Lagoon and Youth Camp

Hello my dear!

Well, besides the food, it sounds like you had a really amazing week last week. Having all of the mission presidents and apostles there must have been such a neat experience. I’m sure it was a very powerful feeling being in their presence. How cool that you were able to be there and pass the sacrament. I’m sure that’s something you will always remember. I want to hear more about speaking Mandarin with Elder Gong and his wife. You didn’t get to speak to him directly did you? Perhaps he just came to speak directly with all of the mandarin language missionaries? I’m glad you are back to playing basketball, but sorry all of your OG friends are gone now. I’m guessing you are starting to feel like a true MTC veteran watching all your friends come and go. My friend Allison Jensen said you saw her daughter Elizabeth and she was surprised the two of you would recognize each other. She flies out the day after you. I can’t believe you are in your final stretch! Are you super excited to finally be headed to Singapore next week? Are you nervous? Sad to say goodbye to your district? I’m so sorry Sister Bybee had to be sent home. Hopefully they are able to stabilize her and allow her to return to her mission quickly. My understanding is Grave’s disease is a much better diagnosis than thyroid cancer. Hopefully it’s very manageable for her. 

We had a fun and busy week. I think it was especially good for Dad to take a break from work and recharge a bit.

1. Dad took off Monday from work and we went to Lagoon for the day. It was soooo hot that day! Tate was tall enough to ride just about everything. I think he decided Cannibal was his favorite, but he rode most of the big ones. We all went on Primordial for the first time, and it was a cool ride, but super long line. Most of the other lines were short and the boys could go repeatedly without waiting long. We did Rattlesnake Rapids at the end of the day over and over. It was really fun and we all got soaked. We enjoyed talking to you in the middle of all the commotion!

2. Tuesday morning we packed up for Youth Camp at Bear Lake. Jett and Tate got to spend the week with grandma and grandpa Rawson. Dad, Ethan, Blake and I went to camp. Some of the girls really wanted a “high adventure” experience, so they combined with the boys this year. The boys were not thrilled about it.  But overall I think most everyone had a great time. They got to make bracelets and have a dance party, and we all know they would have missed out on that if it was just high adventure.

3. We stopped at a park for games and pizza, and then went to camp for set up, spiritual thoughts but the campfire, and bedtime cereal. We discovered that our tent had been put away wet.  So. It was moldy and there was a big hole in it. RIP our tent. We trashed it at the end of the week. We blamed it on Michael for a few days until we remembered we had probably sent it with Blake to scout camp last year.  

4. Wednesday morning we were woken up at the absolute crack of dawn by some *bleep* *bleep* farmers who decided 5 am would be a fantastic time to heard a billion cows past our campground. It was SO LOUD.  Sounded like a freight train full of cows roaring past our camp. I’ve never been to scout camp before, so I assumed all the noise was just Brother Roylance and Brother Porter making mooing sounds into a bull horn as the morning wake-up call. But no.  It was actual cows. I’m feeling like the early wake up was karma for how late we were making noise in camp the night before. The tent with the little girls screamed absolute murder around midnight because they thought they say a spider in their tent. We also had some boys puncture a can of Axe spray and throw it in the middle girls’ tent. Lots of shenanigans happening late at night.

5. Our first activity on Wednesday was rapelling at the Paris Ice Caves. I think they estimated it was about a 50 foot drop. Dad repelled for his first time. Blake and Ethan went several times. I did not. I decided I’ve already done something big scary this year (scuba diving), and I don’t really need to experience rapelling. I’m a scared cat and don’t like heights. I might have been pressured into trying if it was a group goal for everyone to go, but it was low pressure and I don’t really regret my choice. I busied myself by taking pictures instead. I made myself the camp photographer, and enjoyed walking around documenting our fun for the week. Ethan and Blake didn’t love that, but too bad.

6. Wednesday afternoon we spent on the beach. Most of the kids went out to play in the water, and the adults enjoyed a few rounds of SkyJo and Bananagrams. It was a lot of work, but a super fun day. We returned to camp to a hot and delicious meal cooked by Val Turner our camp cook. Can I even tell you how awesome it is to go on a camping trip and have someone else feed me delicious food? Amazing. That night we got shakes at LeBeau’s (Dad/grasshopper, Me/strawberry colada, Ethan/mint brownie, Blake/rocky road). We are going to have to make sure that becomes a tradition for future Bear Lake trips. We had to hurry home from LeBeau’s because there was a big wind storm that swept through camp and blew down tents and awnings. Luckily not too much damage. But we did have a decent rain storm in the middle of the night that kept up dad for hours and soaked all the poor kids sleeping in hammocks.

