Superactivity

I LOVED the Superactivity!  It was a much anticipated event in a good way and in a bad way once it got closer.  I did start to get nervous.  I had said, "I don't go into labor" so many times, I was starting to think I'd inevitably jinxed myself.  I felt unwelcome by a few people who oddly enough weren't even there, so that concern was alleviated during the first hour of waiting at the church to load up.  But it turned out to be a pretty cool trip.
Fortunately, Nate's friend volunteered to fix his car, and loan him a truck in the meantime, so I was able to drive the Suburban.  That ended up being priceless really.  I think that was a huge blessing.  We had Heather Scott up front with me, Charity, Kelly, Abbi Gadd, Gillian Berrett, Natalia Marques, and Matt White (funny little deacon with a bunch of girls!).  It was a fun car.  Not as fun as Jami's apparently ;), but fun enough :).  I loved talking with Heather and the Laurels that were in the car.  I never get to hang out with them.  So that was fun.
The ride up felt like an eternity, I'll be honest.  I had to stop too much so I didn't even bother trying to stay in the caravan with the Bishop and everyone.  We did meet up with Jami's car for lunch and were near them for most of the last few hours.  But it was only supposed to be six hours but ended up taking us about 8 with all our stops, lunch, and the huge detour we unknowingly took out of the way.  We were staying in the Hot Springs Campground near the Payette River.  It was a busy/interesting couple of hours setting up all the tents and dealing with some of the drama.  I'm still so surprised that some of the Beehives wanted to sleep in Jacox's car and that he let them, that was some fun drama (and really the only girl drama I witnessed, amazingly!).  We all had dinner, played volleyball, had a late night devotional around the fire, and then sang songs and just hung out enjoying each other's company, well into the night!
That first night was so awesome!!  I don't know how I did it, but I only had to get up to pee ONCE in the night!  I slept pretty well and was very rested in the morning!  It was fantastic!  Almost better than at home!
That first day on the river was great.  I had to drive youth up there, so I got to be with them until they pushed off at the top.  The road ran right along the river so I was able to stay almost with them the whole way.  I didn't really follow them, I spent the first little while scouting out good spots for photos, and then realized that I had a bunch of time to just sit and do nothing!  I wrote some thank you cards, had my lunch, read my scriptures, took a nap!  It was great!  Minus that I fell asleep and missed them going over the only rapid on the river... kind of a bummer.  But I had so much time to myself and did a lot of thinking.  It was nice.  I loved it.  I met up with them at the end, enjoyed hearing about it all... it was like I'd been there anyway.

teenagers are so fun to take pictures of!

sisterly love

I don't know why but watching the Bishop try to sort them onto rafts without forcing them to move away from friends was kind of funny.  He's such a fun Bishop, it's hard for him to just take charge.

cute little deacons!

for someone who has a good side, she sure doesn't give it to me much

I stalked them and took pictures while they were taking a little break

I missed the Bishop's awesome dive 

and I'm still amazed little Ashton was able to pull him onto the raft!  He probably did most of the work, but STILL!

Look at the picture I got!

I LOVED that these girls were so focused on getting their Book of Mormon reading done!  They had found an app that tracks your reading so that you can read the Book of Mormon in a month!  I can't believe how dedicated they were!  I loved that they kept sharing what they were reading and that Spirit that comes from digging in.

I love these two... hilarious.  Anything for a photo op.

I sucked it up and posted this picture... I know I look hideous, but I guess that's just how I look.  I like that I have all my cute friends around me.  Reminds me of how loved I felt there :).

We played volleyball and a few other games that night, devotional, singing, it was so nice, so relaxing, I loved getting to know the youth in our ward.  I put my feet in the hot springs while they were all showering and got lots of chatting in... very nice.  I really do love the youth in this ward.  They are so neat.  I loved getting to know the young men a little better too.  They're good boys.  Didn't sleep as well that second night- had to get up about a million times to go to the bathroom and my pubic bone was driving me nuts!  Not a good night.
The next day was much the same, different river though, and this time I shuttled the drivers at the END of the trip rather than the beginning.  This time the river was not near the road, so I drove down to the first available photo op, and sat in my car and talked to Nate for two hours!  That was priceless!  Minus the fact that I had to hold my phone up in the air in a tiny little spot of service, it was really all I could have asked for!  I love talking with Nate.  SO I got some pictures from that spot and then hurried down to the rapid at the end of the river and got some pretty awesome shots of them all coming over that.  Lots of fun.  I felt very useful that day.

Those life jackets alone were deterrent enough to not risk going down the river for this preggy.

The whole group!

a picture of Jami!

K, I can't get over how funny it is that Bishop is doing a hang loose sign :).  HAHAHAHA!!!  He's so funny.

Here's their big class III rapid... I forget the name of it...

Spencer was really awesome to scream and cheer and get them all psyched up during this rapid- sounded so exciting!  Then each raft would come through and scream and cheer with him once they conquered it... very cool.

This part looked like fun too- everyone pulling and pushing each other into the water- probably when Kelly hurt her ankle.

Good Side, paddling upstream

That night was our testimony meeting.  I LOVED it.  It was so awesome.  I love hearing their strong Spirits bearing such pure testimony of the Gospel.  It strengthens mine so much.  They really are amazing.
I don't even remember how that last night was, but I remember being in a lot of pain as we took down camp.  I was anxious to get home.  And not just because Nate needed me home to go to work.
We had our same car-full of people, pretty uneventful, but very fun.  I think my pfavorite part was hearing Abbi's story about peeing in the car.  She is hilarious.  I don't know if I"ve laughed that hard in a long time.  The ride home didn't feel too long, it was six hours though!  I was in a lot of pain, but it worked.
I wish this wasn't just a timeline of what happened.  There were so many cool moments.  Maybe I should just document those.  It's hard to give the whole weekend justice.  It was just so neat.  Here's my list of cool things:

Everyone was really understanding about the nut allergy problem.
The food was great, although I could have used some fiber... it was such a blessing/answer to my prayers when Jami pointed out that we hadn't eaten much fiber/any veggies the entire time... that explained why I felt the way I did!  It was a huge relief that there wasn't something else wrong.  I had forgotten my iron pills too, which I'm sure didn't help with the situation.
Ryan Soelberg getting Kelly a drink.
Keagan Reed getting Kelly some fruit snacks.  (she was laid up with an injury from the raft)
The good sportsmanship during the first volleyball game... everyone was so nice to each other.
Everyone was so nice to me, wanted to let me rest and massaging me, rubbing my back, asking me about my baby, helping me come up with names :), just being really sweet and patient with my inability to function.
The boys singing primary songs/hymns while we sat around the fire with no prompting whatsoever.
Savannah's testimony about Charity.
Charity's testimony about the scritptures.
Kelly's testimony about Personal Progress.
I LOVED hearing my girls' testimonies.  I do not want to take that for granted!  I know I won't always be in YW, so I've got to be grateful for these opportunities.
No rain!! (except while we drove)
Almost no injuries!
The Bishop reminding me and Jami that we (and our families) will be blessed for our sacrifice and willingness to fulfill our callings.
Sitting with the youth just visiting, laughing, and gleaning from them all the many things they know that I don't.
The awesome shooting star I saw!!  It left a line in the sky!  So beautiful.
Finding out that Erika and Noah's play had been rescheduled to Saturday, so I would get to see it afterall!
Jill, Natalia, Olivia, and Abbi naming my baby after them, or places in Idaho :).  Payette is kind of cute, I'll admit it.
Allena, Aubrey and Megan's dedication to their Book of Mormon reading.
Not going into labor while on the Superactivity!