Student government camp and EFY by Ben

Here's Ben to tell about student government camp and EFY;

Student Government camp was one of the greatest opportunities I have been given so far in my life. When I got elected I was kind of scared because I didn't really know some of the older people and was a little bit uncomfortable to share my ideas but they welcomed me kindly and I grew very comfortable and became good friends with all of them.
At gov camp we had the opportunity to go against other schools in competition and also work with other schools to better strengthen each of our schools we were representing. All of the student governments from each school were invited to create a dance before the camp and then perform it to all the other schools in a dance battle. Our school took first place and it was a blast. The camp leaders also gave us the time to talk with the other schools about our differences and see if we could adopt any of their different ideas and incorporate them into our school. That was a great opportunity for me to be able to see what I can do for our school to make it better. We also got to do a high ropes course. That was a lot of fun because it also required a lot of teamwork with each other and we found out that when we work together we can get a lot of stuff done. During the night we would all stay up late and play MarioKart or eat candy and talk after it was lights out which was a lot of fun. We found out a lot about each other and we realized that a lot of us have a lot in common. I am so excited to serve in student government this year and I am looking forward to be able to better enhance my high school experience as well as meet new people.

One week after I got  back from gov camp I packed my bags again for 6 days to attend Especially For Youth in Provo. I didn't really know what to expect other than some people in student government said that it was like gov camp but with the spirit so that's pretty much all I knew and that was all I was expecting.
When I got there with my friend Nate Parker we got settled and met our company. I wasn't sure about them at first but then we all became great friends and we were sharing personal insights and experiences before I knew it. Before EFY I didn't have a really strong testimony of the savior Jesus Christ or his atonement. However, during one of the classes a very strong feeling came over me that I can't describe and I just knew. I knew that He died for me and that He loves me. Each morning after we met up with our company we did personal gospel study. This was a great time for me to be able to settle down and just read, ponder, and study my scriptures. I learned excellent techniques to better enhance my learning and scripture study. My two counselors names were Ian and Amanda. They were fantastic! They helped my company and I really feel the spirit and get to know each other through games that we played and spiritual experiences we shared. We also sang excellent music that brought the spirit to every fireside, morning side, meeting, or event. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go to EFY this summer and I hope that I can go back again next year. I just want to bare my testimony that I know God lives. I know that He loves me and that He performed the atonement for me. He knows me by name and He loves all of his children individually. He would do the atonement all over again just for one of us. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and he really did receive revelation to reorganize this church in the last days. I know that Russell M. Nelson is the current prophet on the earth today and he really does lead and direct our church. I am so grateful for the temple where we can make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father and be together with our families forever. I am so grateful for my family and I love them and I know that we are sealed for time and all eternity in the name of our savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Trek and girls camp by Mary

Here's Mary to tell about her trek and girls camp experiences;

Hi. I will start with my trek experience. Trek was one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my entire life. When we got to the Mosida trek site, we were put into our families and waited to start our trek. My family was so fun and I loved spending time with them. My big brother was my favorite because on the first day, we had a Napoleon Dynamite quote contest to see who could say the most quotes. It was so fun. On the way to the river on the last day, we talked about Disneyland and the best places to eat there.

I loved going to trek and seeing all the places the the pioneers walked through. We stopped at places called Fort Laramie, Winter Quarters, Martins Cove and many more places. Crossing the river was really cool. My real dad carried me across it. It was nice to feel what the pioneers felt when crossing the many rivers on their way west. I loved trek so much and I wish I could have been there longer!

Now girls camp. For girls camp we went to Bear Lake and stayed in a huge, 3-level cabin. It was really cool and there were flushing toilets and showers!!

On the first day, we met at the clubhouse at 8am. On the way to the cabin we stopped at Minnetonka Caves in Idaho. I went to three states in one day! After the caves we went to the cabin. We picked our rooms and crafted and rested for the rest of the day. I went to sleep at 12:45 that night because my friends and I stayed up and talked until we couldn't anymore.