7. Thursday morning we got to sleep in until after 8:00. Oh blessed day. The cows did not come. We had gospel study in the morning and then went out to practice shooting and archery. I did actually shoot a gun. Twice.  But it wasn’t really my thing, and I was happy to let the kids take the time. I think Blake got pretty good at hitting the clay pigeons. It’s pretty awesome to go on trips with people who have fun toys and go through all the work to haul and set up all the gear. While we watched Alissa Hyde massaged my sore elbow, and It felt so much better afterwards. (You asked about my elbow. It’s just randomly sore off and on. It gets inflamed from repetitive motion and sometimes I have to baby it a bit. For some reason it was really hurting all night.)

8. Thursday afternoon we took the kids on a tour of Minnetonka Cave, which was a really cool experience. There were 400+ stairs to get down into the belly of the cave, and there were really awesome rock formations to see. I even saw a bat! Adam Barrett flirted with our tour guide in front of the whole group and it was hilarious. We got to the very bottom and our guides turned out the lights so we could feel the absolute darkness.  Angela Roylance spoke about Christ being the source of light in our lives. She gave us each a small light, and one-by-one we turned on the lights and watched the “light of Christ” spread. It was a really cool visual lesson. Back at camp we had an epic dance party. Kevin Porter did the worm. Joseph Roylance did the splits. Most of the adults relived their glory days dancing the Macarena and the Boot Scootin’ Boogie. Alissa Hyde and Emily Erickson absolutely got down. The Porters and London’s impressed with their country dance skills. The kids moshed and crowd surfed. Blake did a dance-off with Adam Barrett and surprised us all with the worm. Adam got the prize gift-card, but Blake got robbed. That night Dad gave the bedtime devotional and taught about Joseph Smith. He’s really good at that. 

9. Friday we had a boating day. There were enough boats for everyone who wanted to be on a boat could be. And these were freaking nice boats. The boat dad and I were in was Brother Jason Burton’s from the high council. It was a new Mastercraft Surf boat, and it was N-I-C-E. We spent the whole day on the beach and out in the water, and it was so great. We were reminded how much we love being out on the boat and how fun it would be to have one. Jason was really fun to be with. He brought long-range water guns to attack the other boats with. And he handed Blake a towel with a big fake snake wrapped up in it. He definitely has a fun personality. The water was so COLD. I wore my new wetsuit and got in the water. Blake made fun of me, but I don’t care. No way was I getting in the water without it! I was not able to get up on the surf board. But dad, Blake and Ethan all did! Ethan and Blake also got out on the tube, and Jason was absolutely wild with his driving. Blake was on the tube with Alex Roylance, and Alex got absolutely YEETED across the water. He limped around for the next day and I was worried his knee was really hurt. Seemed to be doing a bit better today. That night we had a really nice testimony meeting—despite the freezing cold wind. I think everyone went to bed somewhat early and completely exhausted. 

10. Saturday morning we cleaned up camp and went home. Holy Cow, it’s a lot of work to put on a campout like that! It was well into the afternoon by the time I got to the shower, only to find that the water heater still wasn’t working. Sigh. (Cold water is my friend. Cold water is my friend). The boys wanted haircuts, so I took them down to Great Clips. Jett has been growing out his hair for a Jedi braid, and finally got his wish. Sigh. If he hangs on to that Jedi braid as longs he’s worn his shirt backwards we are in trouble. 

11.On Sunday Dad and I were surprised to see Blake sitting on the stand. The kid can be quite incommunicative. But he gave a great talk about his experience at camp. It was really fun for me to see him at camp with his friends. He was happy and confident, and there seemed to be miles of growth since his younger days. 

12. Michael had just about the best week of his life. He did the Lower Salmon in a day, and it was “freaking awesome.” Then he had a 3-day French Creek Youth trip and got a $200 tip! And he got assigned a Lower Salmon Trip with guests that begins today. He got invited to a BBQ by a guy in his ward that does Sniper Training for Navy Seals. He got to shoot a sniper rifle and ate the best steak of his life. Also there was belly-whomping this week. It’s going to be so hard for him to want to come back home at the end of the season!

I hope you are feeling great, working hard, making life-long friends, learning the gospel and Chinese, and loving your time at the MTC. Just over a week to go! 

Love you,

Mom