Our little Buddy...

Well our good day has turned dismal. Our sweet Chocolate Lab, named Buddy, has passed away. He was a sweetheart and a goofball. Poor Bryan found out before heading out to the "Son's of Liberty" encampment this morning. He shed a few tears, but he is fine now. Although sad, he will be enjoying his exeprience for the next few days and that will keep him busy. Buddy though was our little sweetheart always loving to get his ears scratched and give puppy kisses...even though he was an adult. I feel worst for Don. He loved Buddy so much. I am sure that he will be fine, but today will be a sad day for him. I shall never forget him jumping in the swimming pool to swim with the kids, catching our customer's chicken...and not killing it, and the endless humping on my poor dog even though he was snipped a long time ago. He was our goofy little guy and I will miss him.

I've found them! I've found them!!!!

We have worked hard on Don's side of the family it our family history, but there have been some blockades that we can't explain. In Sicily for example there is a clan of Salamones and of course everyone in the entire family has the same names!!!! Ugh! My brain hurts just thinking about it, but I was able to link and start thinking on another generation last night. I am also searching for Pedro Mendoza, in Mexico...How hard can it be?!?!?! Kind of like finding: "John Smith" in the US I guess. FABULOUS!!!!Needless to say, it has been a long haul on this little branch of the family tree, but the branch is starting to extend now. I am thrilled to finally have a breakthrough!!! It's about time!!!

Welcome Home Mom & Corinna...Good-bye Bryan!!!

Not to keep our family together for TOO long, but Bryan will be departing again fro a scout experience that will be a once in a lifetime thing. he is heading off to the Son's of Liberty Scout Encampment thursday morning. Yes, I know he will be missing school, but when you hear who he will be with you can decide if you would send your son there. He will be there for fabulous scout experiences as well as spiritual ones. He will be listening to counsel from the likes of John Bytheway and L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for those few days that he is there. There are more inspirational people that will be there, but those two are the ones that stick out in my mind. Youth from all over Northern California are joining together for this experience. If it were me it would be mind blowing. I truly hope that what Bryan sees, hears and does makes a good impact on his life. I know it would mine.

Released...Read...and Report!!!

754 pages!!! I loved coming home from camp with a new book to read. Yes, I know, I know...it was released Saturday at midnight and it took me about 6 good hours to read it. Yes, I am a speed reader. I can read rather fast and retain information. Another friend has also read the entire book and we have already had quite a good converstation on it. Fort hose of you who have not read it then please do not continue reading this post as it will spoil the ending. So, here is my review:

In the beginning, when Bella was driving her new car, or shall we say missle proof car, I was laughing so hard. It was so like Edward and I was pleasantly surprised that I just fell right into step as if I had just finished reading the last book with no breaks. I admit that I adore Stephenie Meyer's writing style and her ability to tell a story. I admire the way she weaves her story and hope someday to make readers feel the same way about my writing. She was very inventive and I loved the way the story progressed. I could even stand Jacob in this book. I hated him the past two books. he rather annoyed me. Anyway, I loved the book from beginning until almost the end. I wished they would have battled the Volturri and come out triumphant. I would have rather lost a few souls and made the ending "bittersweet" as a kind friend put it. It just ended too simple for me, but that being said I still loved the book!!!! Stephenie Meyer is a master in the art of story-telling. I admire her greatly and look forward to any new books she writes to come out. Please do not take offense. My opinion is my opinion and means nothing more than that. I do not need a lot of hateful comments left on the blog.I still adore Edward, I love Bella, Renesmee is adorable, and I laughed out loud when Jacob got food in Rosalie's hair. I look forward to Stephenie's next book...and the movie.

It's ok!!! Girl's Camp is over!!!

Welcome Home!!!! It rang throughout my ears from the kids as they ran to greet me. I was dirty, grimy, exhausted and my hair...well, let's just say with no hair dryers allowed, as they drain the generator, there was a reason I was waering a hat all week and it had nothing to do with the kitchen!!!!

This is home sweet home for the week. This is one of the perks of being a cook.

We get our own cabin with actual beds and a shower with enough pressure to strip the paint off of an old barn door.

One thing you will notice about our beds is the place to slide in a card with the patient's name...yes, our beds are brought from an old decrepit assylum for the insane. hmmm...any connection with being a cook? Perhaps!!!

The week was fun. As cooks you are pretty much spending most of your time in the kitchen, which some people look down on, but can I share a secret with you? We have such an incredible spirit in the kitchen I recharge for the year every time I go.

No, we don't get to mingle with the girls except for meal times and a special occasion on friday.We have such a wonderful spirit when we work together. By the end of the week we had become more than just "friends." We became true brothers and sisters serving these wonderful daughters of God. To see their smiles, hear their songs and bask in their heavenly glow during the entire week was priceless.

I know that all stakes and wards run their girl's camp differently, but for ours the entire stake full of girls arrived on Monday ready to spend a fun-filled week making new friends and enjoying old ones.It was a time to be silly, learn about yourself and stretch your gospel wings a bit.

We brought in 250 girls and leaders for the week and it was challenging but fun to supply them with all their meals. The camp we attended was even visited earlier by the general authorities, including the young women's general presidency. They deemed our camp the "Taj Mahal" of Young Women's camps. What a wonderful thing to hear. It looks like the church is taking an interest in buying the camps the girl's attend to bring up the rest of the Girl's Camps to the same standards and really give all the girls the same experience ours have. We shall see what the Lord decides regarding camp.

I have survived another year and have made girls smile by being jsut a bit crazy...fun, yet slightly crazy. Perhaps I do deserve my bed after all!!!!Well, other than that I will say that I am happy that I am home and that life will now be returning to normal...now that I have completed 2 out of the three of my callings. Now I just get to be the "Laurel Advisor." I like that!!!! Of course, now that we have decided on selling the place we have a ton of things to do and it looks like we are ready to get started on that list!!!!