boating with the josephsons

my mom’s cousin, holly, and her husband ryan came from utah last weekend to take the manwarings boating. I always have fun when I am with holly and ryan and this time was no exception. we had a great time at blacktail, a reservoir just 10 short minutes from our house. afterward we had a nice BBQ at my parents house. thanks for a fun weekend everyone!

eli

owen, ben, and eli

ryan

wesley

owen

ben, eli, and kaylin

wesley DID NOT like the tubing. but he humored us!

wesley, kevin, and owen

emily and collin

LOVE this picture! ben and brandon having a wild ride.

and this picture!

my wild ride with elizabeth (ryan and holly’s daughter) and emily

owen jumping into the water

owen loved being on the boat. ryan even let him steer for awhile

elizabeth was a natural! I think she has done this a few hundred times.(;

kevin and ben took a wild ride too! he had a good time.

iona stake girls camp at darby

about six months ago I was called to serve as a young women’s leader in my ward/church. I have enjoyed serving these young girls and it has brought back A LOT of memories from when I was in their shoes. the end of july we had our stake girls camp and I went and spent two of the five days with them. I’m so glad I did! I was able to get to know them on a whole different level and I admire them even more.

iona 10th ward young women

our theme for this stake girls camp was “walking a virtuous path back to our savior”. I love that the church is focusing so much on virtue with the youth. virtue really is a value that is so vital is a person’s life. if you live a virtuous life you WILL be happy and worthy to receive inspiration through the holy ghost. yet, it’s a value that is becoming obsolete in our day. it was great to spend two days surrounded by girls who are really striving to be virtuous!

darby is a church owned girls camp that is about 1.5 hrs away from iona. I drove up there BRIGHT and EARLY on thursday morning with two other leaders. we left at 5am so we could be there in time for the hikes.

I did moment hike with three of the girls from my ward.

don’t let this picture fool you, these girls were so much fun to be with. especially the three in the front row. they were the oldest and so sweet to all the other girls. we had a great time together.

the cave that we hiked up to

my “farkle” buddies. becca and erin.

jessica, michaela, and maryssa

our super fantastic ward camp director, tammy

darby has a “famous” slide that goes down a hill. it’s pretty steep and goes SUPER fast. I had a good time going down it with the girls whenever we had a free time.

morgan and aaron lowry (my neighbors and hiking buddies)

these sweet little girls (twins) did a special little ballet performance for us during a skit. they were so precious! it made me miss my kids REALLY BAD. (:

savannah s. and marlee

cute sharlee. one of our assistant camp directors made EACH girl a cute little tutu. they were just adorable in them.

savannah m.

I love this picture of sister davidson. our bishop’s wife, mia maid advisor, and an assistant stake camp director. she had every right to be tired! (:

sara and rylee

savannah playing “minute to win it”

crystal playing “minute to win it”

oh the fun we can have with tape! jessica, rylee, and sara

some of the leaders: julie, me, keersten, and diana

well-rounded

wesley donning his thor sword, cowboy hat, pirate bandana, and batman shoes. I love that my boys like dressing up. makes life way more entertaining.

thar be a party!

kev and the birthday boy

after they had their fill of the water slide we presented owen and his friends with their first clue to a treasure hunt.

we lead them on a wild goose hunt through-out the house

 

and then outside

good thing we had a seven year old there who could read pirate talk. (;

 

finally, they found some keys and the map to where the treasure was buried. I left the burying up to kevin and with our backyard not being totally finished yet he buried it REALLY GOOD! my camera died so I will have to add the digging pictures later.

 

after the party we had a nice bbq at our house with my parents. serving owen his favorite dinner…steak and corn on the cob.

 

it was a great day! and we all slept like logs that night.

thar be a party!

then we moved the party to the back yard where we played “walk the plank”and then let the loose to enjoy the water slide.

some pirates were successful

 

and some weren’t

 

and some pirates just wanted to swing

thar be a party!

owen has been planning a pirate birthday party for MONTHS now! he wanted a cake decorated like a pirate ship, had his pirate birthday shirt picked out in may, and wanted a jack sparrow costume for his birthday. such a clown! we tried to grant most of those wishes.

we got his a BIG bike for his birthday. he had outgrown his other one and we wanted it to be a few years before we had to upgrade again. it has slowed him down a little, but he LOVES it!

“ARR!” owen sitting down for his birthday breakfast and enjoying his new jack sparrow sword.

oh the cake! my worst nightmare. I completely gave up the night before while trying to make it look like a ship. the morning of the party I was frantically calling bakeries hoping they had a pirate cake. but, my mom showed up and assisted me in making it presentable. thanks mom! owen loved it!

we planned a pirate party for him that afternoon. it was a lot of work, but I think these boys (and girl) had fun!

we had to test out the pirate gear.

after everyone was dressed appropriately we headed outside for “sink the ship”.

they had fun bombing the other teams ship. I was actually surprised they didn’t start “bombing” each other.

happy 6th birthday owen!

happy 6th birthday owen!

you makes us laugh every day. you are so smart, so handsome, and SO CURIOUS! you are always asking questions and nothing gets past you. you are a great big brother, helper, and friend.

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madalyn’s birthday bash

for dinner we stopped for happy meals on our way home. and once we got home we relaxed. madalyn had a great time dressing her new dolls, playing “mom”, and serving everyone with her new dishes.

and then, it was cake time…AGAIN!

happy birthday princess! you make us so happy.