Fri. 1st--We went back to the Jazexhiu's early in the morning, around 6:30, to help them finish up. They did a lot into the wee hours of the morning so we didn't have a ton to do, but we stayed until the truck is loaded. JJ and his friend, Erik Jazexhiu, before they had to part ways.
Mon. 4th--Happy Independence Day! Our first one in Snyder.
While the rest of us had to sweat it out in the scorching sun...even at 10am! It was just me and Jared so we joined up with Kevin's crew and watched the parade with them. I met Ciara Harmon and her husband, John, whose daughter, Denim, comes to our primary activities.
And here comes the hospital golf cart. The pink helps you spot it. Haha. Karcyn and JJ are on the other side, but they looked like they were having fun!
There was a Cogdell Hospital BBQ at 6pm that we went to and then he headed over to the carnival at 7pm. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wasn't planning on it being $25 per kid to get a bracelet for rides. So we quickly just bought a few tickets each and made our kids choose what they wanted to go on. I told Jared wryly that we would need to budget for this next year.
Karcyn and JJ went on the Ferris Wheel.
I told JJ I would go on the magic carpet thing that slammed you side to side up in the air while staying upright. He was so short, you couldn't even see his head sitting down, so I told him to wave, so we'd know he was there.
It was a great fireworks show at the park. But...we found out later from our neighbor, Janie, that you can see a fabulous display right from our driveways. We'll have to try that next year!
Tues. 5th--Silly Rolo...sitting with his bum on Jared's leg and his two front legs propping him up. THis was his pre-grooming picture.
*We also reserved a condo in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains for a family vacation next summer. We're super excited to go to a new property and to the mountains. I also noticed that Gatlinburg is only 3 hours north of Buford, GA so we invited Steve and Kelly to join us! I told her that we got a 2 bedroom townhome with an adjoining 1 bedroom townhome so they can have their own private area and that we'd make the meals, so all they have to do is show up. It's hard to know a year out what their schedules will be, but they put it on their calendar as something to plan for. Yay!! We haven't seen them since we drove out go Georgia for a family vacation in 2016. We are definitely overdue for another visit.
*Calvin bowled in the Theory vs. Skill sport shot tournament (Bear pattern) and out of eight youth, he took second place. More scholarship money! (Bill giving Calvin a hard time, haha!)
Wed. 6th--When you are the only male in the church youth group, you help the girls with a sewing project for their summer camp at the combined Young *man*/Young women activity. Everyone helped make the hair scrunchies and moved the work right along.
Thurs. 7th--This was my last day of teaching water aerobics for Ronda. Twelve times over the past month. It's fun, though. I enjoy the classes very much and they're all such good sports. My first class was at 11am and I had Baked Ziti to make for girls camp, so I needed to start no later than 7:30am and made four batches to freeze!
Sun. 10th--There is water leaking under my kitchen sink!! Noooooo!!!
Orlando didn't come to help right away. But it didn't get worse before he made it over. Fortunately, it was just a loose fitting underneath. Thank goodness.
Mon. 11th--Since it was 7-11, I took the boys to get Icees from 7-11 (we took one back for Karcyn). But before we got there, we had to pass Bill W. Drive. One of our favorite people in Lubbock is Bill Wood, who owns and operates Whitewood Bowling alley and has coached all of our boys. He's truly the best. And is wife, Monica, is top notch. I thought it would be a nice tribute to Bill to take a picture with the boys under that sign and post it on FaceBook in Bill's honor.
*Calvin made fried cabbage and sausage for dinner. To relax, he always takes Rolo and holds him like a baby. He tucked Rolo in next to him on the couch. I can't believe that Rolo stays on his back like that for Calvin.
Mon. 18th--Jared went in at 6:30am for an endoscopy to follow-up and recheck some things they saw a year ago near his stomach that could turn into pre-cancerous tumors. We waited FOR.EVER for the doctor to arrive. It was about 9am before he showed up. Fortunately, Jared did fine and his scope showed that he was clear.
Wed. 13th--Yesterday was our neighbor, Janie's 75th Birthday. Our previous homeowner, Wanda Rushing, made an amazing coconut cream pie for her every year on her birthday, so I was going to try and carry on the tradition in spirit, if not in taste. Except that I thought her birthday was on the 14th, not the 12th. *sigh* Maybe next year.
*JJ being hip and cool before bed.
"I wear my sunglasses at night..."
Fri. 15th--The kids watching a game theory video about Five Nights at Freddy's. I'm not a fan, but it's nice to see the kids doing something together.
