A camping we will go!

This weekend was our ward campout. Now us Gharrings are not big campers. In fact poor deprived Abby, our 8 year old informs us over and over that she has never officially camped before (our backyard does not count!). You see last time we camped as a family I was at least 8 months pregnant with her, we were in Joshua Tree and it was freezing cold and beyond miserable, we said never again! Well I have done some since then with the youth, the boys have gone on plenty of Father and sons, but our girls really have led a sad sad life.

We were packed and ready to leave as soon as the kids got out of school on Friday because they were so excited. The campout was in Hurkey Creek, which is where the boys go on Father and sons, it was so pretty, and the ward had reserved one of the group sites.


First up we set up camp and then cooked our foil dinners - mm mmm good!


The kids were all so happy with their own little group of friends - playing with the fire, jump roping and goofing off.

The highlight of the night was the ward talent show. Abby and her friends did some little cheers and dance moves, which was quite cute.

Trent and the 11/12 year old scouts did a little dental hygiene number, it was disgusting and horrible to watch. On a log was a toothbrush, toothpaste and glass of water. Each boy came up to it one at a time and and said how badly they needed to brush their teeth - that it had been a few days, that they had horrible breath, that they had all this food stuck in their teeth. Each one used the water to rinse with and then spit it back into the cup. After maybe 6 boys my son came crawling in, saying how thirsty he was, and then the crazy boy saw the water and took a huge swig - it was vile, you could see the layer of backwash and froth on top of the water - I almost threw up a little in my mouth for him!


Hayley and her posse did a little skit comparing girls camp to scout camp - it was pretty funny. The girls concentrated on how good they had it with cabins, catered meals and their craft making. The boys concentrated on all the hard work, long hikes, horrible food and horrible sleeping conditions - they did a good job!

There was plenty of entertaining numbers that had us both laughing hysterically and maybe even cringing a little. The Baughs got up to do one of those crazy songs that you end end looking like a complete idiot - I got the very last bit on tape and it makes us look like a bunch of crazy people, but it was so funny at the same time.




The trip was a huge success with a great turn out. Even though we had to leave early in the morning to get back to soccer games, the kids had a great time. Man camping is a lot of packing and unpacking of a lot of stuff for a short amount of time. Chad and I froze to death all night, but the kids were toasty and slept great, they had the sleeping bags and Chad and I were stuck with blankets. We are going beach camping in 2 weeks and guess who plans on investing in some more sleeping bags before that trip! Oh and I am now pleased to announce that Abby is a deprived child no more!

A little kayaking

I am really into doing things lately that are semi adventerous and fun! This weekend we got a small group of couples together to go down to La Jolla and kayak. We decided on a tour so we could go through the 7 caves and learn a little at the same time.

We started off by being outfitted with life vests and helmets - what the heck, it couldn't be that dangerous, but I figured maybe with the caves it could get a little dicey if there was a swell. We all felt so cute!

Here we are going into a cave, it turned out to be too dangerous to go into any of the others because of the swell, no one else was going in but our cool guide picked a perfect time for us to all to go through super quickly right before another small set came in, even though they weren't huge, when you saw what the water did in the caves you realized you did not want to be in there when the wave hit!

We had fun having races, having kelp fights, playing bumper boats, scaring Jeni and especially the kayak surfing. We were told that he usually doesnt take groups to do this because most cant handle it and he spends so much time helping them get back in the boat after capsizing. It was way fun, Chad and I capsized the 1st 2 waves, but nailed our next ones. We needed no help and all laughed super hard!

How about this for a piece of seaweed - can you imagine popping this one!

I have photos of the Brays and Carpenters because they didnt have cameras so I took pictures for them, the Konolds and Lundquists had waterproof cameras and took lots of good shots too, check out their posts about the day.
One part that I was particularly excited about was seeing the leopard sharks, this was another part that made Jeni so scared (she is not fond of the ocean but was a great sport for her husband) We found a bunch of them but the water wasnt so clear and we could only make out the dark shadows. I so want to go back and snorkel when it is clearer and more calm. Leopard sharks are completely harmless, but that didnt seem to make Jeni feel any better.

Our after picture, what this picture doesn't show is our numb phalanges, I couldn't get any color or feeling to my fingers for the next 10 minutes. It was funny that we didn't realize how cold we were until we came in and couldn't stop shivering! Good day, good company, good adventure! Even better when we got some hot chocolate in us to warm our insides.

APPROVED!

Form N-400 Application for Naturalization to become citizen of the United States - approved! So nothing is official yet, I am unable to call myself a citizen and unable to vote until I attend my oath ceremony and do all the necessary swearing in stuff. I still do not know when this will be, I do know it will be at either the LA county fairgrounds or the LA Convention Center - holy cow how many people will be doing this at the same time as me, those places are huge!

After arriving at the department of Homeland Security, going through a considerable amount of security I found myself in a waiting room with about 100 other people. I had to keep telling myself I was still in America because I was the only white person and there wasn't a whole lot of English being spoken in the hour and 45 minutes I sat there waiting. WOW there must have been people from every country you can imagine that look like they are from other countries - Hispanic, Indian, Asian, African! I got a little intimidated when half the people had lawyers with them but felt a little better when about a quarter of them had to have interpreters!

I hadn't felt this anxious in awhile, people were coming out and you could hear them saying they had to come back again, or they were looking sad which obviously wasn't a good sign. When it was finally my turn I completely relaxed - I nailed the written test, nailed the reading test, nailed the interview, nailed the civics test and had everything he needed to see! I would also guess that I was the easiest case of the day and also the most slam dunk case of the day - not to be all boastful or anything but I am just calling it like I see it.

