Camri's First Birthday

I can't believe my baby sister is already a year old! She turn 1 on September 16, 2010 and she walked around all day waving around her 1 finger. I don't think she really knew what she was doing, other than getting a lot of claps and good jobs from everyone.
She has become quite the little character and I can't wait to see what the next few years bring!

Mertz Camping -Take 1

so I know it was like a month ago that we went camping but life got busy once again and I have yet to post about the fun experiences that we had on our fun camp out.
my history of camping has been:
*Girls Camp- 6 years
*Ward Campouts- probably just a handful
*Family camping- maybe almost 10 times in my life....
in other words....not much REAL camping experiences.

so here is what i learned from real camping:
1. get to camp with plenty of light left in the day
2. make sure you bring extra batteries, a working lantern, and dry wood
3. setting up your tent on an incline= a restless night with a slight feeling of falling
4. check to be sure you know where the bathrooms are before it gets dark
5. hand sanitizer is a MUST
6. if you are going fishing, make sure you go to a lake that has alive, swimming fish
7. close the tent doors, especially if there is a baby sleeping baby inside the tent


the purpose of this camp out was for James' 24th Birthday. we wanted to go on some sort of vacation but lack of money didn't give us very many options. so I decided I would surprise James and we would go camping with some of our good friends. I had it all planned out- where we were going, who was going to bring food, how much it was going to cost, what time we were going....everything that was necessary for the weekend stay in the wilderness.
we got up there friday night just as the sun was setting. we hurried to unload the truck and to set up our tents so we could see with the little amount of light that we had. after the tents were standing the men tried to start the fire. sadly the wood and the dirt surrounding was all wet so starting this fire took three men, 2 hours and a bike pump to get a slightly good fire going.
dinner was amazing and i am happy to announce that i, Jenessa Mertz, ate not only one hot dog, but TWO whole hot dogs that night for dinner and let me tell you they were not half bad....but i think that i will stick to my initial response to hot dogs: gross, no thank you. but that night on the mountain, with lots of mustard and the fire to roast the outside crisp, i loved those hot dogs.
for dessert, james and i made peach cobbler which was delicious! and i love that camping makes food taste so much better than at home.
we all sat around after dinner and just enjoyed the break from every day life. the one thing that i do know about camping and that i love, is that you are just separated from everything worldly. unlike any other type of vacation, you are completely immersed in natural living and that state of living helps to remind you what things are the most important. for me, that feeling, is good. *maybe that is why girls camp has some of the most amazing testimony meetings ever???***
sleep was pretty chilly and i don't think james and i have ever slept as close as we did that night  (our air mattress was a little deflated so we gradually sunk closer and closer to each other all night ha. ) but at the same time, we kept each other fairly warm and it was really nice to think about all the stuff that i didn't have to do the next morning.
james and i were in charge of breakfast the next morning and let me tell you, that was yummy stuff. pancakes with an eggs, sausage, and bacon mixture were on the menu. james did the mixture and i did the pancakes. it was extremely filling and yummy.
after breakfast was all cleaned up and we had pretty much everything put away to be ready to leave in time for check out, we went to the lake and just chilled. some people road in the kayak, while others, like me, just laid in the sun and soaked up the good feeling of being outside.

we went back to the site, finished packing up the trucks, said our good byes and "we have to do this again"s and made our way back to  civilization.  it was a fantastic weekend and i think james loved his birthday present. :)

Personal Progress ONLINE!!!!! :)

I am so excited!!!!
The new interactive personal progress website has finally started!
This is a very user friendly website and very fun to work with. Thank goodness there are techy people in the church headquarters who realize how helpful this is now going to be for Young Women leaders.

So the website, if you would like to start working on it or would just like to check it out:
personalprogress.lds.org
In order to begin working with the interactive part, you have to create an LDS username and password.
I am going to be starting my own personal progress again so keep checking the personal progress page for updates on how things are going or if I find any cool new ideas.
Young Women in Excellence in coming up VERY soon. I will be posting exactly what we are going to be doing soon. I am so excited for this year and it feels awesome to be planning something again.

