Philmont Day 4

Monday was our first day of Family Programs. It's when the Philmont Staff entertains the wives and children of the men while they're in training meetings :).

After breakfast we all went to Flag Ceremony. I then took Evan and Alex to the Small Fry Center because that's where their groups are. Alex is Nursery (2 weeks to 2 years) and Evan is Small Fry (3 years to 4 years). Evan and Alex were together 95% of the time the whole week but Evan was able to go out to do other activities.

I was worried I wouldn't be able to leave Alex since he's hasn't been wanting us to leave him in Nursery at church. It took me 30 minutes to find a way to distract him and it was the drinking fountain. The kid loves water. I got to slip away without him crying and I went to my Orientation Meeting.

They explained the different activities that were available to us and we were able to sign up for anything that we wanted to do. I was hesitant to sign up for anything that would take me away from the Center just in case I was called to get Alex. I thought I would just relax and do my project when I didn't have anything scheduled. I thought that was a great plan :).

After we signed up for activities we took group photo's that we got at the end of the week. We had the biggest group ever for LDS week so they had to split us into 3 groups. Matt and I were group C.

Matt and our Stake were in the bottom row.
From left to right: Pres. Jaramillo, Bro. Strain, Pres. Parry (sign) Pres. Sabin and Matt

Me and the other wives weren't all together but Sis. Strain was next me by the sign, Sis. Parry is behind her in the green, Sis. Sabin is behind her in the blue and white shirt and Sis. Jaramillo is on the right in the back and wearing a hot pink shirt. She has the lighter hair of the two.

Evan and Alex's group. Evan is behind the Staff Member that's sitting and Alex is in the back being held by a Staff Member.

After taking pictures I went to a Women's Meeting that was taught by Sis. Espiln (wonderful!) I got a better vision for our boys in what I want for them as they grow into Young Men. The meeting ended in time for me to pick up the boys. When I got there I saw that Evan was having a fun time rough housing with the men Staff Members. Alex was in the bathroom playing in the children sinks. He was wet but he at least was happy and having a great time. 
Matt was still in his meeting that went till lunch so we waited and played by the fountain and pond.
After lunch I took the boys back to the Small Fry Center for the afternoon's Family Program. Leaving Alex was easier this time because I put him back in the bathroom so he could play in the water :). I let the staff know of course.
For the afternoon I toured the Villa.
Just a little back history. Waite Phillips and his wife Genevieve owned around 300,000 acres of land in Cimarron. They built the Villa as a summer vacation home. Their main residence is in Tulsa Oklahoma which they also donated. There were wealthy with more money then they needed so they would donate big portions of money to different organizations a year.

Waite learned about the Boy Scouts of America and donated the smallest piece of land out of the two biggest pieces. After the donation he observed the BSA closely and saw what they were doing with the land so he donated the biggest portion where the Villa sat. The smallest piece was donated from another generous gentlemen with the last name of Norton. Sorry I don't remember his first name. The house is now a memorial of Waite and his family and only used for tours. 95% of the furniture inside is all original and used by the Phillips that they purchased in Europe.
I was able to fall back in the group and got some good pictures of the place.

Living Room

These rugs aren't original but replicas. They are beautiful! All hand woven.

 Originally this was their front entrance when it was built but the Phillip's changed it to their Breakfast Room.

 This is the Phillip's cattle brand. Waite wanted a W but it was already taken so he used the double U's. Clever...

 Stairwell

 Stained glass in the stairwell

 Their library that used to be the sewing room, but changed it because of the view of the mountains.

 Master Bedroom. The time of twin beds!

Other side of Master Bedroom

 Sun Room that was once open when it was built but was closed off because of the extreme weather.

 Genevieve's vanity....Spoiled!

 Her closets

Master Bathroom

Shower with 7 shower heads. Amazing for that time!

 Waite's dresser with some of his personal items still there.

 His closet

Their son Elliot's room. He is still alive and visits often.

Their daughter Helen's room

 Nannies room

The front door. It's next to the structure that houses their cars so it only makes sense that they changed it.

 This is where Waite entertains his guy friends.

Him and his friends put their initials on a table in there. Such a guy thing to do.

