May 5: Rebecca's 20th Birthday
May 31: Memorial Day
Quote of the Month: "Are we there yet?"
--Everyone
By Roxi
Traveling Tips by Rebecca
#1. Don't sit next to anyone who has very pointy elbows, not only does it hurt, but it brings out your own violent side.
#2. Take every opportunity to use the restroom (trust me on this one!).
#3. Pack lots of things to keep you busy.
#4. Bring a personal CD player and lots of music, just in case the conversation turns to you.
#5. Don't encourage anyone to sing out loud, once they start they'll never stop.
#6. Don't ask annoying questions (e.g. "Are we there yet?", or, "What if...?"). It just makes the trip unpleasant (get a hint, Reid!).
Vacation Memoirs
Rosilynn: "We sang all 17 verses of 'Found a Peanut' from Idaho to Utah."
Reanna: "Roxanna acted like a monkey."
Roxanna: "We went up some really fast elevators."
Reid: "The bathroom door didn't have a lock on it."
Rachel: "Nevada is the most pointless state."
Rodney: "The only regret I have in life is not moving to Utah and joining the Mormon Tabernacle Choir."
Ruth: "Can we move to Utah?"
Rebecca: "Reanna kicks in her sleep, and Roxi and Rosi snore like crazy!"
Ryan: "This was the best week of my life."
EFY Rocks! by Rachel
I witnessed the coolest thing at EFY. In my group there was this girl and guy from Nebraska. The girl (Norabel) is a member whereas her friend (Bobby) isn’t. Bobby wasn’t all that sure about the gospel but wanted to come to EFY anyway (neglecting to tell his anti-Mormon parents that it was a religion camp). During the week we were all encouraged to pray and ask Heavenly Father any questions that we had and to write them down and think about them while we were listening to our Session Director, Brother Anderson, speak during devotional. Twice Brother Anderson stood before us and told us his talk had changed: that the Spirit whispered to him that someone needed to hear more about a specific topic. During testimony meeting at the end of the week, Bobby got up and bore his testimony "that he didn’t know even existed". Bobby told us that he had asked Heavenly Father two questions. Both questions, he said, had been answered when Brother Anderson had changed his topics. EFY was definitely the best week of my life so far.
If you are having technical difficulties...
by Ruth
Ok guys, this vacation was well worth it! But just let me explain to you exactly what our poor family had to go through, just to get on the road. first of all the doors for our last job before vacation came one week late and they weren’t put together right, so that set us even further behind schedule. The job was scheduled to be finished two days before we were to leave. So we were in quite a bind to start off with. Then I couldn’t seem to find a sub for my primary class. Then the worst began to happen—nobody was getting along! But it didn’t end there…my fish seemed to be ganging up on and eating my largest fish; Mr. Kitty had a $164.00 hairball; we bought a laptop for Rodney’s work and thought we’d bring it along for playing DVD’s while traveling, only we found out 13 days into a 10 day free-exchange that it wouldn’t read CD’s; our power converter wasn’t powerful enough so we got another one on the road; there was rain on the way & the luggage carrier wasn’t water-tight but we got all packed the night before, only to wake up late and when all 9 of us finally squished into our 8-seater van, we discovered the battery was dead…I figured it was because we were destined to have a terrific time and all the elements were combining against us to prevent something good from happening!
Personal Achievements of the month
Rebecca finished up her third semester at Mt. San Jacinto College, had a mid-life crisis, survived California Adventure's Tower of Terror, went on vacation, and is still alive to tell the tale.
Ryan was able to attend EFY this month and he had a really great time. He is also starting work at Point X Camp this month, earning money for his mission.
Rachel was also able to attend EFY this month and from the sound of it, she had an awesome time.
Reid broke his record of "what if" questions this month and is the STAR of the month. CLICK HERE to learn more about him.
Roxanna had a California cheeseburger in Utah.
Rosilynn is happy because she was able to get advance tickets for the new Harry Potter movie.
Rodney was the lucky one this month. He worked extra hard to be able to go on vacation (something he hasn't done in a LONG time). Then he had to drive a car full of noisy, bickering kids for thousands of miles. Despite all of that, he managed to have a really great time.
Reanna was excited to get to go to temple square in Salt Lake City for vacation. She was also happy that we were able to see Shrek 2 and a couple of church movies while we were in Utah.
Ruth made it through vacation without screaming at anyone for misbehaving. Her patience must be improving.