The Beaulieu Bunch: March, a campout, youth activities and a funeral

March started out with a last minute movie night for mutual...well more of a hang out night since only one girl actually watched a movie.

The rest played ping pong, pool...

or sat out at the pool. They all had fun in their own ways.

Penny and I were lucky enough to get a quick visit with Shawna as she was passing through town. I love that no matter how far apart we are we always reconnect.

The girls have just as much fun hanging out as well.

This month we finally got a mattress that wasn't either a hand-me-down or a cheapy one from Modern Furniture.

Its soft and comfortable and moves up and down. And now Jeff has been having a lot of back problems :( Looks like it's going to go back.

Unfortunately we probably need something that's not so soft and comfortable.

So sometimes Pinterest overwhelms me and sometimes it sparks a creative streak. I got these ideas off Pinterest and I was happy that it was a good way to use up scrap material and ribbon.

They have some crinkly plastic inside too.

I guess I'll have some more goodies to give with the blankets I like to make for baby showers.

One of the highlights of the month so far is our Young Women's campout in the mountains.

Well we actually stayed in a cabin so it was more of an "overnighter"

We had a lot of fun and there was even some snow still on the ground.

These two had a lot of fun exploring around the camp and messing with the snow.

We had a table of games and help yourself nail polish.

Then Brother Vincent held a cooking class and taught us how to make some delicious stuffed chicken.

Everyone watched and got to make their own.

He cut the chicken thin and then layered it with prosciutto, swiss, pepperoni, provolone, and ham and then rolled it up. On the top they spread Mayo and sprinkled it with garlic powder, pepper and salt and then sprinkled it with breadcrumbs and Parmesan.

Then he taught us how to make homemade macaroni and cheese.

Can't wait to eat our dinner.

It all turned out great.

After dinner we had smores.

The girls didn't even have to go outside since there was a giant fireplace in the cabin.

We turned on Big Hero 6 which we didn't get to watch earlier that week and then we all went to bed...well at least to our rooms that is.

These guys liked messing with the snow and making sculptures with it. When we went to bed I told them they couldn't come back outside to play in it until it was light the next morning...the earliest was 5:30. Guess how early they were up, right at 5:30 :)

More snow creations.

Nina found enough snow to make a decent little snowman. She had him on wheels and brought him to the front of the lodge to put him on display.

We ate breakfast,

and then drove a few miles to a sledding place. We told the girls to bundle up because we knew that we would be playing in the snow but we almost all shed our jackets pretty quick because it was actually a pretty warm day.

Sliding down the hill.

It was fun to be there together. Ashley had no fear, and neither did Jeff. I on the other hand had to work myself up to a couple of those drop-offs. It was a lot of fun though.

The girls even linked arms and 3 or 4 of them at a time zooming down the hill.

Everyone agreed that it was a highlight of the trip and want to come back next year.

When we got back to camp it was time to clean up and check out - except some of the girls would rather hang out outside rather than clean. :)

I found out the next day that these guys hung out in each other's room talking until 2:00 in the morning! No wonder they had a hard time getting up the next day!

Oh well, I'm glad they all had fun.

Unfortunately a few hours after we got back from the campout we found out that Reuben Jeff's stepdad, and my father in law passed away. He had had a stroke the year before and had never fully recovered. He was declining rapidly the last couple of weeks and we wanted to get up there to see him. We didn't get our chance. He was only on hospice for about a day and 1/2. We were sad but glad that he wasn't suffering any more.

Jeff drove up to his mom's to be with her the next morning and dropped Jacob off at his Mascot/cheer competition on the way. Ashley, Taylor and I went to go watch Jacob later on.

Here were our posters of support.

Jacob did a great job and his group and all the other groups all got first place, won the overall competition and will be going to nationals in Vegas next month.

Here is Ashley's picture of Jacob as he sits in the stands across from us hanging with the other cheerleaders.

We took a break and then came back just in time to hear them announce the overall winners. Way to go King! This is one big selfie of the team.

Jacob has had a lot of fun being the mascot this year.

The next weekend was the funeral for Reuben.

We have many good memories of Reuben and were glad to have him in the family. He is the only grandfather my kids have known on Jeff's side and Jeff and his siblings were grateful for him taking good care of Jeff's mom. They took good care of each other.