And sure enough...JJ had nightmares about one of the characters. *sigh*
*We invited Elder Jensen and Elder Hagman over for dinner. Elder Jensen loves Rolo and apparently Rolo loves him, too.
*Elder Hagman showing JJ how to work his Kendama--a wooden skill toy.
*Later that night, we ran into JJ's new friend, Bill Early, who lives down the street from us. They are buddies. JJ has had a hard time adjusting to life here in Snyder. More so than we expected, honestly. But our house in College Station was constantly surrounded by everywhere. It was rare that there wasn't someone to play with. Now, he really has no one. Especially since we moved and he and Korbin can't ride bikes to each other's house. I actually got him into counseling to hopefully help him with the transition and to work through his sadness about missing all of his friends back in CS. I'm grateful that he found a friend in Mr. Early.
Sat. 16th--I did a little baking that morning for girls camp. Ten depression-era cakes and GF/DF muffins to freeze.
*Figured I should get a picture of Jared's office. This is actually Kevin's old office. But once Dr. Martinez left, Kevin took his space and Jared moved into Kevin's. :)
Thurs. 21st--The time for girls camp was getting closer! Crunch time. This is the suggested dinner menu I left for Jared and the boys. The simpler, the better. Enjoy eating your fill of gluten while Karcyn and I are away! ;)
*This is a sugar cube temple that JJ constructed at home after Sister Stroud gave a lesson on the temples.
Tues. 26th--I didn't bring any milk with me from Lubbock and we couldn't find decent watermelons, so I figured I would go to the Walmart in Alamagordo and pick up those things. Chris had a few things she needed me to get as well. The lady who did the camp food in 2018 said the Walmart was only about 30 minutes away. It is, but you have to go down the mountain to get there.
*JJ was so happy to have his new friend, Daniel Rosson, who goes to Ira and lives a few streets down from us, come over and hang out for a few hours.
Sat. 23rd--Karcyn needed to finish up packing for girls camp because I would be leaving Monday (a day early) and she'd be a few hours behind me, riding up with Kevin, Chris and Olivia. I also needed to start gathering last minute food and supply items from my house and get them packed up and loaded into the suburban.
This was my living room/kitchen area at 10:30am.
This was my suburban at 3:15pm...I was grateful for the loading help from Jared and the kids. I love them...and my suburban!
*It was Paisley McGinty's 2nd birthday party that afternoon and we wanted to go to do what could to fellowship this new family. I told Georgette we would do our best to get there amid packing for camp. Even though we were a little late, I'm grateful that we made it. All the kids, big and small, enjoyed the pinata.
Sun. 24th--Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law, Steve, and my sister, Michelle, and Happy Pioneer Day! To celebrate the latter, Kevin and Chris had a BBQ at their house around 3pm complete with games out back. I was working on girls camp handouts and watched the fun from the kitchen windows. But it looked like everyone was having a good time. Willie Page was kind enough to pull JJ into it so he could play too.
*At girls camp this year, Karcyn is a YCL or youth camp leader, and she's helping with the first year girls. So she and I worked on a little handout she could tuck into their bags.
*D-Day!! Time to head up to girls camp in Cloudcroft, NM--about 5 1/2 to 6 hours away. But first, I had to go collect frozen foods that I had distributed around to other freezers in Snyder because I no longer have my big deep freezer. Which would have been perfect for this occasion, but we made it work. After I picked up all of those foods, I headed up to Lubbock to get the last of the perishable items at HEB that I couldn't get at Walmart in Snyder. Then I met my assistants at Sams so we could do our shopping. I was planning to go up to camp on Tuesday when the first wave of campers were arriving (the YCLs and those going on the overnight hike). But after I started doing the math with hours and driving and needing to get dinner on by a certain time, which first needed to thaw out, there was no way I could do all that I needed to do in a half day's time. So I felt inspired to go up on Monday. And I'm so grateful I did. I used every last hour in that day.
The trip to Sams was also so I could get hooked up to the trailer that Shayla got for us to use. We found almost everything we needed there--3 or 4 carts full! (I'm so glad my assistants were there...I don't know how I thought I could manage all of that on my own). But we were still missing a few items. Marcie volunteered to get them for us at Costco before she and Shayla headed up tomorrow.
We packed up the trailer and off I went to Cloudcroft...a place I've never been before, all by myself, pulling a trailer I didn't own with a couple thousand dollars worth of food in tow.
