Anna's Belated Birthday Post

My birthday was both odd and good. It landed on Mother's day, which happened to be a Sunday too.

Now, I have NOTHING against Mother's day. I have a mother whom I love to celebrate and  friends who are moms whom I honor and look up to. BUT...it’s odd to be wished a "happy Mother's Day" several times and enjoy a Mother's Day brunch at church when #1 I'm not a mother and #2 it's actually my birthday. So guess what I did that I don't usually do? I skipped church. I feel a bit bad. But, there it is.

I went foraging for birthday flowers. Then Adam got me some additional blossoms. (Note, DON'T shop for birthday flowers ON your birthday IF your birthday happens to be on MOTHER'S Day. Of course the pickin's were slim. DO go shopping AFTER mother's day. I found tulips for 99 cents.) This is one of the two arrangements I created. I haven't done one in so long—it felt good.

My mom was visiting HER mom in Idaho, and didn't forget me either! They sent a Marco Polo and sang to me. What a surprise and how sweet! (Yes, I did something for my mother too.)

Adam planned the day for us to celebrate. After he got back from church we went window shopping at the Shops at Clearfork where we had terrible macarons and great gelato. He also made dinner reservations in Fort Worth. And when we arrived home, he plunked two "wish" items from my Amazon list in front of me. A weighted blanket (so awesome) and this little bluetooth lady below. Isn't she beautiful?! Sigh. I so ENJOY a well designed item. Why look at Ugly when Beautiful is available? Thank you Marshall.

Adam had angel food cake, strawberries, and a candle ready to go and sang to me. He made a really weird day into a pleasant one.

Thank you to everyone who remembered me...it meant a lot this year.

Camp Cook

At the last minute, and I mean the VERY last minute, our stake (made up of 8 different congregations) had to pull out of the venue they'd reserved for girl's camp this year. ALL plans had to change—can you even imagine? 

This change put us in charge of all the meals for 150+ girls and leaders. I was asked by my friend Nick (AKA "chef") to be a part of a VERY small kitchen staff in a VERY small kitchen, room enough for 4, maybe 5 if the fifth stayed at the sink and washed dishes (Ahem, Adam.)

Serving in any capacity at girl's camp is crazy busy and HARD. But the best place to work 18 hours a day until complete exhaustion and slap-happiness (I kid you not) is in the camp kitchen with this crew. Sandra, Rebecca, Nick, and I got along REALLY WELL...and Adam too.  I can't imagine how awful it would have been if our personalities clashed. (I had just met Rebecca...she's super cool. Nick invited me to work in the kitchen because he figured we'd like each other. Good call Chef.)

Those girls ate well. Nick and Rebecca had planned an easy, yet delicious menu for them. NO chicken nuggets this year! Bleck.
Smoked pulled pork? Yes.
Soft tacos? Yes.
Waffles with strawberries? Yes.
Salad bar every day? Yes.
Separate meals for those with allergies? Yes.
Etc.

The plus side is that we had our own hidden stash of treats in the kitchen. Ice cream? Yes. Popsicles? Yes. Dr. Pepper? Yes. Sometimes we'd find a half-an-hour free, so we'd pull out our camp chairs and sit right in the middle of the kitchen, eat an ice cream and talk. I loved that.

We all hesitate to say we'd do it again. Especially Chef Nick. He did all the prep work ahead of time. It was TOO much. But then we also agreed we MIGHT do it again if two things were to change (and if we could be together again and Nick not do the prep.)

1. We need our own sleeping arrangements.
We ladies were put on the other side of a pocket door from some of the girls. When you have to get up at 4:30am to start prepping breakfast at 5:00, giggly girls arguing in the next room over who's going to have the most babies with "him" until 1:00 am in the morning isn't ideal.

2. The campers take care of their own desserts.
It was TORTURE to clean up after dinner,  AND THEN have to wait around to handle dessert. We couldn't leave the kitchen until around 10:30. Next time they can do their own s'mores.

I am grateful for caffeine. I am grateful for painkillers. My knees ACHED the first night and I hardly slept. On the day we left, the nerves in my neck/shoulders were totally pinched and both my thumbs kept going numb. It took 4 days to physically recover from camp.
Good times. Glad it's over. But I miss the comradery of a kitchen family.

4th July Pinewood Derby

Our ward decided to combine a 4th of July breakfast with a no-rules pinewood derby this year.

Can you guess what we decided to make?

A Money Wagon! This time instead of hiding the weight inside the car, I thought it would be fun to make it an obvious part of the design. I think it's funny. It raced well too.
During one heat, a "dad" held our car back while letting the other two cars go. Then he released ours and guess who won? Boom baby! It's all about the money honey.
Below: A few of the other cars: Green Slime, Cheese, and Black Night. I thought the flag was a nice touch for the holiday.

We always have fun racing at the no-rules derby. I like to see how people cheat on the build of their car. And you know what else? There's NEVER any crying. We randomly race (drawing names out of a bowl—we do about three rounds) and then open it up to challenges. When you can pick who you race...you can win EVERY time. The kids have THAT one figured out.

(For some reason, people have had a hard time wrapping their head around the no-rule, just for fun, concept. Some STILL don't attend because they don't like "competition" and all the bad feelings that ensue but we've had none of that the past three years.)

Below: Adam is MC again. Told you he's good at it.

This year some of the adults have FINALLY got the "no rules" part figured out and started putting weight on their cars. So, I think we came in at a solid third. Might have to work on aerodynamics next time. We've ignored that part thus far. Or we could figure out how to power it. Hmmm.

Later that night we went out for our usual Thursday night wings at Wingstop and then to a friend's house for swimming in the dark with glow sticks. Happy Independence Day America.

Friends with Boats

Last week Lee took us out on his newly acquired boat! I have to say, it hasn't felt a lot like summer to me, but a ride around the lake, fishing, and some float time with these dudes finally brought on the sunny time feels.

Found some lyrics by Keith Walker that put it right, "Crankin' up the good times, Soakin' up the sunshine...Life is good 'cuz we got friends with [a boat!]"

We're excited for these besties of ours! Good times ahead for them!

Now we're wondering what WE can bring to the friendship table....well, gas money for sure. LOL.

But you know what I mean. :)