Year in Review - February 2008

Before our wards split in 1/2 .. the Laurel's class planned one last final activity for the youth. It was a compilation of team building games and one was called the human knot .. here is our effort at it!


Hershey kiss game. Unravel kisses with mittens on ... it was harder than it looked but I have a feeling the youth have played this game once before!


OK, so we'll call this the donut game (which turned into a grape eating contest) the kids got bored with the donuts and we had left over grapes as part of the refreshments and had them throw it in each other's mouth...it was a fun alternative. I don't have pictures just videos of that but we'll have to wait and see if it's worth displaying!


Later in the month we took the girls to Ross Lodge, we were snowed in but had a ton of fun .. maybe too much fun! Here are some pictures of the place. I don't have any pictures of the girls because they were all sleeping when I was able to use my camera. We made them cinnamon rolls for breakfast, they liked that!

2009 in Review - January

So, because I have been neglecting my blog .. i figure I'd give you all a 2009 year in review thus far! I think I will be updating per month as time permits. Enjoy.

January 2009

I went to Vegas to visit with my Sister Brooke & Brother Bob & his family. I spent a month out there and had a blast, even though Paul was missing me back home!


My nieces and nephew hang out at Aunty Brooke's place

After an awesome 10 yr old Party for my niece Kayla, we ended up at Embassy Suites where they had an all you can eat made to order breakfast buffet, I wish I would have taken a picture of it! It was yummy & great! Also, cocktail hour .. all you can drink (some family & friends were happy for this when they came to hang out with us before bed)


My brother Bob & his wife Jen, hanging out downstairs in the visiting area


My brother Jon & his girlfriend Amanda joined us from Texas. It was great to see him. The only one missing now was our baby brother Jason, who was in Hawaii. I can't be too sad for him!

Service Missionary ...

I hope they call me on a mission ...

We all know this well known toon from Primary! ha ha ha, yep! I know this isn't like those other "mission's" and I am not in my twenties but it's pretty cool. I am working in our area mission office and it's pretty great! I will have to take some pictures the next time I am in and post it on here. Right now you'll have to just settle for the nametag. Yep! Pretty cool, I have a nametag! :-) Paul has been trying to get me to wear it at church but I serve in the office, it's where I should wear it. Not only has Paul been extremely supportive about this, he says that I fit right in like I have been working there for years! I think that's the point. It's comfortable, and I get to meet the new missionaries and get to know the office ones. There's so much to do!

Girls Camp!!!!

Alright, it's that time of the year where I engross myself in girls camp stuff! Yes, Girls Camp! I love Girls Camp - - I do have to blame my leaders on this for if it weren't for them, I would never have enjoyed Girls Camp and expected to try and make it better for the girls that I am currently over at the ward level! I love my girls and of course girls camp. I know I am not being cheesy mentioning Girls camp (hahaha) over and over but I can't seem to get enough of it! My husband thinks I'm crazy and that might be true but to an extent! Anyway, If you have facebook, you know that I have uploaded a bunch of photos from years past of girls camp and if you've been to girls camp, you are probably in the pictures as well! I don't apologize for it, I say I love it! It was real, it was fun, it was real fun! I hope you agree! Anyway, yes - I'm loosing it and it may be because Girls Camp is 2 weeks away! Yeah for me! Enjoy. In other matters, Paul & I are taking the Priest & Laurels to Six Flags this Saturday! We're excited, if you can go, let me know I can get tickets for cheaper than at the door! about 1/2 the price! 414-793-2220 or email me ekduha@yahoo.com

So much to update and little time to do it. I haven't updated my blog in awhile, sorry guys but with good reason. I'm trying to get back in the habit and so here is what we have been doing. Youth Conference, Youth Conference, Youth Conference!!!! We've been up to our ears in Youth Conference stuff but have now started getting back to normal though for me, it's not Girls Camp, Girls Camp, Girls Camp. I'm just glad I'm not serving on stake! I just have to worry about my ward girls! So, I have no YC pics because I accidently deleted them but hopefully they can be saved and Girls Camp is upcoming but in the meantime, this week I had my girls who showed up to activities paint something to do with the Camp Theme! Be What You Believe, and here is the result! Enjoy!