I called to talk to my friend, Meredith Pace, from Seminole that I've only visited with once. I didn't realize that my phone wasn't plugged in--and talking on it took up a lot of service. It died while I was in the middle of a conversation with Meredith. I pulled over to get my phone cord/charger out and use the restroom. I plugged it in, but the phone would not hold a charge. I tried it several times and even held the cord in at the insertion site. I was so frustrated. Apparently, I grabbed a cord that didn't work in my car, but worked at home when I checked it. Ugh. I'd have to call Meredith back, but I knew she'd be fine with it...she knew where I was headed.
The drive wasn't too bad, but I could tell there was some weather up ahead.
About an hour away, according to my calculations, my phone died. Which meant I also lost GPS. I did the only thing I could do...keep driving and watch for signs. I started dipping down into a valley with winding, twisting roads. I hadn't seen any signs for Cloudcroft, but maybe I missed it somewhere. I started praying that Heavenly Father would just send me a sign...literally, a road marker, that would let me know where I was. A couple minutes later, there was a sign that said Cloudcroft was up ahead. Oh, thank goodness. I was starting to wonder if I was going to get lost and then they wouldn't find me until next spring. At least I had food to eat and live on. :)
As I got to the main town of Cloudcroft, I still needed help. I didn't know where to go from there. So I pulled into the first place I saw that might be helpful--a realtor's office. I waited for a few seconds before this nice man and his big dog came to greet me. I explained that I was a cook for a large camp gathering this week and that my phone had died cutting me off from Google Maps. I wondered if I could borrow one of his outlets to try recharging my phone a bit. He told me to go right ahead and we engaged in some small talk. I glanced at my phone after a few minutes of charging time, but was disappointed to see it still wasn't coming back to life. My cord must be bad...even though it worked at home. This nice man went to the back of his office and came back with a portable phone charger. He helped me get it set up with my phone. When I told him the girls camp was affiliated with our church off Heather Way, he knew exactly where it was and took me to his big computers to show me the detailed map of the vicinity. Once he was satisfied I knew where to go from his office, I looked at my phone and it was back online. Yay! He told me to hold on to the charger and to bring it back when I was done with it. I was very grateful.
I got back in the burb and as I headed down the main canyon, this MASSIVE storm complete with torrential rains, loud booming thunder and hail descended upon me. Great.
It was slow going, but I actually made it to Camp Cloudcroft. I had to navigate a very rugged road, wide enough for just one vehicle at a time in the pouring rain, only to find the gates were closed and locked! That can't be! I had told the local camp residents that I was going to be there around 4pm so they could let me in. I was about 20-30 minutes late, as I had to stop and get directions. But I didn't think they'd leave their post so quickly. That said, as I looked beyond the gates, I could see a decent sized flow of water rushing down a very steep hill, creating muddy ruts and that water was flowing right into my truck. To my right, was another hill with trees that went down about 20 feet before connecting to another road. I hoped I didn't get washed down that ravine on the other side of me. Even if the gates were open, there was no way I was making it up that hill, just in the suburban, let alone pulling a heavy trailer behind me.
So I did the only thing I could do. I just sat there in my car. Praying that the hail coming down wouldn't dent my truck or crack my windshield. And wondered what my next move should be. I worried that no one would come to let me into the camp, so I tried calling Jared to see if he could contact President Hart for me, but there was no service in that canyon. I tried calling Christina, who was in the RV not too far behind me, because they'd be in the same boat. No service, of course. It rained pretty hard for a good 20-30 minutes. Fortunately, the hail didn't appear to do any damage. It just sounds really awful as it hits your car.
I could barely see a property up ahead about 500 yards. When the rains let up a bit, I grabbed my coat, and hiked up the road to see if anyone there had a phone I could use. I didn't want to drive up because I had no way of knowing if I could turn around and was already worried about the truck and trailer being stuck or not making up the washed out camp road.
There was a cabin/house at the top of the road. The garage door was open. I went to the front door and rang the doorbell and waited. But no one came. I had my hood on, so maybe I looked a bit suspect, but that proved fruitless. I walked back down to the truck. Got in and waited some more. Still no cell service. It had been two hours since I had pulled up to the camp entrance. After wondering what else I could do to act and not be acted upon, I figured I'd start walking down the other way to see if I could find someone to help me contact the camp residents to let them know I was here. As I walked down a bit, a pick-up truck was slowly making it's way toward me. The driver rolled their window down and asked if I needed help. I said, yes, thank you. I explained I was there for the camp but the gate is locked. They said they were on their way to unlock it right now. Ahh. Those were the senior missionaries assigned to the campground. They didn't offer a reason why they were late, and I didn't ask. I was just grateful to be making some forward progress and I PRAYED I would make it up the steep, muddy incline.