On the second day, we got up at 7:30, ate breakfast, got dressed and went to the lake at 10am. The lake was so fun because we rented paddle boards, kayaks, and a water trampoline. The water was so cold and when I got up to my hips in the water, my legs went numb. I got used to it after a while. We got pizza for lunch from a delicious restaurant called Firehouse Pizzeria. If you ever go to Bear Lake, I seriously recommend this place. It is delicious. After the lake, we got milkshakes at LeBou's. They were so yummy! That night, I went to bed early. 11:50!! Before bed, though, we had a lovely testimony meeting and dessert with the bishopric. We also got in a huge circle outside with candles and said something we like about the person next to us.

On the last day, we got up at 7:30 again, packed up, and left for the Brigham City temple around 10am. We stopped at Costa Vida before the temple and that was delicious. The temple was lovely. After the temple, we were on our way home. Me and my friends made bracelets and listened to Aladdin and High School Musical music all the way home. I loved girls camp and can't wait to go next year!

Student government camp and Trek by Michael

I'm turning the keyboard over to Michael to blog about his student government camp and trek experience with the Mountain Point Stake;

Student Government Camp at USU was so amazing.  I had so much fun and learned so much there it was so awesome.

We left early Monday morning from the school, and we drove up to Utah State.  When we got there, we met our counselor, Kenzie, who went to Bingham too and was an SBO there.  We got our dorms, and I was with Kaden, Carter, Benjamin, Carson, and Jacob.  We went and played games with other schools, then we went to an opening assembly to talk about what to do and eat lunch.  I took some classes after that, and they were really good, except for this one where this guy talked about a bunch of analogies to explain how diversity is good but never told us how to use it for good or what to do.  After the classes we went to a huge meeting of the other class officers from around the state, and we all talked about what things we do at our school.  I learned a lot of different activities that I can do for next year, and I'm excited.  That night we did a spirit bowl, all the schools were separated into four color teams, silver, green, gold, and blue.  We were silver.  There were a bunch of camp games during that, and every team got points for winning an event.  Silver lost big time, and we were all super sad.  That night, Kai and Max came into the dorms talking about some stuff and we asked them where they were.  They told us they saw the "basalt flow lobe", and we were super confused until Kai took me to see it, and it was just a rock labeled in front of the geology building.  That was the funniest thing that came out of gov camp.

Tuesday was an assortment of different things like planning sessions and classes, and we did a ropes course that was super fun.  That night we got to swim and play around at the rec center there.  It was a blast.

On Wednesday we  did pretty much the same thing, and that night we did the dance battle.  We had been practicing the dance since almost two weeks before the camp, so we had ours down.  We all wanted to win really bad, so we put a lot of work into it.  We did our dance perfectly, and everyone had a great time.  When the judges were deciding who won, every team chose two people to do a mini dance battle, and Isaac and another kid did it for silver, and Isaac was so good he won an extra two points for our team, and we were still in last place.  We ended up winning, and we all went crazy.  We were so happy that we were able to do that.  There was a dance later that night, and it was wild.  The DJ was really good and I had a blast doing that.

The next day we got up and were waiting to leave, then we found out our bus was cancelled for some reason, so we had to wait another two hours for it to get back.  Gov camp was absolutely incredible.  We had such a blast.  I think one of my favorite parts was we set up a Nintendo Switch and a projector on the wall and played Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart in our dorms.  I had a great time.

Now about trek;
I missed the trek with our stake earlier this month because of student government camp, but we were able to find another trek for me to go to, which was the Mountain Point Stake.  Mom's hair stylist Michele said I could go with their stake for trek.  It was very nice of them to let me go.

We got to their stake center at about 5:30 in the morning on Monday this week, and then we met our families.  My Pa, at first, kind of scared me because he had tattoos everywhere.  After I got to know him I realized he was really nice.  We called our pa Nick because he thought he was old if we called him brother Dixon.  He liked to talk a lot, and it was pretty funny.  We got in vans with our families and drove five hours away to Martin's Cove.  We stopped at Independence Rock first for a couple hours. It was super windy, and I saw the carvings of the old pioneers that would come through there on the trek west.  Then we went to get a handcart near Devil's Gate, we watched a video, and then we walked three and a half miles to our first campsite.  That night we played games like ax throwing, which was super hard but super cool too.

