My three oldest children left me this week for girls’ camp.

That is our stroller all packed up with girls’ camp stuff.  It does have a baby in it, too. . . somewhere.  It was very sad saying goodbye to my big girls!  Not only are they a big help around the house with all the little people, I also really enjoy them and love them lots!

But!  Alas and alack!  Girls’ camp is so much fun and so good for them, we made the sacrifice!

Since they were gone, we only had one softball game this past week.  It was Mariah’s and she did great, as usual.  I would have enjoyed it more, except that I had to chase Benjamin all over the park, so we left early.  :)  Usually Savannah watches Ben at home while I do softball games.  She is a great help!

We also had swim lessons this week!  It was our last week of it, and I did forget to take a picture – partly because I had to bring Beth and Ben to swim lessons so I could watch on the last day and I was spending the last hectic moments trying not to lose two little ones and find the keys that Bethany had been playing with and hidden in a nook in the wall.  Nice!  Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne all did swim lessons and they all seemed to learn a lot and have a lot of fun.  I’m glad they got to do it!

Let’s see, what else?  Mariah got a whole lot more computer time this week with all her older sisters gone.  She also took over Savannah’s job in the house playing music loudly and singing even louder.  That was nice of her to help me not be so lonely!  She was a great help with her little sisters all week.

On Wednesday night, we were invited up to camp for Kevin to speak to the girls.  The theme of the camp was “Daughter of a Heavenly King,” and all the events centered around medieval royalty.  So, Kevin’s topic was, “Finding your Prince Charming.”  Cute, huh?  He did great and they even let me talk to the crowd for a little bit, too.  The best part of all was being able to see our girls halfway through the week, though!  They all gave us great hugs and got us up to date on everything they had been doing.  It was Megan’s first year at girl’s camp and I think maybe seeing us in the middle of the week made her homesick.  She asked Savannah to come sleep in her tent with her that night, which she did.  Meg said that helped.  How wonderful that my girls are looking out for each other!

Finally, on Friday, our campers came home none the worse for wear, despite the rain most of the day Thursday and the occasional thunder storm during the week.  They had lots of spiritual experiences, strengthened friendships, and learned new appreciation for the adults around them.  It was a great week.

The little girls liked the things they brought back from camp, too.

 

On Saturday, Kevin worked on some of our broken sprinklers.  I sent Benjamin out to help him.  That was nice of me, huh?  Well, the laugh was on me because Ben sat down and started eating fistfuls of mud!  Okay, that is just gross.  Is that a boy thing???

Sunday was Father’s Day!!  We had stake conference and Savannah and I sang in the choir, so for Father’s Day, Kevin got to take care of the kids without my help.  That’s not nice is it?  He did great though, of course.  He doesn’t even need my help!  Anyway, I did make him homemade buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and his mom and I worked together on making a fried chicken dinner with all the fixings that afternoon.  It was yummy!  Later we all gathered in our front room for presents.

It was great fun and we are so glad to have such a terrific dad!  How blessed are we!  I am so thankful to have found such a wonderful Prince Charming of my own who teaches my girls what to expect from Prince Charmings in their own lives!  Here’s to dreams coming true . . .  We love you, Kevin B.