911 Help!!!

Madeline and Hadley love to play with the phone at my house. If they see one they are always trying to call Devin or Grandpa or someone. So last night they were over and it was kinda late. Darci and Bridger had already gone home and left the girls and Devin here. Devin was ready to go home and realized that his truck keys were in the diaper bag that Darci had taken home. So Lorin ran him home to get them.

In the meantime....... the phone rings.....

I hear Slate on the phone giving out our address, and phone #. I look at the clock to see what time it is (by the way it was 9:11) because it is just annoying if people call after 9:00 pm. And I am getting mad at him for giving out personal information.

Me- SLATE, WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
Slate- holds up 1 finger (not the middle one) and gives his name
Slate- MOM- it's the 911 people!
Me- WHAT??!!!???!!! Give me the phone!
Me- Hello???
911- Hello this is emergency services. Who is this?
Me- Jackie Noorda
911- Please verify your address-
Me- 80.......
911- Thank you. Is there an emergency?
Me- No, it must have been one of my grandkids, I am so sorry!
911- It's OK but we will be sending an officer out to check the situation.
Me- OK. I am SOOOOO SORRY!

Me- HURRY UP AND HELP ME GET THIS
             HOUSE CLEANED UP!!!!!!

I called Lorins phone to tell Devin his kids were going to be under arrest.
Me- Tell Devin his kids are in SO much trouble.
Lorin- Why? What happened?
Me- They called 911 and they are sending a police officer out.
Lorin- BAHAHAHAHA!
I hung up.

We straightened up so fast! The officer did come and he was very nice about the whole thing. Interesting note though- He said that the reason that they always have to send an officer out to check is that a few years ago a woman called and hung up. 911 called back to verify and the husband answered and said everything was ok when in actuallity he had just killed her. They always check now!

Madeline was so scared. He asked her what she needed. That she had called him and he came so what did she need. She was almost crying! She was shaking her head-- no, no I dont need anything.

It was seriously CRAZY!

Lorins Birthday

Today is Lorins birthday. The following is a conversation I had with Tevin. He is always trying to figure out how old I am because I have told him I am 26 his entire life. You would think he would catch on one of these days! Just because I was 1 when I had Darci- what's the big deal?

Tevin- How much older is dad than you?
Me- I am 26 and dad is turning 46 this year so he is 20 years older than me.
Tevin- Long pause......... Then I think Dad needs to go see the Bishop!

Bahahahahaha! I have been laughing about that ALL day!

Brighton & Juston Graduate!!!

So these summer posts are a bit out of order. Graduation was before girls camp!

We went to Idaho for Brighton and Justons graduation. It was a CRAZY busy weekend!e left on Wed. July 20. It was an "interesting" morning. I had to take Tevin to the Dr. before we left and the only time was early that morning, also- Slate was not able to come with us because he was going to be leaving for scout camp before we got home so Jamen had to take him over to Darci's. Needless to say- Lorin was not thrilled about our late start. We finally got on the road about 10ish. Do you know how long it takes to drive from LV to Rexburg, Id? F.O.R.E.V.E.R!!!! It was a pretty good drive though. I think that is because no one had to talk to each other because they were all into their electronic devices. Hmmmm- whats wrong with that picture? And actually I have to say- when I am a passenger in the car- I fall right to sleep. (Sure makes the trip go a lot faster I must  say!).It took us about  12 hours to get there. And we were starving. Brighton and Juston met us at this little sandwich shop, College Avenue Deli. It was owned by a really young kid, I was impressed that he was the owner. He looked like he was about 18-19 yrs. old. It was really yummy. I think everyone licked their plates by the time we were done. And we got 2 free funnel cakes to top it off! MMMM! We got to stay at Brighton and Justons apartment that night because I had only booked our hotel for thurs- sat. It was really fun to see where they had been living. I wish I could've seen it before it was all packed up. I bet it was really cute!

