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.

Kevin & Michelle

Our cousin Kevin married over the weekend. We're happy to gain another fun cousin. Our trip down to Washington City/St. George started out rough but all in all we had another amazing week with our family.

We didn't get to set off till 10:18 p.m. because Matt and his dad both had meetings. Alex fell asleep after a while but only slept for about an hour to an hour and a half. We drove to Cedar and stayed at Micheal and Julie's place since they were out of town and it was only a 45 minute drive from there to Washington City. We get there around 12:30 and Alex was wired with no intentions of going to bed for us. We couldn't just let him cry it out because if you haven't heard his scream, you are lucky. We didn't want to disturb the tenants above us so we just let him run around in hopes he will slow down but we were all so tired that we were getting desperate. At 2:30 a.m., Matt sacrificed his sleep and took Alex for a car ride. I don't know all the places he went with him but he did make it all the way up to Brian Head. Alex didn't fall asleep till 4:15 and Matt didn't make it back to the apartment till 4:45 and got in bed at 5:00. I had to get up at 6:30 so I could get myself and Evan ready while him and Alex slept. Around 8:00 we all got in the car and I drove the rest of the way to Washington City. Matt only got an hour of sleep.

We get to Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Gary's place in Washington City and walk down the street to the church building where they were having the Wedding Breakfast before going to the Sealing. They served some yummy food, muffins, fruit, oatmeal, breakfast cassarol, bacon and orange juice.

Alex loved these small blueberry muffins.

Alex's face looks like he was telling me "Don't take pictures of me while eating!"

Evan is a big fruit eater. He gets bowl fulls of everything but this was his first time trying blueberries.

Evan was excited to see Great Papa Thompson who he's named after. He followed him around a lot of the time.

After breakfast we made our way down to the St. George Temple. Kevin and Michelle were married in the oldest sealing room in the church. It's a room that you have to go into the Celestial Room to get too so we all had to be dressed in white. It makes the sealing a special one because it's not common to have guests of a sealing wear white.

After Kevin and Michelle were sealed together for time and all eternity, we made our way to the Temple grounds to see them out of the Temple and pictures.

Coming out!

Mr. and Mrs. Koeven

First kiss out in the world as husband and wife.

We went back to the house to put the boys down for naps. I thought Matt would take one as well but he decided to go on a hike with our cousin Steven to look at a potential place to go to the next day and have fun. I would have taken a nap as well but decided against it because I'm worse off if I take too little of a nap so I went with Lin to run an errand. We came back to Dad and the boys still sleeping so we just lounged around waiting for them to wake. Alex finally woke up after a three hour nap :). I went and got him and laid on the floor with him so he could wake up more but he ended up falling back asleep. I tried to wake him up but he curled up in the cutest position. He looked like he was praying :).

I didn't want to wake him up but had too because I WANTED him to go to bed at night! I didn't want another all nighter.

Lin got to snuggle with him for a little bit while he was waking up.

He tried to get snuggles with Papa but couldn't get on the couch

But settled for this. I love that he loves to snuggle :).

Evan asleep on the other couch.

After Matt came back and everyone else woke up, Alex opened a few presents since it was his official birthday.

Papa gave him a card and some fun clothes.

He got a special blue person that lights up from his missionary Aunt Leanna

He loves it!

His reaction :)

The reception was really fun. Instead of just signing their guest book they had a photo booth set up so we could take pictures. It printed out two copies so we could have one and the other would go in their book and we sign next to it. The boys loved it and we caught them taking more through out the night.

I thought the reception was decorated well.

I loved the colors and pattern she picked.

All the drinks were yummy!

They served crepes.

The cake was chocolate mint :).

Cutting the cake

They were nice to each other

First dance

Getaway car

Congratulations Kevin and Michelle!

After a full nights rest :), we headed back to the family to have breakfast and hiked to the place Matt and Steven went too. It was a beautiful place and the boys braved the cold water. I couldn't get in, even to soak my feet because I'm such a wimp.

Alex loved jumping in the water

His reaction was funny when he was in because the water was so cold

Matt and I went further into the canyon to another pool

We headed home after having lunch so we could get home at a decent time so we weren't tired for Mother's Day. Matt and the boys gave me cute cards and a game :). After church we headed to Matt's Dad's house to have dinner and to talk to our favorite missionary. We had a great conversation with Leanna and we're looking forward to her last phone call on Christmas. Can't wait for her to come home but she's
serving a great mission in Canada.