Another fun thing that is available for help with missionary work:
www.mormon.org
As a member of the church you can make a personalized profile where you are able create your own place for your non-member friends and acquaintances to go and see what your religion is all about. If you are a non-member, visit the site, or stay tuned for my personalized page for you to check out.

I hope everyone enjoyed and feels blessed from the wonderful General Conference that we just experienced. I know that I feel more committed to be a better person and do what I can to be a better example and member of this church.

Pictures and updates of what's going on with our lives to follow :)
-Love always
-Ness

Life's Measurable Accomplishments

Tonight we went to my parents home to have a family dinner and family night. We had yummy waffles and sausage and eggs and bacon for dinner and then after. I think having breakfast for dinner is something that I will always remember as a favorite past-time. Hopefully it will be something that I continue to make special with my future family- I think James is still having to get used to that idea though. He is more of a good roast and potatoes for Sunday dinner type man. (I am totally fine with this though, because he makes an awesome roast, if I do say so myself).

After everything was cleaned up we sat around on my parents new couch and just talked. It has been awhile since we have done this because of the crazy lives we lead. It has been especially crazy lately because my parents are re-doing their home. New carpet, new floors, new walls, less walls, new doors, less doors, and more- that's for a different day though. 

James and his amazing techy sense set up my dad's computer to the TV and we were able to watch some different Mormon Messages and talk about how blessed we are to be members of a true church and to be a forever family. 

My dad also talked about some of the training that Elder Christopherson gave when he was here a couple weeks ago. What stuck out the most to me was "Life is not just about activities. Change the "just activities" to Life's Measurable Accomplishments.

we went around the room and said one thing that we could work on individually to make our accomplishments more measurable. It was good to here that we are all working together to be better people. It was good to hear that I have a support system near to me and who love me. 

Goal for the week: to make the things that I do more measurably accomplished. 

hope everyone have an awesome sunday and has a fantastic week. next time: i will fill you in on the great learning adventures of the mertz camping weekend. :)

sincerely, 

-nessa 

Dear friends....

this weekend my dear james and i are going camping with some good friends. we are going b/c of james' birthday. here's the slight problem though.....i don't really know how to camp lol.
any good tips or ideas?! any and all would be extremely helpful <3
-ness

Found this Cd off of the Nie Nie Dialogs and i love it!-- although i have not heard the whole thing yet....a friend of mine gave me a copy of the cd Sum of All Grace years ago and miss mindy has been an inspiration to me ever since! check out her stuff! http://mindygledhill.blogspot.com/
-ness

Julie and Julia- My new favorite

Much to James' dismay, he walked in to our room on Friday night to me watching an chick flick, the sort of movie that he would probably sleep pretty well through. For me though- I was browsing Netflix and found this movie. It looked like a normal love story and I had heard of it before, but hadn't heard anything about it. To my surprise, two minutes into the movie and i was hooked! i was going to really love this movie.

if you have never heard of this movie before, i suggest you go watch it because it is amazing. well let me rephrase that- if you are anything like me, or you like to watch movies that make you want to get up and be something/ do something huge, then you will like this movie. added bonus: if you are a netflix account holder, you can watch this movie on instant play! 

anyway- this movie made me want to be more organized with my life- to have things in order so that i have the ability to just try new things and go on new adventures. 

some things that i would like to start doing:

-train with a group of friends to run a 5K (i am actually going to start this a week from tomorrow if anyone is interested in joining the team to train)

-make some cool Christmas presents for my young women, my young women leader friends, my parents, james' parents, and james' sister. and i mean like actually make something that's really cool and something that they will each love and use. 

-i think i would actually like to start cooking. but not just any cooking, i want to learn how to be a provident living cook. so that would mean that i would make freezer meals so that we have something to just thaw out when we need something quick and easy, i want to learn how to can fruit so i can add to my food storage, i want to be able to save us some money by the way i cook....

-i want to devote more time to being a good young women leader. 

-i want to start and finish my wedding scrap book

so here it goes- yesterday i started with organizing. i made my own little (and i mean really little) lab-or-i-tory for all of my little knicks and knacks. i cleaned out all my closets actually and threw away everything and i am not using and that is not necessary to my everyday living. it feels great! 

next step- finish the 5K training plan and send it out to all friends. i am super excited about that one :) 

til next time!

-ness