We stayed there over night and got up the next morning, took down our tents, and walked to a pavilion near the actual Martin's Cove.  We dropped our handcarts there and walked up the cove.  There was a very special and strong spirit there, knowing that so many people died right where we were.  I could feel the saints that were there around me.  We walked back to the handcarts and went back to the vans.  Then we went to the Sixth Crossing where the Willie Handcart Company was rescued.  We set up camp right there and spent the night.  We had a hoedown that evening that was super fun, too.

The next day we got up and got our handcarts, then we did an eleven mile trek in a big loop.  That was a very cool experience for me.  We saw the place where John Linford, a member of the company, had died, we saw the place where the rescuers found the company, and we did the women's pull.  The only thing that wasn't so good about that hike was my allergies were really bad the whole time.  We also did a river crossing on the Sweetwater River.  After we got the handcarts across, we went back and played in the river.  We did a tug of war in the water that was super fun.  When we got back we just hung out, we did have a fireside where "Levi Savage" told what he did.  That was pretty much a mosquito feeding frenzy, though.  After they gave us letters that our actual parents wrote us.  I felt very good because my parents wrote very nice letters to me.  That night our Ma and Pa convinced the stake presidency to let us stay out longer than everyone else if we were quiet, so we sat around a fire and talked.  That was probably one of the most fun experiences I had it was super good.

The next day we went to Rocky Ridge, where the Willie Handcart Company ran into kind of a mess.  Thirteen people died there, and you could feel the somber spirit where they were buried.  They had a memorial there, which was very cool.  We had a fireside near there, at an amphitheater, then we got in the vans to go home.  I slept most of the way because I was so tired.  I got home that night, and my final mosquito bite count was 45.  It was pretty bad.  I am grateful that I got to have the trek experience, and I learned a lot. It was amazing.

Sara

Sara is an outstanding girl. She is cheerful, friendly and eager to learn new things.

Sara loves to dance.

These dance pictures were taken in April.

 Mary and Sara can often be found choreographing new dances together.

Sara is nurturing. She loves to care for her baby dolls and our dog.

Sara loves to cuddle. She is always the first one awake and I look forward to our morning cuddles.

A few days ago we were waiting for the people who bought our couch to come pick it up. Sara was there to cuddle her dad and baby while we waited.

 I am Sara's new Activity Days leader. I love being able to plan activities for and spend time with Sara and her friends.

Sara loves to learn new things. Dad has been letting Sara "drive" home from church the last two weeks. She loves it.

 Mary and Sara are learning how to sew a skirt with Sister Stubbs.

Our sweet Sara was baptized a couple of months ago. Here are some pictures that were taken in her baptism dress...

Sara's summer interview;
Favorite pastime- I like to play with my dolls
Favorite food- Spaghetti-O's
Favorite song- Trampoline by Shade
Favorite book- Princess in Black
Favorite movie- Mary Poppins Returns
Favorite subject in school- art
Favorite holiday- Christmas
What do you want to be when you grow up? Cowabunga Bay lifeguard
Favorite Activity Days activity so far? Combining with the MiaMaids for spa day
Favorite vacation spot- Disneyland
What do you do well? Dance and swimming
What makes you laugh? Mary being silly
Best time of day- When I get to go swimming
What do you like to do with your family? I like to do our Come Follow Me lessons and also play games (Cover you assets is my favorite game)
What do you love to learn about? cooking (I like watching Kids Baking Championship)
If you go on a mission, where would you like to go? Australia
I love it when my mom...laughs and is funny
I love it when my dad...takes us to Hawaii and Disneyland
I love it when my siblings...play with me and be funny
If you had one wish what would it be? To live at Disneyland
We love you Sara!

Luke

Luke is a great young man. One of the things that I love most about Luke is his zest for life.

Luke enjoys being anxiously engaged. Luke has a contagious smile and laugh.

Luke loves to read. He finds time to read whenever he can.

 In fact, I've lost track of the number of books he has read already this summer.

