my summer change of pace

I'm sitting in my new house (well, it's really Mark's house, but us girls live here now) on a nice evening with the windows open listening to a rare event for Colorado--a rainstorm. I've got the Cardinals game on and Matt Holliday is up to bat, which is weird because for the first three years I lived here, I watched him play for the Rockies. This morning I slept until 10, watched some NCIS and did some work on my computer. All that to say, life is just chill right now. Possibly the calm before the storm.

But I needed a calm. This summer was CRAZY. From May 24 until August 8, I worked as a Cabin Leader Supervisor at Youthfront Camp West. Well, I did get a week off, but that week I went to CHIC, which was possibly more busy and stressful than camp. No vacay for Tatie this summer, but it was totally worth it.

I would say the best part about the summer was spending it with my best friend, Jennifer Lee Wilson Fogleman. Or more affectionately known as Jen, Jerbie or Jennie.

Yes. She is a delight. That's us preparing for our sweet Night Strike game. One of the main reasons I went to camp this summer was to have community with people (somewhat) my own age, and especially to hang out with her. Not only did I enjoy it, I wouldn't have survived without her. And now Jen is "one" with Als (that is, Alan Fogleman), so I got to be BFFs with both of them all summer.

That was us at one of the several Royals games we got to go to this summer, thanks to my cousin Steve Stewart who is one of the radio announcers as well as our hook up for tickets. Thanks Steve.

I have to take a moment here to thank the Foglemans. First for their hospitality--for a couch to sleep on for the weekends, for feeeding me, for letting me do my laundry, for Arrested Development--you guys gave me a weekend home and that was awesome. Also, they're just great people. When I remember this summer, I will probably most value the time I got to spend with the Foglemans. Sometime during the last week of camp, Alli Garlich walked by the three of us and said, "here comes the Three Amigos." It made my day. So...I love you guys, that's all.

I guess I'll just start trying to sum up camp in a few highlights. I, along with another guy, was in charge of training and supervising the Cabin Leaders at camp, which is what I used to be when I worked at camp in '05 and '06. I loved having this opportunity, and I loved them.

These were the awesome girls, and even though I don't have a picture of them all, the boys were awesome as well. When the summer was over, I felt like it was too short of time with all of them. Because of having to deal with a lot of businessy task stuff, I didn't get to spend time and build relationships with them nearly as much as I had wanted. But we had some great times playing games, sharing stories about campers, discussing the Bible, praying, and other random stuff.

I loved watching them in their element. Every Friday night we had a 50s themed pool party, and during one of those nights when I'm normally working some activity or running around getting things done, I just stopped for a moment and watched them in the pool as their kids just hung all over them and laughed with them and loved them, and I honestly got a little choked up. They were great. So thank you cabin leaders, you were da bomb.

Another love of my summer was the Garlich family.

That's Alli with Brody (please notice his Nuggets gear)...

...and that's Andy with Brody and Mason. Andy works full time for Youthfront, so this was one of many summers he's spent at camp, and then the rest of the fam just gets to come and hang out. Except if we have a Code Red and Alli gets put to work putting out a fake fire at a cabin that doesn't exist yet. They're great. And I don't think it's any secret that I love babies and toddlers, so it was way fun for me to hang out with them all summer. Me and Mason are BFFs now.

He's fun because he'll repeat anything you say pretty much, and it's hilarious. I especially liked playing with him while we all chilled behind the dining hall: jumping on the mini tramp, going down the slide, throwing frisbees, and of course, the occasional ride in the trike.

I loved that trike. Another one of my favorite times at camp is when I got to take that thing out for a spin around the camp. I'm scared of real bikes, but that thing was awesome.

Before we get too far away from the Garlichs, let's look at one more cute picture from the Homecoming Game Day event (explaining why Jen is a cheerleader):

And then you need to check out this cute video:

The story behind the chasing cars thing is that at the beginning of the summer, Jen and I constantly watched this SNL skit and I kept imitating the song and then Mason picked up on it and it was hilarious.

How about a few more pics? Here in picture form is all the weird/awesome things that camp entailed for me (besides the ones already seen)...

Blobbing. Enough said.

Every Friday was Frames Friday, during which you would wear frames without lenses. These are mine. Also I got to play with that radio all summer.

One mini-week (smaller kids, shorter week), I got to be "Sports Girl" because one the normal Sports Guys was gone. That basically means being the camp emcee, crazy person and celebrity. I loved it, minus the fact that that was the week I almost totally lost my voice.

And because I had become famous, I of course had to participate in the shaving cream war that we do for the little kids. Funsies.

Every night to kick-off the evening event, we have this thing called Hype where the kids just are really loud and have fun. During that time, the "Mail Gorilla" appears to deliver packages to the kids. First off, it's nearly impossible to see out of the mask so I tripped everywhere. Also, Mason is terrified of what he calls "the badrilla." One time he saw the mask and cried harder than I'd ever seen.

One of our themes was Pacman Fever, appreciating old school video games. This was the Duck Hunt station, where we filled up water balloons that the kids then launched at a staff person in a duck suit out on the water. It was awesome.

Probably the most popular event was the Renaissance Festival, which included all kinds of Renaissance themed activities (jousting, slaying dragons, etc.). I had the priviledge each week of being Lady Tate, the Funnel Cake Fries peddler. I walked around with my cart, or sometimes rode the trike, selling funnel cake fries to the kids.

The last night of camp was one of the best. We had a photo scavenger hunt, and it was hilarious. This was us accomplishing the task of advertising Youthfront. Pretty good, huh? Plus we got a stacked team of some of my favorite people at camp: Mark, Momo, Jen and Jordan.

Well that seems to be a pretty decent summary. It was a great summer, and I wouldn't have minded if it lasted several more weeks. I loved being back in Kansas and seeing my friends like Emily and Melissa on the weekends, and I loved that Danielle and Cait got to come to camp one week. I even got to see Steve one Sunday. So it was a great experience, and I am so thankful to God for that blessing.

And now I'm back in Arvada with a new challenge on my hands--running the youth group until we hire a new youth pastor. Should be fun!