We got up Thurs. morning and went to Yellowstone National Park. It was so cool! I haven't been there in years! On the way there we stopped at a gas station and they had Huckleberry soda. Lorin loves huckleberry so we got him one. It was pretty good. He liked it anyway! I had forgotten how beautiful and big Yellowstone is. It seems that the expanse of it goes on forever. Just after we had entered the park we saw a bunch of people pulled over so we stopped to investigate, it was a couple of female elk lying in the grass across the river. They were beautiful. Lorin started making some weird "elk call" to attract their attention. He must be part elk because the kept looking at him. It was pretty exciting! We kept driving and found these Hot Pot things with a wooden trail around it so we got out and walked. They were pretty amazing. Some of them were pools of boiling hot mud that bubbled up from somewhere deep in the earth. Others were the pools of gorgeous Sapphire blue water that made you want to go jump in and swim. (Too bad you would have been deep fried or caught some sort of heebie jeebie bacteria) They were beautiful though. On the way bac Brighton (pregnant girl) had to pee. There was a bathroom but the line was so stinking long. All the boys went into the trees and were done in 2 minutes or less. (I am pretty sure they said they saw a sign saying it was ok to get off the trail and pee on protected land) That is so not fair! I am going to have to chat with the guy upstairs about this whole man/ woman body issue when I get up there! Peeing, having babies, losing weight quickly..... Whole nother topic- sorry! Anyway we are standing there- dying of the horrible stench wafting our way on the breeze. Holy crap! And I mean seriously! We are getting to the front of the line and we realize that (there are only 2 bathrooms) one of the bathrooms have been occupied for quite sometime. No one has come out of it for a long, long time. Hmmmm- what are they doing in there? Are they dead? Did they fall in? All valid questions I might add! Finally it is just Dakota and I. The door to the long time occupied bathroom open..... it is an old, old did I mention old oriental guy. (I bet it smells good in there!) Being the thoughtful, considerate mom that I am, I didn't want Dakota to have to wait any longer- I pushed her forward into the door. She couldn't thank me enough! Those bathrooms turned out to not be flush toilets. Just holes in the ground with a toilet on top. Delightful! I think we all needed some sort of tetanus shot after that experience!

We continued our journey and ended up at Old Faithful. We just missed it. We saw it going off in the distance. But the good thing about that is that we got the VERY front row seats. We did have to wait about 1 1/2 hrs though. Lorin went back to the car and got the cooler so we made some really yum sandwhiches. (Yes, it was me that made them!) In fact they were so delish that everyone had 2! Jamen and his friend Emily Delbosque, went and got ice cream. It looked soooo good. We decided to get some after we had walked around. We got to see Old Faithful go off. It was just as spectacular as I had remembered! It seemed to go on for a really long time. Then as it was finishing up- there was another one behind it that went off that was even more amazing! We went walking around. There are miles and miles of trail. You could walk for hours and not see all of it. Impressive! It was really pretty toasty out. We were all getting hot and sweaty. Lorin and Tevin had gone off on this other hike so we didn't know where they were. We walked back to Old Faithful. We were just in time to see it go off again. Lorin had a spot of cell service and called us. They were up on this really high observation place and could see all of the geysers that were going off. They said it was pretty amazing. Juston found them with his camera and took a distant picture of them. Then he zoomed in on it. We could totally see them waving at us! His camera was the bomb! After we watched it again we went inside of the lodge to get some ice cream. I don't know why but I guess I looked at the sign wrong and thought it was $1.00. I was going to get a HUGE one! Bummer when I found out that it was really $3.75 for a small! But it was so good! Nice and cool after a hot day in the sun. I think it would be fun to go up there and stay a few days and just check it all out. One day maybe, one day. We had to get back because we were supposed to be meeting Justons parents at 7pm for dinner. We started driving and then we saw some more cars pulled over---- what is it? what is it? We were like sheep- following the crowd! It turned out to be a very impressive male elk. He also was across the river which was probably a good thing because Elk boy Lorin was trying to get as close as possible and was making the elk mating call again. (He is actually pretty good at that weird noise!) We got some good pictures because of it anyway! We got back in the car and lo and behold, 5 minutes later we see--- something- I don't know what it was. Wait- Juston to the rescue- he took a picture of it. Turned out to be....... an Egret! Yay! An Egret! That was a fun side trip! Driving, driving- more cars- pull over. What is it this time? HOLY CRAP! It was a giant buffalo lying in the grass on the side of the road chewing its cud. Pictures? Yes please. I was a bit nervous (not as much as Brighton though, she was a chicken pants!) Lorin on the other  hand was dying to go pet it. I think he would've tried if I wasn't freaking out on him. We got some really cool pictures with the buffalo so close in the background. Even Brighton got out of the car and came and took one. It was cool! We drove again and the next time we stopped it was because there was a whole herd of buffalo out in a meadow. They are pretty scary all in a group like that. We walked out towards where they were to take some pictures. Lorin is now called "Buffalo man" He should probably get a second job as an animal caller! He made all those buffalo that were lying down, get up and face us. Hmmmm, wrong call I think! I ran away! And yes, I made Tevin run too. He didn't want to but I made him. I am not ashamed! Needless to say- we did not get back in time to go to dinner with his parents. I really felt bad about that. They are such nice people. I am glad Brighton has such good in-laws! We were going to go to a place called Big Judds for dinner- they have G.I.A.N.T. burgers. But we got there at 9:05 and they closed at 9:00. Totally Rude! Lorin did convince them to sell him some huckleberry ice cream however so he was happy! We ended up going to a yummy pizza place called Craigo's. It was an all you can eat pizza buffet. That had every known to man type of pizza and if they didn't, you could ask for whatever. They also had a pasta bar and a salad bar. And then to top it off, they had dessert pizza. Have you ever had oreo's or cookie dough on a pizza? I am pretty sure I was in heaven! It was so good! When we were done we went and dropped B&J off at their apartment so they could spend some time with his parents. (It was pretty late) Then we went and checked in at our hotel. Days Inn. Lets just say it definitely wasn't a 5 star hotel. MMMaybeee a 1 1/2 star. Maybe. It was an adventure, imagine a place with painted over wallpaper. 3 towels (for all of us) and kinda creepy- oh ya, that is where we stayed. My fault. I booked it. There wasn't a whole lot of choices. They did have a pool and a working TV though! Tevin was happy!