Yesterday he started the 5th book in the Percy Jackson series and he asked me if we could order a new series. I ordered the new series yesterday because I know he will be done with the 5th book in a day or two.

I'm grateful for the good relationships that our boys share. Luke loves to hang out with his older brothers. As both of his brothers were getting ready to leave for trek and EFY this week, Luke said, "Mom, I'm happy that they get to go but I'm sad because I will miss them." Our three boys love to play basketball, ping-pong, K'nex, etc... Luke also loves to experiment with his brothers. Here's some recent pictures that Michael and Luke created;

Luke's summer interview;

Favorite past time- playing sports (mostly basketball)

Favorite food- lasagna

Favorite song- Life is a highway

Favorite book- Fabelhaven

Favorite movie- Marvel movies (I like em all)

Favorite subject in school- US History

Favorite holiday- Christmas

What do you want to be when you grow up? Play in the NBA

Favorite scout activity- camping

Best accomplishment so far- gotten good at ping-pong

Favorite vacation spot- the beach

What do you do well? sports (mostly basketball and some baseball)

What makes you laugh? the pictures above that I took with Michael

What do you like to do with your family? Playing at the park with them and reading scriptures with them

What do you love to learn about? US History and Animals

Where do you want to go on your mission? Probably England

I love it when my mom...Makes dinner and plays with us

I love it when my dad...makes me laugh

I love it when my siblings...are nice to each other

If you had one wish what would it be? Get a penny and then double it each day for the rest of my life

We love you Luke!

Mary

Our Mary is an amazing young woman. She is talented, intelligent and nurturing.

Mary loves to dance.

 These dance pictures were taken in April. Mary started pointe ballet this year dancing with older girls who already had a year of experience. She caught on quickly and did amazingly well. I admire her determination to work hard.

Mary is nurturing. She recently came to exercise class with me. One of the ladies had a baby that was fussy. Mary took the baby for a walk in the halls and before we knew it Mary had the baby to sleep in her arms. She endured tired arms so that a mom could get the exercise she wanted.

 I am grateful for the sweet relationship that our girls share.

We love you Mary!

Benjamin

Benjamin is a remarkable young man.

One of the things that I love most about Ben is his nurturing spirit. He thinks of others often and loves to help. He is a natural leader.

Ben is very responsible. He is dedicated to his church calling, his family, his leadership role at school, and his school work. 

 Ben is at EFY this week. We miss him. We hope he has a great and unforgettable experience at EFY.

Ben recently earned his Eagle scout award.

Nice job Ben!

We love you!

Michael

Michael is an amazing young man.

One of the things that I love about Michael is that he's mature and responsible but he's also still a kid. He still plays K'nex, Legos and games with his younger siblings.

Michael is the first to start the dishes after dinner.

I love that he is happy to drive his siblings around for me.

Michael recently had his first job interview. After he got the job, he said, "Mom, I'm really excited to work at Chick-fil-A. It seems like a fun place to work. Everyone is happy there."

I love Michael's positive attitude.

Our three boys building a roller coaster.

Michael attended a mandatory student government camp at Utah State this month.

He said he had a great time, made good friends, and learned a lot.

The only bad part about student government camp is that it was at the same time as our Stake Pioneer trek. Since trek only happens every 4 years, we were afraid Michael might not get the chance to go on trek (he will leave for his mission next Summer).

Then my hairdresser mentioned that her stake trek was approaching. Not only did her stake presidency allow Michael to go with them, a member of the stake presidency called me to tell me how much they would love to have Michael join them.

Michael decided to go even though he doesn't know a single person.

We quickly researched an ancestor for him to trek for.

We ran around to gather the necessary clothing and supplies.

Within a few days he was packing his bucket for trek.

 Including his $1.99 straw hat from Ikea with a shoe lace we rigged to keep it from blowing away in the Wyoming winds :)

This morning at 5:30am, I watched Michael get in a van with a bunch of people he doesn't know.

He is so brave.

I appreciate his willingness to do hard things.

I hope and pray that he has an amazing trek experience this week.

We love you Michael!