A surprise 'vacation'.....

I moved to Abq on the 22nd of May, had been to our ward only twice, when on a Saturday afternoon, when we were minding our own business, Micah got a voicemail and frantic email that his wife needed to call the bishopric. Well, thinking they probably wanted us to speak tomorrow, but wondering why they didn’t just ask Micah, I called the counselor back. Brother Dickerson said they’d been looking for someone to go to Girls’ Camp, but that they had just possibly found someone. That gave me a great opportunity to look like the good guy and say “if you need anything else, just let me know!” Sure enough, 10 minutes later, I get a call back asking me to go. I guess they had asked the other lady, although it wasn’t very practical for her to go, but they were desperate. As he started explaining, I realized that camp was THAT week...as in 2 days’ notice to leave for a week! Of course I said sure...and as I realized it was that week, I was bummed because Micah’s birthday was Friday, and I wouldn’t get home until Saturday morning. Fortunately, the YW pres was going up for the last night, and the bishopric was coming for dinner that night, so I left the YW pres in charge and was able to plan a ride home with the Bishopric members.
Naturally, cell phones did NOT work up there so we didn’t get to talk at all that week. The week went well: we only had 1st and 2nd years and they were both with the Stake Leaders for certification for 3-4 hours blocks in the morning and afternoon. (I wish someone had told me that-I would have brought some books!) There was a little bit of drama at the end of the week, but you can’t really expect 9 girls all to be best friends. After a week together 24/7 there’s going to be some 3rd wheels, so I wouldn’t really count it as anything but natural. Luckily, Friday I discovered the emergency phone in the nurse’s office and I had a calling card, so I was able to talk to Micah and tell him I’d be home that night...but really late. I made it home for his 26th birthday...the last 19 minutes of it!

These are my girls! Anna, on the left, was our pyro! Thank goodness, or else we would have frozen at nights!

We were way up in a meadow in the middle of these mountains. The meadow was full of mole hills, just like in the cartoons! You can kind of see in this picture. I thought it was WAY cool.

A prank by the 4th years! Someone dragged this deer leg back froma hike...
Most of the girls: Brianne, LeeAnn, Marissa, Chloe, Halei & Anna
One of the hikes that we went on. It was this HUGE beautiful meadow in the middle of the wooded mountains, like in the Sound of Music!
A few interesting things about this 'thing/event/occurance/adventure':

1) I find it interesting that callings within our family tend to overlap. Lisa and Nicole were both YW basketball coaches this year. Lisa and I were both called to Girls' Camp. I believe that both Bryce and Nicole were in nursery at some point this past year. And wasn't Jamie just called to be a clerk....like Cris is? Micah and I were just called to boyscouts, like Mom and Laree! Now we just get to use everyone else's ideas. It's great to all be in it together!

2) I thought getting married would end Micah and I's long distance relationship. However, within the first month of marriage, we spent TWO weeks apart: 1 week with his business trip right after the honeymoon, and another week for girls' camp. Plus, the 2nd month, he had 2 more littler business trips! I guess life carries on, despite a wedding!

As sad as I was to leave him on his birthday, it was a good opportunity to break into the ward. Everyone thinks we're the greatest already just for going to camp, as newlyweds and new ward members. Now that we've been called to scouts, we already know 3 of the 4 families in the program!