To be continued.........

Girls Camp part II

Part 2.....
So I have to tell you about some miracles that happened. When we got word that camp was cancelled everybody was really disappointed. 2 years in a row! Last year early evacuation due to fire, this year mud and rain. Hmmmm! Anyway- I had a bunch of messages on my phone so I started listening to them. One was from Tom Prince saying he had heard that camp had been cancelled and was there anything he could do to help organize another one for just our ward. Miracle 1- He is the one who put the idea into my head of doing our own thing. (Maybe I would've thought it myself.... eventually. He just got it there a lot faster!) So I called Bishop John Piet and asked if we could. He was a bit resistant to the idea cause he had some major, valid concerns. Location???? Food??? (Seriously no budget!!!) Priesthood???? If any one of those things couldnt be worked out, we wouldnt be able to do this. So I called Wendy Wallace. She started working on the location. Then I learned that the Stake was willing to pass out the food they had been planning on using for camp- show up at 6:00pm @ the church. Also Robert Butler said he would be able to come and be our priesthood. Holy Crap!!! It was working out! Called Wendy again and suggested the Worthens cabin. Found out Brother Jon Raymond was on "staycation" (on vacation but staying home) and would be willing to go and be our other priesthood. Wendy called back and said the Worthens cabin was available. I want you to know this all happened in a matter of minutes. I started to cry. I called the Bishop back and told him it was all set. I got ahold of my other YW leaders who had taken the girls to Noelle Tippetts cabin in Duck Creek for the night. I asked them to meet at my house at 6:00 to plan this baby out. They all agreed. (Miracle #2). They all came- THEY ALL CAME!!! They were tired, hadnt seen their families, and I am sure would much rather have been sitting on their couches at home. But they came!!! We got it mostly worked out. Noelle and Sarah Prince went to the church and picked up as much food as they possibly could. Jackie Decker was texting me at 2 am. Then they were calling me at 6:30 am. WHEN DID THEY SLEEP??? I am so indebted to them for getting it all done. We had called the girls to let them know we would be meeting at the church at 10 am the next morning (thurs). I thought we would lose a bunch of girls but WE DIDNT! Only 1! (Miracle #3) Miracle #4-- ROBERT BUTLER! That man is seriously AMAZING! He got in his truck and went all the way back to Kolob and picked up all of our girls stuff. Who does that? Someone who truly loves the Lord and wants to be of service to him in anyway possible, that's who! (And he went to the dentist the next morning too!) We ended up with only 2 girls stuff missing. And it all worked out just fine! Another cool story about their stuff was this- Mizlon Manuel had invited her friend Karly Kemp to come. She was worried about her stuff not being there to go to Mt. Charleston, so she and Mizlon didnt come to the church the next morning. Mizlons sister Deayjee was there so I asked her why Mizlon and Karly werent there. She told me the reason. I asked Robert if he recalled any bins for a girl named Karly. He said "hold on a second" and opened the drivers door of his truck. There sitting on the front seat was Karlys bin. (Miracle #5) I called them and told them to be ready to go. I was coming to pick them up. They came!
We finally made it to the cabin after a few lost drivers and overheated cars. We got the girls helping to unload. (Miracle #6!) They all helped with no complaining! We got somewhat organized and started having fun!