Game/Trophy Room

 Another view of the room

His collection of guns

 More guns and game

On their front porch

After the tour I talked with friends on the lawn till I needed to go pick up the boys and meet up with Matt and had family time. The boys seemed to have a really fun day. I learned that they got to play a lot, sang songs, stories, had snacks, watched a movie and Evan got to go hold chickens and see goats.
For Family Time we visited the Handicraft store to see what was available for us to make with the boys when we had more time. We also wanted to wait and see what they also had at the Trading Post but we went there on a different day.
At dinner Alex was showing signs of exhaustion. He could of fallen asleep but he hated being filmed so he left :). Earlier he would close his eyes for a little bit before I started filming. But it's still very funny and you get the general idea.

So after dinner was our Family Home Evening and our Family Banner Parade. On our way to the Program Bowl we saw a snake!

 We watched it for a little bit

It was pretty cool to watch because it would stop at every crack to examine it. He was looking for a way in. Kinda creepy to think that it could go by our tents (which weren't very far away) and easily get in. Luckily it's just a gofer snake!
During the Program we got to introduce our family and show off our flag that we worked hard on before coming up.

While we were watching other people go up we sat by the Pony enclosure to keep Alex entertained. He ended up touching the barbed wire fence and it scared him so he started to cry a little bit. Matt went to go comfort him and while he picked him up his water bottle ended up hitting his lower lip hard enough to let his tooth go completely through his bottom lip. There was blood everywhere and he started to scream louder. We hurried him off to get cleaned up and I went to go find a nurse with no luck. Luckily it stopped bleeding on its own so he didn't need any further medical attention (thank you!) I took Evan back to the program and Matt and Alex found the snake again to calm him more down. Matt filmed this funny but adorable video of Alex. If you look closely at his bottom lip you can see his cut.

Not sure if his cut had anything to do with him waking up in the middle of the night but it was probably the cold. It dropped down into the 40's every night.

Philmont Day 3

On Sunday we still had our 3 hour block of church. They organized and called people ahead of time to serve in the various callings and Brother Beck presided. They joked to us that we were the only ward that had 100% attendence that day :). We had Sacrament Meeting in the Assembly Hall, they split us into groups for Sunday School where we had it on the Villa front lawn, Priesthood was in the same area and the Relief Society was in the Assembly Hall. We had Relief Society and Priesthood first with Sacrament Meeting last. I remember doing that as a child and now understand why my mom perfers Sacrament first because the children are all riled up by Sacrament Meeting. Evan did great though. He was beaming because he had a lot of fun. Alex was with us the entire time because they didn't have a Nursery. Luckily he did great. He was stuck to Matt's hip so I wasn't with him for Relief Society so I still had a break.

We had family time almost the rest of the day. After lunch we went on a walk around the Villa grounds.

Villa is to the left, Assembly Hall and the two Dinning Halls to the right.

Upclose picture of the Villa. History and pictures of the inside will come later.

This fountain is behind the Villa on the Greenward Lawn. It dumps into a pond. This was the boys favorite spot. Who doesn't like to play in cold water on a very hot day?

Greensward Lawn

Greensward Lawn

Evan next to the pond.

Alex found a "funny" mirror :)

After our walk we played on the play ground. Each tent city had one. Another fun spot for the boys.

Evan making more friends.

This boy was so sweet and helped Alex around the playground. Alex loved these swings and spent most of his time on them. He loved them especially when I was swinging with him because he loved to go "high!"

It had cooled down nicely so we wanted to take advantage of it since the tents weren't hot and put Alex down for a nap. Matt took that job so he could lay down with him. He put on Toy Story and they both zonked out within a few minutes. In the mean time I took Evan to the Craft Room to start working on both his and Alex's parade costumes that they were going to be in on the 4th. I was just finishing Evan's up when I got a call from them telling me they were up because the sun came back out and heated the tent again. At least they were able to sleep for a little bit and then were able to come help work on Alex's. Evan wanted to be Lightning McQueen so we made Mator for Alex. I was surprised that they turned out awesome since I'm in no way crafty. Pictures to come.

We had dinner not too long after and then we got ready for an Adult Fireside. The older kids in the group took care of Evan and Alex so we could both go which was really nice.
For bedtime we wanted to avoid screaming so we allowed Alex to watch Toy Story. We did this for the rest of the week because it worked out so well. No screaming and he would usually fall asleep not too long after.

