One Summer Event Down, Many to Go!

Ian and Maggie returned home from youth conference Saturday, tanned/burned, tired, and testifying of the truth of the gospel. The highlight for both of them was a fireside by a member of the first quorum of the seventy, Elder Craig W. Zwick. They were both so impressed by him and thrilled to have heard him in a more personal setting. (I shared with them that their father took him around in a golf cart when I was running a conference at the U of U many years ago and that we were both impressed with him then--prior to his call into the seventy.) Since our stake alternates between ward and stake youth conferences, this was Maggie's first youth conference on a stake level. They took all the youth to Camp Williams (a National Guard training facility) where they were thrust into all sorts of activities. But I love that they both come home stronger in the gospel and in their own testimonies. It's such a good thing.

Griffin gets to go to his first Cub Scout Day Camp tomorrow morning (7 am!) and can hardly wait. His lunch is already packed (except for his sandwich which I convinced him to wait on) and he's got us all on countdown alert. He's pretty disappointed that it's not an overnight camp and is, I'm sure, formulating a way in his mind to make it such. Each sibling was awakend this morning with a personal reminder from Griffin that tomorrow was camp day, that he gets to take a lunch, and be a real scout! Ian has a student council meeting at 7 as well, so I guess there's no sleeping in for any of us since Ellie has swim practice early too.

Once Cub Scout camp is done, then the countdown is on for our Italy trip! There has been a flurry of email between family members, reserving hotels, scheduling events, and contacting the airlines. My lists are long and involved with all the tasks that need to be done before we go and even while we are there. I'm hoping my neck holds out through this trip. It's been such a struggle this week with how I'm feeling. Maybe it's just getting all the pain out of my system before we go. (Wouldn't that be convenient!)