Tipping the scales......and over the river and thru the woods

I forgot to ever update on Phoebe's stats for her one year old check up. She is now in 25th percentile for height, but still not on the charts for weight(16 lbs. 8 oz.) However, overall she is in the 6th percentile... so atleast on there! She now has 2 little teeth on the bottom, but they are still not in all the way. She is walking along everything, and Sean even got her to take a couple steps today... though I don't think she'll really be walking for quite a while. She still can't go upstairs! She's kind of a spaz. Faye and Daphne had the stairs mastered (up and down) by the time they were 10 months old! I try to help her figure it out, but she just turns around and leans until she falls to me.

On to my next subject...I get the fabuloso priviledge of going to Girls, excuse me, Young Women's Camp (that's what we have to call it now) next week. I am the Camp Director and though I love girls camp (oops there I go again), I never thought I'd be the one to have to actually plan it. Thank goodness for the YW president who is much better with all this than me. She was the Camp director for 2 years before, so she knows what she's doing and she's got all the gear. I am much better with the crafts and games and skit stuff. And even more thankful I am (Yoda) for the Camp Food specialist.. yeah!!! I don't think I could have done that part... for 36 people! I have totally procrastinated a bunch of stuff and am now busting my bootie to get everything done in time... I feel like I work better under pressure. I'm sure it will be fun once we get there, but all this planning... and then it will be over before we know it. I think we have a really good group of YW in our ward, only a couple Drama Queens, but with 24 teenage girls, your bound to have a couple. I just hope they will cooperate and not be brats......um. pretty much like I used to be at their age. However, i must say I had some really crappy YW leaders. I just hate when adults forget how the teenage mind works, yes, sometimes it's annoying they don't think things thru and think everything revolves around them, but hey they are still kids and their hormones are all outta whack. Some of the leaders I had were just so serious... and I really really hated being forced to be spiritual... forcing and spiritual in the same sentence doesn't really make sense. I just hope we can have fun and the girls can have some spiritual experiences, but on their own level. Our theme is B.O.O.T. Camp which stands for Building Our Own Testimonies. We are giving them a ton of stuff; pink camoflauge bandanas, dog tags with their name and Daughter of God on them, camo sunglasses, water bottle with thier name in vinyl on it, and we are doinf lots of fun crafts and games. The stake is taking care of most of the certification. Yes! I do not particulary enjoy that part. I'm sure it will be fun and I'll post some pics once I get home.

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

I have been throwing around the idea of cutting off my hair for about a month. My original plan was to do it when i turned 30 for some reason. Maybe I felt like turning 30 meant I was officially a grown up, and thus would need to for-go the long locks.... I don't know, it was just a plan. Then I just was getting so sick of my hair, how much was falling out in the shower, and becuase I was weaning Phoebe my hormones or something were making it psycho. So I just thought what the heck, i'll do it now. I cut off 11 inches!!!(actually 12, if you count how much more had to be cut to even it out) I am going to donate it probably to the Pantene Beatiful Lengths program, who make wigs for women who has lost their hair due to breast cancer.
I am still "ify" about my new hair. It's just so shocking! I also had her cut bangs, which I have not had since I was 12 (you know, the lame ones you cute yourself). I am already thinking I am not a BANGS girl... I don't know how you bang-up gals do it. They are totall bugging me! I figure if I don't like it after a while, it will grow on me... literally. It did only take me about 3 years to get it to the length it was at, so it grows pretty fast. Sean said he likes it, and that he felt like he got to sleep with a new woman!
Faye was my fabulous photographer for the first 2 pictures... pretty good for a 5 year old, and the last 2 are good old self-photos. And Sean called my in the last one, so I am not looking at the camera... No, I was not posing!

The Pleasures of Pineview with the Bray Bunch

My whole family (excluding my sis Kristi, who wouldn't be caught dead camping) all went up to Pineview for a week. The whole Bray bunch totaled about 40 people! We had so much fun! I think it was my favorite Bray trip to date. We had 2 boats, and got lots of time out on and in the water. I tried knee boarding for the first time and was happy to get up the first time! Much to April's surprise... she thinks i'm too wimpy, however, I was REALLY sore the next day... so I guess i'm just a wimp after the fact. I also got the pleasure of riding a big tube with my bro-in-law Matt at the wheel. He was driving crazy and I was flying all over the lake! I even have the scabs on my elbows to show for it.
Our first day up there, Daphne was our brave girl who went out first on the knee board! She didn't get up or anything, just held on laying on her stomach, but she is quite the daredevil and loves water! Then Faye and Ella realzed it wasn't so bad and took their turns (even though I think Ella has done it before). They especially loved when we would go out and stop in the middle of the lake and jump off the boat to swim in the water. Faye is the craziest, but Daphne isn't far behind.
The beach there is so nice... I had no idea. Even without boats our girls just loved swimming at the beach and playing in the soft sand.
Sean got to do lots of fishing, though he didn't catch anything worth talking about... I think he did catch a 12 inch delicious bass. I guess it's all downhill from here on out for him.
The only thing I didn't enjoy was sleeping in a tent! It wouldn't have been so bad, but Faye, Daphne and I all slept in the same bed! I tried having a sleeping bag for everyone by themselves the first night, but they got cold... yeah, i know, how do you get cold. So I just put the 2 sleeping bags together and we all slept together (but Phoebe, thank goodness, slept in the pack N Play) Daphne is the WORST, she always ended up sideways and kicking me in the head! I was so glad to wake up and get the crap out of there every morning.
Phoebe was a mess the whole time. I'm sure she ate lots of things I wouldn't want to know about. Daphne was just happy to be there, and Faye was with her cousins, who she loves (one in paticular, a little TOO much!) And now we are home and I keep finding earwigs everywhere!

Phoebe's 1st birthday

Do you like how the lady at Walmart mis-spelled Phoebe's name.... PHOBE... nice, I even told her 3 times how to spell it. I tried to get a cute shot of her with Grandma Lukenbach but she wasn't having it... she is now is the moving constantly mode, kind of annoying. She had a fun birthday and there was even fireworks... what a pair of special girls....wink, wink.

My little Firecrakers

We had a fun 4th of July and I even made each one of the girls a korker hairbow (which are really time consuming, so I don't think i'll be making anymore soon), so they looked all cute and festive and junk. We did miss the Magna parade, (which is always a guilty pleasure... mostly for the people watching... all the weirdos come out for a parade), because Sean was STILL fishing... Then we wento to a BBQ at my sis Aprils house and the kids got to swim and play with Cousins, notice the sweet action shot of Faye! Tina was nice enough to push
Daphne on the swing, and Sam was even nicer to push Phoebe around the backyard in a little car. When it got dark my brother Adam had his fireworks that he gets every year, and somehow Sean always ends up being in charge of the pyrotechnics. Faye invited Chloe and Ella to sleep over and they all passed out in the car... I love that picture!

Lil' Miss Trouble

Phoebe has finally figured out pulling herself up in her crib. This is how I found her when she was supposed to be napping. She was about to fall over the edge, but was going to have fun in the process. We have now lowered the bed and she is safe once again... that is until she figures something else out... like walking.

Lil' Miss Trouble

Jake the Snake

This is the second garter (spelling?) snake we have found in our backyard. Faye was a bit unsure about holding it, but once Sean assured her it wouldn't bite her (even though you never really know if they will) she was okay. Daphne just grabbed it, she wasn't scared at all! I'm so glad our girls aren't wusses, though that could always change........

FuN @ GaLoon