Since U Been Gone

Not only was Craig on his own while I was gone for a week, it also just happened to be an insanely busy weekend that I missed-- I was so impressed that he managed to do it ALL on his own!

The first hurdle was the Tuesday night activities.  The Young Men were learning about taxidermy from our previous bishop, Steve Morgan.  I'm not going to include any of the gory pictures, let me just say that most of the boys were pretty horrified by it all.  Calvin in this picture sums it up pretty well:

Camille stayed outside and away from the animals for most of the night.  I think Colton wished he could have, too.  I'm not really sure who thought this would be a good activity, but it was pretty clear that the young men had NO IDEA what they were in for...!

I'm not sad that I missed this!

They also had fun doing stuff like this:And attending the high school football game and watching the marching band:

Tom and Donna were cold.  Apparently Colton was not, though?

And making their own fun...!

Saturday night was the ward Halloween party!

The kids had a great time with the doughnut eating contest (I heard from some grown ups that the doughnuts were a little too close for comfort-- people were nearly accidentally kissing their neighbors!!!  😂)

Colton looks slightly nervous before the pie-eating contest...

Camille is READY

Get it-- she's a deviled egg!!!

The following day was the primary program!  The bishopric had been concerned about having this the day after the Halloween party, but as Kip Krieger said, "We watch NASCAR for the car crashes!" so they decided if the kids were awful, it would still be pretty great.  From my Zoom view, everything looked great, but I did hear later that there was a small child running all over the pulpit out of my sight the entire time, so I guess it was more entertaining than I realized!

Anyway, Camille had two speaking parts-- for both of them, she was given a prompt, and then asked to write her own thoughts, too, and she did AMAZING.  I really was so impressed.  I'm going to share them here.  (So-- yes, the first and third paragraphs were written for her, she wrote the second and fourth on her own.)

An important part of the Restoration of the Gospel is building temples. Temples are sacred places where we make special promises to God, help our ancestors, feel the peace of the Holy Ghost, and draw closer to Jesus Christ. Early saints sacrificed time and resources to build temples because they knew that God would bless them with “power from on high” (Doctrine & Covenants 38:32).

During the open house at the temple I got the chance to go inside a little early, and right as I walked in, I felt peace and love and I knew for myself that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and died for us and when I walked out I felt incredibly lucky to have gotten to experience that.  I know that when I am older I want to go to the temple at least once a month so I can feel that feeling of peace and love, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

In Doctrine and Covenants section 14, verse 7 we read, “And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.” I am grateful for the miracle of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

Sometimes when I am scared I can’t fall asleep. A while ago I figured out a way so that I can sleep easily, and that is thinking of the lyrics of hymns and primary songs. One of my favorite hymns is "The Lord is My Light"; when I think or hear that song, it gives me peace and that is probably my favorite hymn.  I specifically like the lines “the Lord is my light, He is my joy and my song; by day and by night He leads, He leads me along” because that makes me feel very comforted and loved and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Isn't that wonderful??? What a great kid!

After church, they had a Munch and Mingle, and Craig managed to make my meatballs for that. And then that night there was a youth fireside and he brought dessert! Seriously, he was killing it!!! (I don't have any pictures from those, though. You'll just have to believe me.)

And finally, on Tuesday night the Young Men and Activity Days kids were combined so that they could carve pumpkins together!

Camille was thrilled to be paired up with Sawyer

And Ryder was with Clifford

And Colton was with Benson (which he said was terrifying, since Benson did NOT know knife safety!)

They made King Bob, the minion

And they made a "Soy-dog"

We just loved the derpy pumpkin on the left

Ryder and Clifford made a ghost?  I guess?

And that was the night I got home!  But my flight landed around 11pm, so everyone was in bed asleep by the time I walked in the door.  I was very grateful that I was able to fly in and out of Charlottesville rather than Richmond!

Last but not least, here's a short video of the pie eating contest.  Watch for Thor, and listen for Camille's hilarious cackling at the end!  😂