So that is a relief - done! I really hope I can vote, after doing all this studying I realize what women went through so we can vote and what an important right it is. (The right to vote is actually found in the 15,19,24 and 26th amendments for any of you who care). I was feeling a little like I was betraying my homeland the other day so I went to Costplus World Market and picked up 2 Australian candy bars - a crunchie and a curly wurly and after eating those I felt a lot better, I am not giving up Australia I still love it but I love the United States too. Its kind of like when you have a baby you don't think you could love the next one as much as you do your first!

All should be happy! Chad is happy because I will be the same citizenship as him and the kids, my family should be happy because I do not have to give up my Aussie citizenship and I am happy because I can vote and have the best of both worlds. Happy Birthday to me!

You wanna duel - I do!

( Chessa informed me today that my US flag is the wrong way around woops, hope that isnt on the test!)

This Wednesday just happens to be my birthday, but what I am more focused on is my big U.S. citizenship interview and test that happen to be on my big day. What a lovely present for me dont you think! I have been working on this duel citizenship thing for awhile now, officially turning in all my paperwork a year ago and Wednesday will be a big, I mean huge part of that. I will have my interview, no worries I have done all the green card stuff and it couldnt be worse than that. I have been collecting my paperwork for weeks, you name it I have to take it old and new passports, all our birth certificates, marriage certificate, the last 3 years of tax returns, pictures, proof of address, green cards and the list goes on - oh and they want each bit of paperwork to come with a copy! I dont have to do the language test so that is one less step to do - I have been here for a while so my English is actually pretty good. (Some people still think that Australian is a language you know - I guess it depends on who is speaking). But what I am truly worried about is the stinkin test. I have a study booklet of 96 questions ranging from pretty easy ones like how many stripes are on the flag to some that are pretty hard and take some memorizing. I have been studying and having my husband and children test me and let me tell you if I dont nail that test - I will not be a happy girl. Just try me any civics question to do with the constitution and our government I have got them down - that is if they are in my book.

So think of me on Wednesday at the INS office in San Bernadino - and we may just be having a big old party in the near future celebrating my new dual citizenship. I can imagine it now - pavlovas and apple pies, meat pies and hamburgers, vegemite sandwiches and PB and Js - its gonna be great!

A little more like her!

Lately I have been so consumed with a family that I have never met, spoke to or even seen. They live in Arizona and the parents Stephanie and Christian were recently in a plane crash. Im sure most of you have heard about the story her blog is the nieniedialogues, I find myself thinking about her, her husband - Mr Nielson and her sister who is looking after her kids at so many points throughout the day. Even though I dont know her, she doesnt know me I find myself wanting to be more like her. I have started wearing my cute little apron more often in honor of her, and it makes me happy! I have started wanting to be a better wife and also wanting to call my husband Mr Gharring. I want to be a better mother because of her and snuggle my kids a little more, tell them I love them a little more and do more cute things for them. She hasnt turned me into a vegetarian but she has made me proud and happy to be a stay at home mother. I love my life and am so grateful that I get to be with my kids all the time and not miss out on any of their day to day accomplishments. I think from her blog she shows that a stay at home mother of 4 kids can be cool and she does it being positive, looking cute, and loving every minute of it.

I am not much of a crier, but each morning I go to CJane - her sisters blog, for an update on them and her kids and most days I end up crying, they are so positive and inspiring in the midst of the craziness they are facing. I just find it so weird that I have been so affected by this story, they are in my prayers daily and I love seeing their family come together and be so strong for each other and for them - what a blessing and an example!

Slip Slidin Away!

So Monday marked our 4th annual labor day cul de sac bash. Everyone is welcome,we block off the street, rent a huge water slide and hang out all afternoon long. This year, like years past was a huge success and a ton of fun. The weather was so perfect, very pleasant and no need to escape into the air-conditioning. Kelly opened her home again for the serving of food, Julie had her pool open, there was a slip and slide, a jumpy thing and of course the highlight being the slide. My favorite time of day is always adult time, when no children are allowed and we do silly tricks and see who can make the biggest splash (that would be Paul -every-time and every year). The kids went down the slide so many times throughout the day they were exhausted last night and still this morning when I couldn't get them out of bed!

This year I think was the most people we had, however they were more spread out over the cul de sac. We had 10 easy ups, so plenty of shade and some good tunes thanks to DJ Jason!


The teenagers - Hayley and her posse had a ball, they even had their own time on the slide and basically thought they were hot stuff! I would say they acted like teenagers but they are really good kids and I am so glad she has a lot of good kids to surround herself with.


Adult time YAY. Watch out kids all sorts of splashing goes on! Kelly, Jen and I braved a ride together thinking there would be a great splash but we kind of just stopped at the bottom - not too impressive!

My cutest little niece Lucy aka LuLu entertained everyone with her cuteness!



Dont mess with these guys in a water fight - no one was safe.

Slip and slides are so fun but this turned into more of a slip and slide in the mud. I hate what they do to the grass when you are all done, someone needs to invent something to fix that, then I would gladly get it out way more often for the kids to play with.

Abby and Raegen playing in the fire hose during the clean up.

At the end of the day and clean up time having a fire hose makes things a little easier and alot more fun! So next year, same place, same time and all are welcome! GTs GTs, thanks all for another great party!