Philmont Day 2

We woke up pretty early the next morning for a yummy breakfast in the Hotel and went back to our rooms to get ready for swimming. We didn't need to be at Philmont till 2:00 pm to check in so we had time to play.

Alex loved pushing Evan in the water.

He thought it was "funny!"

Matt and Evan jumping in the water at the same time.

Evan jumping in the water with the other kids.

We all had a lot of fun and did it for a few hours before we needed to check out. Before our drive we stopped at Wal-Mart for last minute items and Orlando's New Mexican Cafe for some lunch.

 I was really excited and hoping for real Mexican food because I haven't had it in a while. Being a San Diegan, it has to be real. Luckily it was. Matt and I got the beef chimichangas and they were amazing! Alex ate a lot of mine and Evan ate most of his food even though they both filled up on salsa and chips before our food came. We love it when our boys eat!
The drive to Cimmaron was beautiful!

We made it!

Brother Beck and Sister Esplin greeted us as we drove in to welcome us. We parked and registered. We got all our name tags, schedules and our sleeping arrangements. The only thing left to do was to unpack and get settled for the week. Boy did those tents get hot, even with the flaps open!

Our home sweet home for the week

Evan got to share his tent with another boy named Justin. Him and his parents are from Beaver Utah. They became great friends.

We were lucky and got to share this row of tents with our Stake. It made it nice to be able to hang out with them and stay close when the boys were in bed so we can make sure Evan didn't sneak out, which he did a few times. He actually got away once and hid in the Dinning Hall for a snack. The only good thing that came of it is that we learned they keep the cereal out and leave the ice and water machine on :).

When we first arrived we were curious if we will find anyone that we knew. After checking in our tent city I found my cousin Denmark and his family going to their tent. It was so nice to see him! They were also missing a family reunion so we basically had a mini family reunion at Philmont :).

We got to do whatever till dinner. I didn't have to make a single meal for 7 days! Made for one happy momma :)!! Even though it was cafeteria food it wasn't that bad but any food is great that you don't have to cook. It's set up like the MTC so there was always a salad bar and cereal. We never went in for seconds but I'm sure they would give us anything if we asked. It felt like we were always eating so we were well fed.

After dinner we had an Opening Program. We got to sing campfire songs and were introduced to all the Staff Members of Philmont.

We put the boys to bed right after. Anyone who knows Alex, knows he has the loudest scream ever! We put him down like we normally do and of course that envolves screaming. I guess he was so loud that someone came over to see if everything was all right. I was in the restroom getting ready for the night so I wasn't there but I could hear him through the solid wall and door. I couldn't hear any other children crying till I walked out. Thankfully he did fall asleep ten minutes later.

Philmont Day 1

With Matt's new calling in the High Council, over Young Men's, he was extended the invite to attend Philmont with the Stake Presidency. I had no idea what this place was but I could see that Matt was really excited. We learned that this trip would be the same week as our reunion with the Thompson Family so I wasn't excited at all. I didn't want to go but learned over the next few days that this is what the Lord wanted us to do as a family. He blessed and prepared us in so many ways for this to happen. I was getting excited about it but still sad I was missing one of our favorite summer highlights. Now that we're back, I don't regret a minute of it and we both found ourselves sad that it was over. Our week at the Philmont Training Center was amazing! We grew so much in Testimony about the Scouting and Duty to God programs. I don't know if writing about it will do it justice because it was that great. So much went on and we have a lot of pictures so I'm going to break it up into days.

We left Friday June 29. We caravaned with four other families. We made a lot of stops because of it but it was a lot of fun and better yet, both boys were great travelers. During one of our stops we visited the Monticello Utah Temple.

One our drive we drove through Colorado and got to see one of the many wild fires that were burning. We were surprised they didn't have the road closed because it was really close to the high way.

We also tried to stop in a small town where Pre. Jaramillo's ancestors are from to see the cemetary where they're barried but the road leading up to it was dirt and very thick. Their 12 passanger van got stuck.

We drove about 10 hours and stopped for the night in Taos New Mexico. It was another hour and forty five minutes to Cimmaron where the Training Center is. We got to stay in a very nice hotel called Hotel Don Fernando De Taos.