I did! And as soon as I got the trailer backed in, I started unloading all the food and supplies from my truck and trailer, organizing the pantry and refrigerators, while taking inventory of the cooking utensils and supplies.
About an hour later, I saw the RV coming up from the gate. I went down to meet them. It was even more dicey for them in the RV as it sits lower to the ground than my truck. But they managed to get up the hill, too. They were delayed because part of the canyon road they needed to get to was completely washed out. They were told it would be several hours before it got taken care of. Karcyn said a prayer and it was resolved in mere minutes!
This was Kevin unloading their things and getting stuff set up after arriving at camp in the residual rain.
It was a long day and full of unexpected events, but we made it safely. And I was extremely grateful I had the prompting to arrive a day ahead of the other YW because it simply would not have worked otherwise.
See that strip of white running horizontally in the middle of the picture? That's White Sands National Park.
My assistants were at camp when I arrived. It was great to see them there. We took off running from that point on and never looked back. We stayed in that kitchen 98% of the time when we weren't sleeping. We racked up about 20,000 steps a day. But we delivered food that was delicious, nutritious, and much appreciated. There was enough for everyone to eat and a little to spare for a few second helpings. We even had enough food from the first initial meals to feed those who missed dinner and came to the mess hall after all the food had been served. We were able to quickly solve minor kinks and worked like a well-oiled machine. And all the young women with food allergies that I made accommodations for were so touched. Which makes me happy. It's about ministering to the one and food restrictions make events like these a drag for those who have limitations. But we made it work and it was worth it. No, I didn't spend time or money on pretty table settings or centerpieces. We're at camp. I focused on the food and honestly, I don't think the girls missed any of that fluff. I was grateful for the timeline for each meal and I took copious notes to assist whoever does it next time. I actually REALLY, REALLY enjoyed this assignment. Much more than I expected. It required ENORMOUS amounts of time, planning, and organizing. In fact, all the real work was done from April to the middle of July. The cooking was kind of the icing on the cake...seeing all your hard work come to fruition.
Thurs. 28th--Had to get a picture with my amazing assistants. Marcie Hart (L) and Shayla Glover (R). They made this assignment easy and fun.
It was a joy and pleasure and also very convenient working with the camp director...my sister-in-law, Christina.
*Thursday night was Bishop's night where the priesthoood leaders come up for the evening and speak to the girls and provide dinner. Kevin represented our branch leadership since he was already there. I didn't join though. I did a few other things, including hanging out in a hammock for about 20 minutes. This was my only break I ever had during the week, unless I was in bed sleeping. It was lovely. One could get used to that kind of relaxation in the mountains, gently swaying in a hammock.
Sat. 30th--I did it! I not only survived being the YW camp cook for 5 1/2 days, things went so well. Almost flawless. I was so blessed to have the Lord on my side. We had very few leftovers (no waste) and was even able to take some unused food back to the store (only to later learn they pitch it...seriously? I would have donated it, had it been my money I spent on it. But it wasn't and I wanted to get an accurate total on funds spent for the week.) And as far as the budget goes, not only were we under the second budget of $2500 that was given to us after they caught wind that food prices have gone up, but we came in $6 under our original budget of $2,000. Granted, Shayla's sister donated eggs, and Shayla donated the meat, cheese, tortillas, and salsa packets for the breakfast burritos. That saved us about $100, but still would have kept us well under the $2500 budget. So it was an all around success! I love making yummy food and keeping the costs reasonable. Super proud of what we did.
*On our way back home, Karcyn and I had arranged to stop in at Seminole to pick up her friend, Ashley Pace, so she could visit for a few days. This would only be the third time in two years they've been able to spend time in person.
We were driving through Hobbs, NM, as well. My dear friend, Melodee Cooper, who is battling cancer, lives there and I considered stopping by to visit with her, too. But since we were picking up Ashley first and had been at camp all week with lots to unload and put away, I decided against it. I texted Mel to tell her I was sorry we couldn't make it. She understood of course.
Sun. 31st--Rolo dropped his toy on the floor and is debating jumping down to get it.
*We were having spicy tuna bowls for dinner and JJ was helping open up the cans of tuna. But not without a clip for his nose. Haha.
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