Paul - Woodbadge

Alright, so Paul had his woodbadge ceremony and invited some of his family to participate. He had his nephew help him with the honors and it was sweet. Ben, Nick, & Jake all came in their scout uniform to help him celebrate this honor. If I listened correctly, the Woodbadge is the highest honor an adult in the Boyscout program can attain. It is the equivalent of 2-3 eagle projects. It was a lot of work and time!

Utah Trip

Leslie & I had an awesome time in Utah! It is beautiful there with the mountains .. most of you know what I mean! Here are a few pictures of our adventure.

Park City


We spent a day in Park City .. nice shopping but expensive! We enjoyed it! We noticed the elevation was whipping our butts! hahahahah

Sundance - Yes, it's a community


Sundance is more than a festival, it's a community and was beautiful .. the road was definitely steep and the homes there were well hidden but other than that we saw a couple of ski slopes.

Provo Canyon - Holy Cow, Beautiful!

March Update

WARD GROWTH
Our ward split this month, it was a really big deal because none of us knew what was going on. We also didn't know who was doing what, everything was changing but we knew that this was a good thing. As we enter the church building for the last time as West Allis 1st Ward, Sherie had some things planned for camp night ... camp that we would not all be attending together as a ward. So here are a couple of pictures from this nights event. I forget the name of this game but as you can see everyone was having fun!



TEMPLE DAY

Later in the month, before we left for Utah .. Leslie decided to change her Temple date to include Paul. So last minute changes were made and we attended the Chicago Illinois Temple instead of the Draper Temple. It's ok, it was a great day. She was able to have a few of her favorite people. Here are a couple of pictures.

Last Day in Las Vegas

As I reflect on the time I spent here ... I am grateful to my husband who was very supportive of me (and came up with the idea) of coming here to help my brother in his move to London! I am also grateful for getting to know my neices and nephew and getting to see my brothers, sister, & mom. All the kids together except the baby - Jason. Who we were sad was not here to join in the fun! Here's a video of my brother playing dodgeball with the kids!

Paul misses Me!!!!

Ha Ha Ha!!! I knew he couldn't live with out me but it has been so sweet to get phone calls from my hubby! OK .. being away from each other for a month is a long time but it's cool! This evening I got a call from him asking when I would be home .. exactly 2 weeks from today! He then couldn't get a hold of me and called my Mom for my brother's cell phone number because i left mine at my sister's apartment along with hers! I know he misses me .. I miss him too but time with my family is important and soon enough we'll be back together bugging each other!

On an up note, this Sunday - Brooke's Stake is having a special fireside and we'll get to see Elder Tom Perry! Yippee!!!!!! Can't wait! Enjoy - I know I am! :-)

Update

Sorry I haven't been online to update you guys on anything. I am in Las Vegas for a month back on the 12th! So far it's been really cool and fun to catch up with family and hang with the neices and nephews and site seeing! That has been fun!

My brother and his wife took their car to calif to drop off for shipment to London! He left the kids with Brooke and me and we tried to keep them amused while they were gone. So, we tried our best and the 1st night they got to spend with grandma, while Brooke and I went shopping. When we got back, they were asleep and we decided to spend the night at Brooke's with them instead of taking them home. Next day was clean day and then I took my neices to meet friends to watch Hotel for dogs .. i liked the movie but it was a typical dog movie with dogs ... anyway later, we decided to take the kids to Toys r us. Brooke needed a guitar stand for her guitar. So, off we went to Toys r us .. parked the car and went in with the kids. So, after about an hour we checked out and was on our way ... when we reached the parking lot .. the truck was gone! Yes, gone! Our prankster brother got a call that they saw their truck and so he tried to get a hol of us but Brooke's phone was at home and mine and his daughter's sound was turned down because of the movie ... ANyway, joke on us .. he pulled up with the truck! surprise! though, whats funny is that we stopped for dinner and they went home but no keys because he left his in the truck that we were driving ../ so now he had to wait until we got back home to get into his place! That was the highlight to my trip so far until last night! My sister, myself, and her friend got to go see Cirque du solei - Mystere .. it was amazing and the funny thing is that we were 3rd row from the front of the right side of the stage! It was an amazing show! I can't believe the acrobats they did!
So anyway ... that's my update here in Vegas. Hope everyone is doing well! HOpe to see you soon. ENjoy!