I want to tell you that I am truly thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that so knows what he is doing! I was a little worried about Jackie Decker, she was the camp director and she had been gone really a lot leading up to camp, and when I say gone a lot, I mean..... GONE A LOT!!! So I was worried. She is so the one who was supposed to be the camp director! She is the reason that Tallie & Sara Meyer were at our camp. She did so many extra's- like secret sisters- the girls were a little worried at first because they hadnt brought anything to exchange. She explained that no- that wasnt how this SS was going to work- you were supposed to write cute notes and make cards for each other. She had a tent set up with all the paper and supplies. I am pretty sure that that tent was NEVER empty! The girls were so excited about it! She had even brought this cute mailbox thing. She did a cute dance thing for our silly song. She divided the girls up into groups- 70's, 80's, 90's and present day. They had to make up a dance to go with their music. She played a game with the Bishopric- Who's Bishopric is  it anyway? Where she had done a survey with the Bishopric and they had to answer with silly props. She had stuck the big huge canopy in her trailer, just in case... So when it started to rain the 2nd night we had some place to go to be out of the rain. She was just so fun and cute with the YW! They totally loved her! She was definately Miracle #7!
We did lots of stuff-
Minute to Win it games! Seriously FUN! Dakota totally won the Oreo from forehead to mouth game due to her monster tongue!
The YCL's gave the cute baby beehives their new camp necklaces with their binky charm on it. We had also made a new charm for this year. So Jackie passed them out, they were really nice! They were made out of 2 glass squares, soddered together with a sun sticker in them- signifying "Seekers of Light". I loved having the YCL's pass out the necklaces. I think that should be a tradition every year.
Then Solo time- where everyone gets their scriptures and journals and goes off by themselves to read, journal or meditate. It was pretty awesome! Everyone really did do it and it was so quiet that you really could think. I really enjoyed it!
Dinner- MMM! Delish! Noelle and Sarah became the designated cooks and boy did they feed us well! Hawaiin haystacks, rolls, Beef stroganoff, noodles and gravy. It all was yummy!
We had divided the girls into their levels- 1st yrs, 2nd yrs ect. and given them the topic of "Seekers of Light" and told them to come up with a skit. THEY TOTALLY ROCKED IT!!! They all were so stinking good! All of them! We had even told the priesthood they had to do one. And they did! Theirs was the best I must admit! They did one about Bro. Raymond being a spanish dude in a dark bathroom with no toilet paper--- ask them for the details! AWESOME!!!!
Snipe hunt! Whitney Prince totally cried her eyes out she was so scared! (and her mother just laughed!) The YCL's did such a great job taking the cute baby beehives! Then Sarah fried up some Snipe legs (Spam she had cut into chicken leg shapes and fried) It was the coolest thing EVER!
During the Snipe hunt- Tallie Meyer had asked for a blessing. So our wonderful priesthood gave her one. Bro. Raymond annointed and Bro. Butler blessed her. It was an incredible blessing and she was given some pretty amazing counsel in it. The other thing that I thought was so cool was that Bro. Raymond after the blessing sat her down and taught her some doctorine on blessings. It was pretty neat. I think all of us in that room learned something.
Also during this time- Sarah Silveira was having a hard time. She was lying in her sleeping bag crying. I asked Tami Taylor to go over and see if she could help her in some way. When I checked on her later they were still talking together. Tami was the right one to send into that situation- More on that later.
Then we got the girls all settled on the giant platform outside for bed. It was really cool to be able to sleep under the stars!
The leaders did an impromptu devotional- Sarah talked about the 4 returned missionaries that came to help them get up the mountain & out of the mud. Then we sang them a hymn. I loved at the end of it, the girls wanted us to keep singing. I think the Spirit was felt by all! Then we had a family prayer led by Brother Butler.
Then.... well you know---- it took about 3 hrs+ for them to all fall asleep. Lots of farting and laughing. Music to a YW leaders ears! (Maybe not the farts but the laughing sure was!)
It was seriously the most perfect day!

