Bishop pulled out the stinger for him. Poor kid. Good thing he's not the least bit allergic to bees ;)

Jimmy

Eme, Jim, and Tom

Captain America

When Captain America got back, he was like "Man, we should have brought the stroller. This kid is HEAVY". Yep, he's VERY heavy. hehehe. Next year!

Joe was pretty sad when he realized that he'd missed the hike. He and Ben (Andrea's son) had stayed and played "snipper" in the woods. I don't think they realized that the group had left. Poor kid. Next year.

We sat around and chatted until lunch. Captain America and Ryan got to visit, and Andrea and I pre broke down some of our campsites.

We hung out until lunch, at 1pm. It was hamburgers, hot dogs, watermellon, chips, and left over enchaladas from the night before. Everyone had TONS of food. We even took a few extra for the trip home.

After lunch, we went back to camp to tear it down. I left most of it to Captain America, because he's very particular about how he likes things packed. I got all the sleeping bags, pillows, kid backpacks, and such packed and out of the tents, then broke down the tents. I didn't roll them up, because I knew he had his own way of doing things. He came over, and started tearing things down, and putting them away.

I decided to start on my tent, since there wasn't much left for me to do. I got out all the cots, and my stuff, then Captain Americas stuff. I put his loose clothes inside his plastic box, and promptly got "scolded" for it. Yeah, I wasn't feeling it. He got chewed out a little. He said that I called him Anal loud enough for the whole camp to hear. Really, it was just the neighboring campsites. Not the whole camp.

But he was being anal. Everything has to be done "just right". Now granted, I LOVE that we know where everything is. And that it all has a home. But I just don't like being "chewed out" for putting something in the "wrong" place. The old saying "Beggars can't be choosers" definitely applies. You can't ask people to help, then get mad at them when they put something in the wrong place.

Anyway, I called him anal, and said do it yourself. I went and sat down by the fire. Well, that didn't go over too well. hehehe. I did come back and start helping again when it started to sprinkle, and we heard thunder in the distance. I got the clothes/sleeping bags/pillows into the truck, and assisted with folding a few tents. We were out of there 30 minutes later.

Here's us right before departure.

Tom

Jake (he read his book the WHOLE campout - David Eddings Belgarid series - the same books I read when I was his age - and still some of my favorites!)

Me, doing my best not to look too upset.

And Jimmy - poor, tired little thing.

Boy was it a long trip back to El Paso. Captain America wasn't talking to me. I didn't know it at the time, but I'd hurt his feelings by calling him Anal. I didn't think I was telling him anything he didn't already know - LOL! Anyway, it was a long trip.

BUT, it was light outside, so I got some cool pics! Check out the green trees!!!

These houses were on the side of the mountain. Crazy!

Jimmy didn't last long once we started driving.

As we were coming down out of the mountains, the landscape started to change. These rocks were beautiful!

See that white strip off in the distance? That's White Sands Missle Range. Cool, eh?

We got home at about 5:30pm. Not too bad. I just fed the kids Cereal for dinner, since we'd brought extra hamburgers/hot dogs for the car. We got all unloaded, lickety split. Since my anal husband had everything packed up so nicely, it was easy to just put it in its place and be done with it. hehehe.

Then, the kids watched a movie, I retreated to my room to play on my computer, and Captain Americaretreated to his "closet" (aka man cave) to play on his computer. It wasn't until later that we talked about how he was feeling, and what happened, and got it all straightened out. I promised not to call him anal. I'll just tell him he's being picky, or something like that. But we'll all know what I mean - ROFL!

Anyway, I was tired, and went to bed by 9:30pm. We were up, getting ready for church by 7:45am on Sunday. Cutting it a little close, but we still go there before the opening prayer. It doesn't hurt that this ward consistently starts 5 minutes late. hehehe.

Church was good. I was just on crowd control, so it wasn't too bad. Next month, I'm sharing time again. That's a 20 minute lesson (twice) each Sunday for a month. Dang! I'd better get cracking :)

The Young Women in the ward were doing a fundraiser for camp. They're selling dinner a few weeks from Wednesday. Authentic Mexican enchaladas. For $5.00, you get 3 enchaladas (white, green, or red), rice, beans (from scratch), salad, and a brownie. Not too bad, eh? Or, a kids meal is only $3.00, and comes with 1 enchalada. I signed up for 5 White Kids meals. Not White Kids. White kids meals. LOL! But, I do have 5 white kids - ROFL! I was in charge of making sure that all the adults in primary had a chance to sign up, if they wanted to. We just have to go and pick it up. Then we can eat it at home. Sounds good to me!

We got home from church, had lunch, and took a nap. Well, I don't know that the kids did, but I took a nap. Well, tried, at least. I also made sugar cookies, with pink frosting, and purple frosting hearts, and we took them to our friends. Laurie's family was there, and got them. Andrea's family and Katy's family either weren't home, or weren't answering the door. We took the extra cookies home, and were gonna deliver them later.

Well, later, the cookies had been eaten . Oops. Oh well. It was the thought that counts.

After dinner, we all played a family game. Life. Remember that one. I LOVE it. I got to be a doctor. Sweet! Poor Jake. He went the route of college, and ended up getting a job that only paid $20,000. Dang! Joe and Tom didn't go to college, and one got a $70,000 and the other a $90,000 job. Some people are just more lucky than others.

The game went on and on and on. At 9pm ish, it was finally done. hehehe. Tom won, followed by Joe, then me, then Captain America, then Eme, then Jake. I ended up with 2 sets of twins, one boys and one girls. Woohoo for me!

What a busy weekend. I think I need a weekend to recover from my busy weekend. ha! And I agree with whoever said in yesterday post - all that work for one day of camping isn't quite worth it. 2 or 3 at the minimum.

I thought this WordArt would be appropriate - hehehe. And, if you don't camp, or don't having camping pictures, take a pic of the kids sleeping on the couch - LOL!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

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