This Week @ the Ricks' Home

Last week I spent most of the time preparing for Girl's Camp. I had so much to get done in just one week!
I mentioned the tiny ruby slippers in my last post.
Thank goodness for my Cricut! I am so glad I have the technology to cut these with a machine and not by hand. Jordan enjoyed helping me pull off all of the pieces.


Finding the best adhesive to hold these together was the tricky part. So many adhesives say "permanent" but their definition of permanent and mine must be totally different. I would put one together and it would be falling apart the next day. So frustrating! I finally found Arleene's Quick Tacking Glue and it is amazing. I have found my new favorite glue for 3D paper crafts!

It seriously took me over 8 hours to glue together all 40 of the ruby slippers! I decided to have a Twilight movie marathon while putting them together. It was research for our YCL skit. :)

Thank you to all my local friends for gathering your tin cans for me!

I'm very grateful for the help Kaye Barker gave me making all the tin men. It took us 5 or 6 hours to get them all put together.


Next, I finished putting together and packaging up all the incentives for the 3rd level girls and gifts to give the YCLs in my cabin.
Here's one thing I decided to make on Monday. Cute little Dorothy silhouette bracelets.


Then I worked on all the decorations for my cabin.

I made five 6 foot banners to hang on the bunks in the cabin. That is 30 feet total! Yes, I went a little crazy. Again, thank goodness for my Cricut so I didn't have to hand cut each triangle.

I bought a couple of yellow plastic table clothes from the Dollar Tree and drew "bricks" with a permanent marker to create a yellow brick road.

I made ruby slipper props from a pair of black shoes Natalee had outgrown. I spray painted the shoes red.

Once they were dry, I sprayed them with adhesive and covered them with red glitter.


I did the same thing with an old pair of shoes for me to wear during camp.


I made a sign saying "Beware! Wickedness never was happiness. Alma 41:10" to put near the dead witches.

The girls and I made aprons with pockets out of bandannas to use while at camp. I also made one to give to my mom and put it in this cute little basket I made using one of my tutorials on my craft blog.

I thought it was perfect for her since she was a cabin mom for the first level girls which were the Toto's at camp.

My goal was to get everything finished by Saturday night, but that didn't happen. I had to still work on some things on Monday before heading over to Amy's house for the annual 4th of July celebration. So, I wasn't able to make the rest of Jordan's outfit. She was still adorable in the bandanna shirt I made her.

I was able to throw together cute little hair things.


Gavin and Blake had fun playing with the firecrackers.






Jordan had a great time with her cousins.


I was able to get cute pictures of our oldest girls.




Amy's husband, David, put on a great fireworks show.


My youngest sister, Andrea, came home with us so she could babysit Gavin and Jordan all week with the older girls and I at camp and John working. Thank you, AJ!

Tuesday morning I packed up the van and headed for camp!! I traded in my flip-flops for ruby slippers.


The YCLs and leaders go up a day earlier than everyone else to get everything ready.

I decorated my cabin and got everything situated.





I used some of our Halloween costumes to create a dead witch scene in front of my cabin. It was supposed to be both dead witch scenes but when the legs were pushed up to the cabin you didn't really notice them.


I found the pinwheels on clearance at Hobby Lobby. They were perfect for our Dorothy theme!


I made this sign last minute and hung it on the door with some extra banner.


I was so excited Wednesday when everyone else came to camp. I told the ladies I was having breakfast with how happy I was that my mom and my 2 daughters were coming!


Aryn was on the scarecrow level so she made a hat with straw. Cutest scarecrow ever!


Aryn was part of the color guard one morning for the flag ceremony.

She is the girl in the orange just under the flag.


Our ward had a turn on the ropes course and climbing towers on Thursday.

Aryn and Natalee decided to climb the pole.

Aryn made it to the top but I wasn't sure she was going to jump.


She finally mustered up the courage to jump.


When it was Natalee's turn she said she did not want to try it. The guy that worked the gear at the pole convinced her to go half way.

Once she was half way he talked her into going up a little more.

When she got to the platform he tried to get her to crawl onto it but she flat refused. I heard in her voice how scared she was. I even started tearing up. But she was brave and jumped from that point.


The Bishop and one of his counselors and the other members of our Young Women Presidency came for a visit. We taught them how to play the cup game.


Sis. Collins from our ward was the camp nurse. She came over to visit and played with us, too.


It was so humid and rainy all week! I have never been so sweaty in my life. With all the rain everyone's shoes were soaked. Man, my feet were stinky. The ruby slippers are going in the trash. Those things are nasty! We had a few really good thunderstorms. We had to have the faith walk and testimony meeting in the main pavilion instead of out in the primitive area, like we usually do.
The testimony meeting is one of my favorite parts of camp. I gave all the YCLs in my cabin packages of tissue but didn't think to take one with me. Of course, I cried. The spirit was so strong. Then, hearing what so many of the young women have already gone through at such a young age. Knowing the heartache they have felt as children and the anger they have to overcome because of the choices of their parents. So heartbreaking. It was good to hear how so many have been able to overcome so much through the gospel and turning to our Heavenly Father and our Savior.

The last night many of the YCLs wanted to stay up all night. Four of us leaders made it to around 3:30am. I think I had around 8-10 hours of sleep total the entire week of camp. I was so tired by Saturday.

It was beautiful Saturday morning.


Camp was wonderful! I made new friends and old friendships grew stronger. The YCLs were so fun to be around, even if their non-whispering got me in trouble with the Stake YW President a few times. I've already asked to work with the YCLs again next year! I hope they invite me back.

When I got home John came up to hug me right away. Tears came to my eyes. Even with all the fun I was having, I missed him so much!

John took the kids bowling and out to eat while we were at camp. The little ones loved it.

Jordan was so excited to see me. She made me snuggle on the couch and watch a movie as soon as I was showered and dressed in nice smelling clothes. She has been extra grumpy with me, not sure if it has something to do with me being gone all week or not.

John said playing "Slappy Slap" and "Duck, Duck, Goose" just wasn't as much fun with only half the family.

My sister helped get my house back in order and John made sure the house was perfect when I got home. He was so proud of himself for even cleaning the toilet. I am so lucky!!

He left a magnet letter message on the fridge for me. He's so sweet.

He had to get creative using the letters he had available.

Two eggs in the nest built in our play house have hatched. The baby birds are so tiny with hardly any fuzz or feathers.


Last Sunday Aryn was asked to sing a solo in sacrament meeting this Sunday. Which meant she was only able to practice a song she had never heard twice before heading to camp. She was so nervous Sunday morning. She was so tired and her voice felt scratchy from all the camp singing and yelling.
She did an absolutely perfect job. Her voice was beautiful. She didn't even look nervous. I was crying, of course. Aryn said she saw lots of people crying. She received many compliments. We are so proud of her.

Well, that covers the last couple of weeks @ the Ricks' home. What I can remember right now anyway. I am hoping for a boring week this week. :)