Author Archives: Jenn Rian
Age 12 7th Grade: Youth Camp Stinks
This is the 9th post in a 12 week series joining
Mommy’s Piggy Tales to record my youth!
I’m also linking this up to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop 3.) Share a Summer Camp memory.
1991-1992
7th Grade
Youth Camp Stinks
The summer before I entered the 7th Grade (and a few months before I turned 12) I went to Youth Camp for the first only time. Our friends from church, Jayna and Julie, had been going for years and always told my sister and I how much fun it was. I didn’t really want to go. I’m not into sports or the outdoors, so the word “camp” in and of itself doesn’t appeal to me. But Jayna convinced me that I needed to go because we would have so much fun together and of course the place would be crawling with cute Christian boys. (Isn’t that why everyone goes to Youth Camp…the boys, the Christian boys.)
Jayna and I wouldn’t be going to Youth Camp with our sisters Julie and Jessie because we were bumped up into a new age group this year, so they would be going to camp a week later. Although my sister and I rarely got along it was always convenient in situations like this to have a sister so close in age. We seemed to get along great when we were somewhere we didn’t know anyone else…we always had each other and weren’t pressured to make new friends if we didn’t want to. It would be okay, though, because I’d be spending all of my time with Jayna anyway, right? Well. When you filled out your application you were able to put down the name of two other campers that you wanted to room with. The only person that I knew was Jayna so I wrote her name down. I don’t know whether or not Jayna wrote down my name, but she also wrote down the name of one of her camp friends…and all of her camp friends wrote down her name. So there was no room for me in that room and I was placed in a room down the hall where I knew absolutely nobody. I pretty much didn’t see Jayna for the rest of camp.
When my mom dropped me off at camp I begged her not to leave me there. I didn’t want to go to begin with. But she said that I’d made a commitment and it was already paid for and maybe I’d have fun. So I had to stay. I heard later that my grandma couldn’t believe that my mom left me there alone in “that place”. Haha. The dorm rooms were incredibly crowded with no air conditioning. They told you to be sure to wear flip flops in the shower so that you didn’t get a fungus on your feet. Um, no thank you. I didn’t shower all week (yeah, gross, I know…but the showers weren’t much cleaner). The food was terrible and I pretty much never complained about my mom’s food again (Not that there was anything to complain about. My mom is an amazing cook, but I was a picky eater that wouldn’t eat anything but chicken fingers for the first 13 years of life.). I refused to eat the food. I survived on Twix, Dr. Pepper, and Slime Slurps that I’d get at the “Canteen” every night. (Yes, I did save the wrapper from one of my Slime Slurps as a Youth Camp souvenir. You can thank me later.)
I hated Youth Camp. It was everything that I thought it would be dirty, hot, outside, sports, blah, blah, blah. I don’t remember seeing any cute boys or there being any activities that I’d enjoy (like drama, dance, music, or art). I did make one friend who was in my room named, Tonia. I don’t remember too much about her except she was really skinny and had very light blonde hair and one night we stayed up on her bunk singing “I’m Proud to be an American”. I never saw or heard from her again after camp although I think I wrote her a few letters that I never mailed.
My favorite part of camp was “Chapel”. These were basically the church services. There was one in the afternoon that was more like a Bible study and one in the evening that you were to dress up for (yay, church clothes and no shower!) and there was a full service with worship music, sermon, and alter calls. I always really enjoyed the lessons and the singing, and worship and all of it. Unfortunately in the afternoon I had a hard time staying awake. I even started to skip swimming thinking that the water was making me sleepy for Chapel, but it didn’t help too much. Still I really enjoyed the services and it was the only thing about camp that I liked. But I don’t think you needed to drop me in the woods with no shower and no food for me to experience that.
I never went to Youth Camp again and to this day I speak of the perils and horrors that were Youth Camp 1991. So I present to you my “Youth Camp Stinks” folder created by my 12 year old tortured soul so scarred for life by this experience. I’ve typed out the text below in case you can’t read my hand writing (You’ll need to click on the image and enlarge it for full enjoyment). I wrote with much sarcasm (if you couldn’t tell) and I’m honestly not sure what half of this stuff means, anyway.
Clearly I’ve blocked a lot out.
I went to Youth Camp last year in Summerset.
Camp lasted from Mon. to Fri.
We slept in small, crowded rooms, dorms, and the food was horrible!
My counselor was Lou Ann
I learned to ______________
I really liked camp because of all the people I met!
The worst part about camp was the food. No the rooms. Oh, who knows.
New friends I met at camp: Tonia Z., Carrie, Nicky
My “Youth Camp Stinks” Folder By Jennifer S.
Dear Parents and Campers,
This is a note about things in Youth Camp
Read carefully and remember what you read
From,
Youth Camp People
Youth Camp ‘91
1. Hamburgers, Pizza
2. Scrambled eggs, ham patties, and fruit
Lunch – hamburgers
Dinner – Spaghetti
3. Scrambled eggs, ham bits, and fruit
Lunch – Pretzel Sandwiches and vegetables soup
Dinner – Chicken
4. Cereal, fruit
Lunch – Chicken Patti
Sandwich Dinner – Meat Loaf
5. Cereal fruit
Yum, yum! Eat up.
Our Camp bedrooms are cozy with 10 comfortable beds stuffed neatly in one small room, which holds 9 little campers and 1 sleepy counselor. The room consists of 5 bunk beds, a full length mirror and 5 hooks for hanging clothes. To make lots of room there are no dressers or closets, the children keep their clothes stuffed in their suit cases and dirty clothes bag.
