Cutting the Bishop's Tie

Towards the beginning of the year our Primary Presidency and Bishop at church threw out a gauntlet of a challenge to children ages 3 - 11 in our church. If you could memorize all 13 Articles of Faith, which are statements of belief about our church, then you could cut the Bishop's tie in half! This is such a great idea and wonderful way to encourage the children to memorize the Articles of Faith!

After seeing one of the girls in Primary get recognized for her hard work, and seeing how funny it was for the Bishop to walk around church with his tie cut in half, Finley decided he wanted in on it!

We decided to take it one week at a time and work on a different Article of Faith each week. He was able to pass off one each week with the Primary Presidency and receive a scoop on top of his ice cream cone on a bulletin board the Primary Presidency had created to encourage the children to work on their Articles of Faith. We also tried to review all the ones he had already learned as to not forget them!

Once he passed off number 13 we spent a whole week going over all 13 to prepare for his meeting with the Bishop. David and I were both so nervous for him to pass them all off. He was a little nervous at first too :). He did a great job and only made a few minor errors so he passed! He was then able to cut the Bishop's tie in front of the whole primary that day. I have pictures of the event on my phone, but they all are pretty blurry :(. Finley was having such a hard time cutting the tie that he enlisted David's help to get the job done. We are so proud of you, Finley! You were such a hard worker and stuck with such a long process of learning all the Articles of Faith. I couldn't be more proud! Way to go buddy!

Camping 101

Last weekend our church ward had a fun one night camp out. We had actually purchased camping supplies over a year ago for our ward camp out, but unfortunately little Fin woke up sick that morning so we didn't get to put everything to use.

This year we were so excited to camp out for our first time as a family! We bought a really cool pop up six man tent. It was super easy to set up (thank goodness!) and slept 6 people, but really only fit the three of us and our stuff perfectly.

After getting things set up we got to hang out and play with our friends.

Our camp site was next to a  nice big field. Perfect for kicking the ball around.

And throwing a Frisbee.

After working up an appetite it was time to cook up our dinner. It was really nice that we didn't have to pack all the cooking, food, and fire making supplies. We just had to roast our own dogs.

The fire was so hot and our skewers not quite long enough, so most of the time it felt like we were cooking our own hands. But at last we had things warm enough to eat!

And the best part, in my opinion the S'mores! Surprisingly this was Finley's first S'more ever and he loved it.

After dinner it was time to run off a little of that sugar over at the playground.

Finley had such a fun time with his little church friends.

And according to tradition someone got a Frisbee stuck in a tree. But luckily, after some hard work, it was retrieved.

When it got dark they were just about to start a fireside, but Finley decided it was time to call it a night and we got ready for bed.

We read a few stories by lantern light and snuggled up in our sleeping bags. The weather was really beautiful, not too hot and cooled down nicely at night time. Now if only it was peaceful and quite too :). The youth stayed up till almost midnight playing capture the flag. Finley slept through it, but I sure couldn't! Oh well, I guess you can't really expect to get a great night's sleep while camping.

Finley slept pretty good but was up nice and early! We got up and enjoyed sitting by the fire and eating an early breakfast.

Surprisingly not that many people stayed the night. Here are the few, the proud, the bold. David was the only adult male that slept overnight and Finley the youngest boy.

Finley didn't seem to mind and enjoyed hanging out with the older boys and playing with the fire.

We really had a great time camping and hope to make this a family tradition. But seriously I don't know how people camp out for more than one night in a row. I need my comfy bed!

Cousins

Last week my cousin and her family came to NC for a visit! They are currently living and working over in England so it had been a long time since we had seen them.

We got to meet baby Alex for the first time and enjoy playing with cousins Annie and Claire. Claire was showing off her excellent piano skills for us, while Finley and Annie were 'learning' how to play from her.

Last time we saw Annie she was just a baby! She has grown into such a fun loving little girl and cracks us up!

And Alex is almost walking now! He is so sweet and would frequent flash me smiles from across the room.

Finley had so much fun playing with the girls. Even though he couldn't remember them from our last visit, it was like instant best friends! And I couldn't get enough of their adorable English accents! I totally have a bad habit of talking in my fake English accent when around them!

We met up over in Chapel Hill at my parents house for just a short visit, but it was well worth it!

My cousin Linda with sweet Annie.

Mike was very intrigued by my dad's hunting bow set. He decided to give it a try, but alas it was too hard for him to get the string back. I told him he was just making David feel better since David also has not been able to pull back the string with the bow loaded. It is much harder than it looks!

These guys had so much fun together!

And I loved getting to catch up with my cousin.

They are going to be in England for at least another year, so we are planning to go see them during spring break of next year! I can't wait for a fun adventure!

We will probably spend a few days in London before heading out to the country to their place.

We had so much fun visiting we can't wait to do it again!

Thanks so much Linda and Mike for making the trip to see us!

We love you guys!