Friday-
Woke up- cloudy and overcast- hmmmm, what about doing out night hike? I guess we'll see!
Brother Raymond did a compass course for us. We divided the girls into their levels and he taught us how to do it. I think I am a really S.L.O.W. learner- I still dont get it! It was fun though! I was really glad Tami came along to help our group out!
Then the YCL's did certification for the levels.
Lunch- then Solo time. We passed out the letters from the parents, it's kinda tradition. I had had the spouses of the leaders write them one also. I was really happy with the one Lorin wrote to me. This one was a keeper. (some of his are well- not super heartfelt) but this one was. It made me feel really good. (Thanks Lor!) This Solo time didnt go quite as smoothly as yesterdays. We lost one of the girls and was looking for her for about 30 min. Rrrrr! And the girls didnt all go out by themselves. It was an interesting moment in time!
Then the Bishopric came and it was chaos again. (good, fun, happy chaos)
Jackie had a game- Who's Bishopric is it anyway? That we all played. It was fun getting to know them a little better in such a fun atmosphere. They are total hams! It started raining during this so we all squished under the canopy.
Then the girls did their silly song for the Bishopric. It was crazy!
Dinner time!- Yummy again!
Then it was time for testimony meeting. We had planned on going on a night hike and doing it outside. But the rain made us come up with plan "B". As it turned out- plan "B" was exactly what we needed!
Sister Decker did this Rainmaker thing where you snap your fingers and rub your hands together and it all sounds like rain. It was really amazing! Then Sister Tippetts led off with the Seekers of Light theme. Then the Bishop spoke on obedience. i love to listen to him speak. He totally got the kids to participate while driving home his point. Mizlons friend Karly is deaf so Mizlon was signing to her. It was beautiful to watch. What a wonderful talent! Then Natalie Winterton started the testimonies. She is such a  wonderful YW! What a great leader! She did such a good job!
I think I started crying at the very beginnining of the meeting and I am sure I didnt stop until the very end. It was the MOST amazing testimony meeting. The testimonies that were shared and the Spirit that was felt was so incredible! I wish I could share the things that the girls said and felt. It makes me emotional just to think of it. We closed singing the song Seek the Light.

This camp was so what our ward needed. The time together, the fun we had. The friendships that were strengthened or renewed. The Spirit that was felt. We so needed this time together!
I've lost track of the miracles that happened but one final one was in me- I was overwhelmed, sad and tired before camp. I came away with a softer heart, a lightened load and the energy to be able to continue. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for this time I was able to spend with these INCREDIBLE, beautiful, wonderful and amazing YW and leaders!

