Camping in Lava

We took off the week after the Hymas reunion to Idaho to go camping near Lava Hot Springs! It started off with a bang by Carter puking on the way up! 

 It was nice to slow down and play with my kids and breathe some mountain air. There was a lot of dirt for the kids to play in as you will later see. Rylee was sometimes happy with my efforts to keep her out of the dirt.

 Bri took some time to rest with grandpa in the hammock.

 And it wasn't long before the kids discovered the little stream running through our camp. It was cool and clear and I even got in a little to beat the heat.

 It's not camping unless Mollie has some crafts. Unfortunately it spilled over onto her little sister and cousin! Glad we had the stream to wash them off in!

 We found a beautiful hike to go on and it was simple enough for the kiddos to go on too. We had a great time and even did the hike several times. Everything was so green and beautiful!

 Again the boys playing in the dirt!

 Cute girls! They could pick up right where they left off and really enjoyed being with each other this trip.

 Little Ashton was fun to camp with. Him and Brielle got along...sometimes!

 It's been a while since ALL the kids were together for a camping trip and I feel pretty lucky to have brothers that I enjoy being around and get along with.

 And their spouses (and mine) are pretty cool too!

One day we went into Lava and swam in the kiddie pool and indoor pools with all the kids. That is always a fun time. Carter and Chad even snuck outside to ride one water slide. Bri has turned into a little fish and was hard to keep track of! 

Caveman Gathering '16

 The cavemen (Hymas Family) gathered for yet another fun successful reunion! For one evening, all 7 kids were able to be there. That hasn't happened for years and it was great to see everyone. The kids were all in love with Ann who many of them met for the first time. She was always up for helping, playing or just about anything the kids wanted to do. There were lots of tricks done on the tramp...

 baseball training...

 sack races....

 heated games of chess...

 and lots of food and fun as always!

One day the whole crew took a hike after grandpa hymas spent the morning helping them make walking sticks.

Here we go up the trail! It was such a beautiful hike. It was right next to a river the whole time and we saw wild raspberries growing and lots of fun things. 

 The kids all did awesome and there was nearly no complaining and all of them walked the whole way except Brielle and Rylee who had the coolest rides of all.

The final destination was breathtakingly beautiful. A good sized waterfall flowed freely out of a rock! It was a sight to see and the water was cool and fresh and clean. The spray off felt majestic after a hot sweaty hike.

We all sat there for quite a while and enjoyed the fresh air, sound of flowing water and pretty sights. 

 When we returned from the hike and rested a bit it was time for the Caveman parade! Clyde and Evelyn put a lot of work in to coming up with theme and carrying out fun activities. One of which was a caveman parade! Everyone dressed up as cavemen and paraded over to Aunt Sharons house. They were surprised and they got a good chuckle looking at all of us.

The outfits got pretty creative! I had fun making Chads from cut up stuffed animals! The rest of ours were made out of animal print clothes i found at DI. 

And you always have to have your DIVA cavegirls! Chelsey and Klohe took care of that. 

Chets family had some really cute costumes complete with bones in their hair and large bones to carry. 

 Don't we look like a couple of wild animals?!

 There's Clyde and his fine descendant lookin fearsome!

It wouldn't be a Hymas reunion without a pinata! The kids got to take a wack at a dino pinata and Kayson got it cracked open and Carter was the one to break it open!

I was still pretty exhautsed from my week of camping the week before so whenever I could I'd sneak over the the chair swing and have some quiet time. Well as quiet as it could get while watching 2 littles! And I love this picture of Ry and Bri. She's looking out for her little sis making sure she gets some yummy Popsicle too! 

It was definitely one to remember!  A great time was had by all! 

Fun at Grandmas

The only thing that made leaving my family for a week was knowing that they were in good hands at my moms house. It wasn't easy for my mom but she was awesome and planned fun things to do and took them fun places. They wen't to a splash pad two days in a row and the kids were in heaven. She bought lots of fun new toys and played games and made fun things with them. I'm so glad to that my kids have grandparents on both sides that will take time to spend with their grandkids because the memories that are made will last a lifetime!

Young Women's Camp (not girls camp!)

I had 1 week to prepare for what would be the craziest hardest week of me life but one of the best ones too. I was called to be the Young Womens camp director. It was a stake camp year so I thought my job would be pretty easy. NOPE!! This was the first year our stake has camped as years and not wards so I chose to be over the 3rd years and I was so glad they were my group!

The weather was great and there was never much down time. Always a song, skit, or something to do was going on. Here are my LITES doing some fun gathering songs. THESE GIRLS ARE AWESOME! They planned so many fun things and were great to the girls they were over. 

 I had heard about "the hill" but wasn't ever too worried about it because I consider myself in fairly good shape. WOW! I made it up half way to our camp and my buns and legs were burning! But somehow it got easier each time. I'm sure angles were carrying me because I was CONSTANTLY moving. In each day at camp I was registering well over 30,000 steps a day. Never have I worked so hard, carried so much and also received so many blessings and help. I was always SO grateful whenever someone pitched in to help.

 Destiny was one of those who often helped me a ton and I was glad when I got to help her through a tough spot at camp. She's a good kid and one of my favorites.

 Here's some of the 3rd year girls who were incredible! There were 60 people in our 3rd year camp that I was entirely over. NOT ONCE did anyone bicker, complain, fight, or cry. NOT ONCE!

Including the first night when we had some major tent catastrophes (that was not my fault at all but it was my responsibility to fix!) that left ME in tears on the very first night. But thanks to our awesome priesthood we were able to tie up a tent to make it functionable.

Our girls worked hard on our flag and I thought it turned out beautifully! Our theme was Hold on to HOPE and we had a gem theme where each tent was a gem and we talked about the value and characteristics of each gem and their worth. We based it on the proverbs scripture that says "She is more precious than rubies." It was a fun theme. 

 Getting settled in camp and roasting some mallows.

 On Friday we had ward day and the ward leaders came up and did an activity with the girls. We decorated pillow cases for each girl,

 played lots of board games and played THE SKITTLE GAME! UGH! It took me a while to want to eat skittles ever again! Here's Destiny and Aunika with their cheeks full!

 In some down time the priesthood were gracious enough to let the girls give them manicures. And they wore it all week!

 The stake camp directors hubby is a general in the army and he did a formal flag retiring for us. It was surprisingly emotional and then he called those out of the audience who had veteran family members and gave them a flag to burn. Such a need experience!

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As each girl stood to bear testimony on Friday night, and as I wondered if all my hard work had been in vain, EACH girl said they were SO glad that they camped as years and that they met so many new people and new friends. EVERY SINGLE ONE! That was my payday as a camp director. Phrases like "best camp ever" and"I'm so glad I came" kept flying around and when it was time to go I knew these girls would still keep in touch. It was an incredible camp!

But the best part was returning home to my littles, Chad, a clean house, and a shower! Nothing felt better than that! 

I know I was carried through this experience. I know I was helped and blessed beyond measure. It was incredible to see the miracles that fell into place and the peace I felt with being away from my family for the first time ever. Things I know I wouldn't have been able to do on my own I was able to do quickly and efficiently.  And I was always inspired to know what to say or do or how to carry something out. I learned that prayers are answered and that any calling I hold I can pray as hard as a I did for camp and I will always be helped. I learned so many things but that was the biggest thing I learned. I'm so grateful for tender mercies and a successful camp!