Man Night 2010

The boys didn't want to be outdone by our "Girl's Night" so Joseph planned a "Man Night" for the LP staff boys the same night. He worked so so hard on his dinner...{and all of us girls were busy with our own meal, so he really did do it by himself!!}

He made his special "Joseph Parra's Rib Rub" {I am still waiting for him to release the rights to the recipe so I can post it here!}. They cooked ALL day long and smelled delicious! But, he totally hogged all the ovens!

They had salad, steak fries, garlic bread and bottled root beer and cream soda to compliment the ribs.

They didn't mind eating outside OR on the blue trays!!

Then they all shot guns. Seriously.

Be sure to click on this picture to see Scott at the end of the table...ugh, boys!

Don't worry, they had party favors too. Each "Man" got his own pocket knife! Some of them have already lost them and most of the rest of them are just plain obnoxious with them. Oh Well....God created girls and boys soooo differently, and I am so glad he did!!

"yet man is born into trouble, as the sparks fly upward."

Job5:7

A Camp Visitor...

We have a visitor this summer!

The tractor bucket is firmly parked on top of the dumpster now!

LOVED. by The King! Girl's Night

Lassen Pines Staff Girl's Night 2010 was a huge success!

Each girl received a special invitation on their bed.

The girls were buzzing with excitement for the 2 days before their special night. All the work was worth it when they came into the dining room that was decorated for them. They all looked so cute in their dresses with their hair fixed and they squealed as they looked around!!

We had a delicious meal! Stuffed chicken breasts, pasta, broccoli, homemade rolls and a variety of yummy desserts including the precious cake made by Jeanette Paramo!

Each girl had a name card "wordle" describing who they are in Christ along with our theme word, "LOVED." and their name. They had Bath and Body goodies and a special necklace we made them too. (Jenn must have a headache after pounding all of those!!)

It was so much fun decorating the tables all "girly". I brought all the decorations from home, so we stayed on budget pretty well! We used the white dishes that are used during ladies' retreats. The blue plastic trays were put away for the evening!

All the girls loved the necklaces. So many of them have been wearing them all week. So precious!

It was extra special to have my sister-in-law, Stephanie and my neice, Averi be able to attend all the way from Texas! (My brother-in-law and nephew attended "Man Night"-more on that later...)

BOTH Grandmas were here too!!

We used our fun standby...the frame...as a prop for pictures. Always fun! Shannon and Leanne were great at striking a pose! (and these two had a night off from the kitchen!!)

After dinner the girls put on the shirts that Jenn and I designed (they were rolled up with the invitation) so we could get a group picture.

The back says, "She is far more precious than jewels and her value far above rubies and pearls." Prov. 31:10

I read them the book," The Princess and the Kiss"A Story of God's Gift of Purity by Jennie Bishop at the end of the evening. It is a wonderful story about purity! (Thank you Alyssa O. for telling Shae about it!!)

What a blessing to be able to do something special for these girls who don't expect anything! It was a lot of hard work and planning for Jenn and me, but she got engaged this month so it was great practice for our next big event and I can't wait to get started on that one!!!

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Camp Cousins 2010

The Texas cousins have arrived at camp! Barry, Stephanie, Brady and Averi are here for 2 weeks. Laurie will come this Sunday and bring the rest of the cousins with her.

We have been having lots of fun at the lake,

Brady is unbeatable at Gutterball!

Averi was not one little bit afraid to go down the water slide!

I could not believe how brave that little thing was!

I LOVE this picture of her...she looks like the princess of the camp!

Lindsay loves that Uncle Barry will go out in the water and play, maybe Daddy will have time to play over the weekend!

The other day I was putting some laundry in when Lindsay disappeared. I found her waiting on the fence where "the cousins" park when they drive over from "the big house" after naps. She was ready for the beach again!!

I had a ton more pictures to load but the internet is painfully slow this week because of all the computers this week's group is using...UGH! I will try again when they are all in bed!

"There is none like Thee, O Lord;

Thou art great,

and great is Thy name in might."

Jeremiah 10:6

Goodbyes...

Anna had to say goodbye to her new friend, Emmaline, this week. Emmaline came all the way from Atlanta with her grandmother Judy to work with us at camp for a month. Anna loved having someone her age to hang out with! They swam, worked and watched a lot of The Brady Bunch and The Lucy Show together. We drove them to Sacramento to catch their flight home

and did some shopping too!

I think we have this girl just about ready for college in Virgina! Look out, Liberty University, here she comes!!!

I hate the thought of getting her all settled in and then getting on a plane and coming home without her!

Weekend With "The Girls"

Our campers left on Friday so our staff had the weekend off. Everyone left for the weekend except for 5 staff kids which meant that Scott and I had to stay around to look after them (although they slept and watched movies all weekend!) and to cook for them (and our parents who were all here too.) I like the quiet weekends occasionally, but it is VERY fun having lots of fun people around (my kids think so too!)

Anna took Lindsay and me on a golf cart excursion around camp. It was so fun just cruising around. We also had the key to the snackbar!!

I had my camera and the girls were pretty good about letting me take some pictures...even Lindsay (kind of...)

We eat really well on the weekends when there aren't many to cook for. Anna made her delicious grilled potatoes with garlic and onion to go with the steaks and fresh green beans Daddyboy made. Lindsay put on an apron and talked a lot.

Today was the first day poor Lindsay could swim! She has had so many issues this year that have prevented her from going swimming, but today was the day!! She was thrilled and even said, "WooHoo! I get to swim today!" I am, once again, thankful for the fun that Anna sees to it that Lindsay has! Lindsay's laughter was music to my soul today, and Anna earned some more jewels for her heavenly crown.

Lindsay said that today was, "the best day ever!"

When they were tired of swimming, "Moneybags" remembered the deal Scott had made last year.... $.10 per polliwog. They are the nastiest, slimiest HUGE things you have ever seen, and they are all over! We try to eliminate as many as possible to keep the lake nice for swimming each summer.

See this bucket? This bucket earned those little girls $10.00 today! SICK!!!!! I cannot believe Lindsay touches them!!! They counted them several times by transferring them from one bucket to another~Ewwwwww. I could hardly watch! Lindsay would laugh every time she held one and it squirmed...blechhhhhhh!

While we were at the lake Lindsay kept telling me, "Mom, your husband needs to see this!" I had my phone with me so we called him in his office and he came up to see the bucket-o-wogs.

He helped us put them onto the golf cart and we dumped them in Bailey Creek (FREEZING snow melt water...I doubt they survived) but I didn't want any trauma over "killing" them just in case!

Before we got cleaned up for dinner Anna wanted to go down the slide a few times...

We had a fun, relaxing weekend in a beautiful place!!

"When I consider Thy heavens,

the work of Thy fingers,

The moon and the stars, which

Thou hast ordained;

What is man, that Thou dost take

thought of him?"

Psalm 8: 3-4

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