Girls Camp 2011

Girls Camp---
Where to start? Where to start?
Dakota and I were able to go to camp on Monday with the 4th year girls for their hike. I was pretty excited about it since I have always wanted to go on a 4th year hike and for whatever reason it has never worked out. (I hope Dakota didn't mind me going). We met at the church at 8am. I of course had lost my good tennis shoes that morning (I really don't know where they were, I had them on the counter and then they were gone). We drove to Hurricane, Ut, had lunch at subway and then continued on to Kolob. We were hiking right by Kolob Reservoir- even though we never saw it. We all got our packs out. There were about 20 girls and 8 leaders. Those packs were so huge! Some of them were bigger than the girls carrying them. I had my Garmin watch on so I would be able to see how far we had hiked. It was really hot. We got moving and after about 1/2 of a mile I thought I was going to die! I was really glad I had taken a lot of the stuff out of my pack. I was almost at the very back of the pack. Dakota seemed to be doing good though. She was up towards the front. I think we were all sweating profusely! There were alot of cows wandering around mooing. The girls thought they were cute. We finally got to where we were going to be setting up camp. It was 3.7 miles in and took 2 hrs. to get there. Most of the way was on a trail but some of it was on this scary tiny game trail- DOWNHILL!!! We got the tents set up and ready for the night, then we were able to hike over to this waterfall and go cliff jumping. (The jump was probably 25-30'). It was pretty amazing! That cool water felt so good as you jumped in. It washed all of the nasty, dirty sweat away. It was fun watching the girls jump in. Some were daredevils and others were scardey cats. I think almost everyone jumped in. After we had swam as much as we liked, we went back to camp and made dinner. It was Mt. House meals- Lasagna or Beef Stroganoff. I had lasagna. It was pretty delish! We then had a fireside given by Brother Thorley. It was on if there really is a God. It was pretty good. I think it was a little above the girls heads but OK. At the very end of it, it started sprinkling rain. We all went to bed. I learned very quickly that I DON'T like sleeping by myself in a tent in the wilderness. Its super CREEPY!!! It rained off and on until about 2:30 am then it started pouring. My tent was by no means waterproof! It dripped like crazy! I finally got my 2 garbage bags out. I put one on my pack so it wouldn't get wet and be 10x's heavier in the morning and I put the other over my sleeping bag then I got in it. It was crazy but at least I wasn't getting wet any longer. I also got my pan out of my pack and put it by my head to catch the drips. I lost count after 700+. It did stop raining in the morning long enough for us to pack up and hit the trail. We didn't even take time for breakfast. (turns out that was a blessing!) Going back on that trail was seriously one of the hardest things I have ever done! It was so muddy and slippery. Our shoes quickly became so heavy with mud that it was hard to walk. Parts of the trail were so skinny and slippery I thought for sure someone was going to get hurt. It was a blessing and a curse to have the Garmin on. The first .10 mile took us an hour to traverse. The next 1/2 mile about the same. Then we finally made it to the big meadow and took a long rest. Dakota shared her beef jerky with me and I was so thankful! I felt bad eating it but I sure was grateful! Brother Thorley is one amazing man. There was this girl Sabrina who was having a really difficult time. He took her hand and practically pulled her out. I took her hand for about 5 min and thought I was going to die. I don't know how he did it. There was one point when we stopped to rest that I asked Sabrina if she wanted to say a prayer. She did but she couldn't talk. Brother Thorley offered it. It was the most heartfelt, sincere prayer I have ever heard asking for help (pleading), asking for the promise of living the word of wisdom- obey and ye shall run and not be weary. It was a beautiful prayer and I know it strengthened many on that hike. By the last mile I was counting steps, 1,2,3, up to 100 then I would stop and rest. It was that hard. I really didn't think I was going to make it out. But at the same time I didn't want to be "that" person that has to have help. When we finally did see the cars it was J.O.Y. I started to cry. It gave you that last bit of strength to make it. About 10-15 minutes after me came Brother Thorley and Sabrina. We made a tunnel of love for them to walk through as they finished. i am glad we did it because I saw a tiny smile on Sabrina's face as she went through. It took us 4 hours to hike out. We loaded our packs and got ready to go. I told the girls in my car that once they were in my car, they couldn't get out because the mud was so caked onto the shoes. I didn't want that in my car. Ewwww! Not to mention that Lorin would not have appreciated that! So they sat on the seat, took their shoes off and climbed in. I put all the shoes in a garbage bag. It was super heavy! Then, it was time to go!!! Yay!!! We were excited to get to camp! Sister Shimada was the first to go.......... She got stuck. We weren't going anywhere. You seriously don't have any idea how upsetting that was! She had a small car and we couldn't get around her. There was no plan. Brother Thorley wanted to sit tight and wait for it to dry out. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE TO DRY OUT? It had been raining all night and day!!! Sit there and wait? That could take days! We had no food & not much water! But sit there and wait we did. And remember when i said it was a blessing that we didn't eat breakfast? It was because we were each given 2 packets of oatmeal for breakfast which we were able to eat for dinner. And just let me tell you- I HATE OATMEAL! It is a big glob of slime going down your throat. But this oatmeal...... It was divine! We all had something warm in our stomachs. It felt good. Now came the trick of sleeping arrangements. I had 7 girls + me in my car. Dakota Noorda, Kimmee Raymond, Emma Bridenthal, McKenzie Green, Breanna Butler, Alicia Lucero & Rachel Silveira. We folded down the middle seat, but we couldn't the very back seat because of all the stuff in the back. Kimmee and I slept in the front seats, Emma somehow squeezed herself into the very back and the other 5 figured out the middle. There were arms and legs everywhere. You couldn't tell which body part went to what person. We did say a family prayer and that was comforting to me. I didn't sleep much that night because 1st- there was a lot of farting going on. Who knew teenage girls were so stinky! Then there was the fear that a bear or crazy man would try and kill us in the night and lastly the weight of the situation- what if we couldn't get out tomorrow? Was weighing on me. And having a steering wheel in your bed kinda cramps your style also. Not so comfy! But finally it was daylight! And we were getting out of there, one way or another!!!! We got ready again. Seat belts on- check. Prayer said so I wouldn't freak out- check. And then I gunned it! I was fishtailing all over the road. The girls were screaming. (I was silently saying a few nice words) And then we were at the top of the big hill. I think I started crying I was so relieved. But then there was a downhill. Oh CRAP! It was just as slippery and scary as the uphill. Up and Down, up and down. Finally we made it to the paved road. I think we all got out and kissed the ground. OK we didn't really but I know that I for one, wanted too! We tried to go down into base camp but Brother Thorley said it was too slippery. We decided to go into town and eat breakfast and get gas. We went to McDonalds. MMMM!!! I love their breakfasts! While we were there we got word that camp had been cancelled and we needed to go home. Disappointment. Doesn't even begin to describe it.

To be continued...................