I just got back (seriously, like 30 min ago) from the best week end ever! We (me and the other youth leaders in our awesome ward) took the Priests and Laurels up to Gila Valley to tour the new temple and participate in a varsity triathlon. It was so fun!
...and very windy!
The new temple is breath taking. If you get a chance to go, DO IT!!! It was amazing. Being there with my beautiful Laurels and experiencing it again for the first time with them was an unforgettable experience. It made me want to be there with my real daughters. So guess what I will be talking Joel into when he gets home from work tonight? (taking our own daughters up there next weekend, that's what).
Some members of our ward have connections (remember before how I said this ward is awesome?) and they hooked us up with a place to stay the night at the Temple President's home, which was wonderful. He took time out of his busy schedule to talk to our youth about the history of the Gila Valley and why there is a temple there and some other really neat things. We were fed a delicious dinner and then went to a dance to kick off the triathlon events the next day. What did us leaders do at the dance, you ask? We got our Electric Slide on, joined the Macarana madness, and YMCA'ed to the amazement of the young folk. It was so funny - they kept asking me "You know this dance!!???" as if it had just been invented last year. I was like "Honey, this is old school." I actually was pretty surprised they were playing all the same songs from when I was in high school. And they were old songs then. No school like the old school.
Some members of our ward have connections (remember before how I said this ward is awesome?) and they hooked us up with a place to stay the night at the Temple President's home, which was wonderful. He took time out of his busy schedule to talk to our youth about the history of the Gila Valley and why there is a temple there and some other really neat things. We were fed a delicious dinner and then went to a dance to kick off the triathlon events the next day. What did us leaders do at the dance, you ask? We got our Electric Slide on, joined the Macarana madness, and YMCA'ed to the amazement of the young folk. It was so funny - they kept asking me "You know this dance!!???" as if it had just been invented last year. I was like "Honey, this is old school." I actually was pretty surprised they were playing all the same songs from when I was in high school. And they were old songs then. No school like the old school.Anyhoo, the next day we did the triathlon. 75 meter swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run. It was challenging enough to make you work for it, but not so hard that you were hating life 1/2 way through. I loved it. The water was FREEZING. It took your breath away the second you got in, and I don't think I started breathing again until I got out. But the rest was fun and I hope we do it again next year. My Laurels did awesome and I am so proud of them!!!! (even though I creamed them all in 52 minutes :) ) 
Now I need to sit down and figure out a way to tell Joel thank you for being such a sweet man and taking care of the kiddos while I had a weekend of fun. Hmmm... I think I can come up with something.