A Youth camp bed may look ugly and uncomfortable but really aren’t, with the help of your children, their blankets and animals, help spice up the room the week they’re there!
Before..and..after!
Now just see how it brightens up the room. Remember that when you come!!!
Don’t forget to visit the Youth Camp Graveyard and pay your respects to those who passed on during the week of their stay, so please, if you will, just drop by.
Rocky Squirrel killed * Mollissa Mole killed * Mrs. Tomas Counselor Food Poisoning * Joanna Burns Camper Ran over by golf cart * Mr. Jones Counselor Broken Back
As you can tell we have new carpets, so we allow no eating or drinking in the dorm or rooms & no food in the tabernacle.
We hope you had fun at Youth Camp “91”!
Youth Camp “91”
Friday 26, 1991 Time 9:55
Specialty Pretzel Sandwiches
Price: Free
Served with vegetable soup!
My Piggy Tales:
*My Birth Story: I’m always late!
*Ages 3-5: Dancing in a box
*Age 6 First Grade: There’s a bra in my lunchbox!
*Age 7 Second Grade: Bossy Wheels and Shady Deals
*Age 8 Third Grade: I will not talk in class
*Age 9 Fourth Grade: I didn’t really need those fingers anyway!
*Age 10 5th Grade: Nothing’s Scary in the Fifth Grade
*Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
*Age 12 7th Grade: Youth Camp Stinks
*Age 13 8th Grade: “Talent” Show
*Age 14 9th Grade: (N)O Christmas Tree
*Age 15 10th Grade: The Newsboys Wouldn’t Ditch Their Friends
*Age 16 11th Grade: Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
*Age 17 12th Grade: In School Suspension
My Young Adult Years
*Dreams and Aspirations: The Long Road There
*Friends and Fellowship: Friends Don’t Get Friends Grounded
*My First Job
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 1
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 2
*Colonel Mustard on a Rollercoaster with a Plastic Fork
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!
Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by Her Grandma
This is the 8th post in a 12 week series joining
Mommy’s Piggy Tales to record my youth!
1990-1991
6th Grade
Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
In 1990 I entered the 6th Grade and turned 11 years old. This was actually a pretty big year for me, but I wouldn’t realize it until adulthood. I started ballet, met one of my best friends in the world, started getting insanely boy crazy, started writing a lot, and felt God calling me into youth ministry. I was much more used to the Middle School now although I always got nervous in the beginning because there were many new teachers. Once again I had some trouble with my locker and had to carry all of my books around in a back pack everywhere that I went.
One day after school was out I walked outside where my maternal Grandma was waiting in the car to drive my sister and I home. My sister was already in the front seat and I could see that she and my Grandma were having a fight. I got to the car and opened the back door. My back pack was so heavy because I was carrying all of my books with me that I had to toss it into the car first. Before I could even get into the car my Grandmother drove off! She’s down the block with the back door wide open and I’m standing on the sidewalk screaming “Grandma!”. That’s not the worst of it. When she drove away…she ran over my foot with the car! Yep. Kids were standing around laughing and making fun of me, but I didn’t care. I was a little preoccupied with the fact that my Grandma just ran over my foot and then drove away and left me there!
I don’t remember how long it took her to come back around for me, or what made her realize that I wasn’t in the car (I don’t think she made it any further than the stop sign…and I think I even walked over to the stop sign and got into the car). The story that I heard was that my sister was upset for some reason and said that as soon as I got into the car that she was going to jump out of the car. When I tossed my heavy book bag into the back seat, my Grandma thought that it was me getting into the car (since her eyes were on my sister and she felt a “thud”), and she sped off in hopes that Jess wouldn’t jump out of the car. None of us remember why Jess was upset and wanted to get out of the car, but I know that I’ll never forget being run over by my Grandma in front of half of the school!
Don’t worry, it didn’t really hurt that bad and my foot was fine by the next day.
Just for the fun of it, although it’s completed unrelated to being mowed down by one’s own grandmother ;), here is a watercolor painting that I made while in FL that July. I’ve never been much of a painter, but I’ve always liked this picture.
My Piggy Tales:
*My Birth Story: I’m always late!
*Ages 3-5: Dancing in a box
*Age 6 First Grade: There’s a bra in my lunchbox!
*Age 7 Second Grade: Bossy Wheels and Shady Deals
*Age 8 Third Grade: I will not talk in class
*Age 9 Fourth Grade: I didn’t really need those fingers anyway!
*Age 10 5th Grade: Nothing’s Scary in the Fifth Grade
*Age 11 6th Grade: Jenny Got Ran Over by her Grandma
*Age 12 7th Grade: Youth Camp Stinks
*Age 13 8th Grade: “Talent” Show
*Age 14 9th Grade: (N)O Christmas Tree
*Age 15 10th Grade: The Newsboys Wouldn’t Ditch Their Friends
*Age 16 11th Grade: Acrophobia Gets You the Good Seats
*Age 17 12th Grade: In School Suspension
My Young Adult Years
*Dreams and Aspirations: The Long Road There
*Friends and Fellowship: Friends Don’t Get Friends Grounded
*My First Job
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 1
*How I Met Cool Daddy Part 2
*Colonel Mustard on a Rollercoaster with a Plastic Fork
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!
Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree 2010
Cool Daddy came up with the idea of having an Ugliest Christmas Sweater competition for our Christmas Eve celebration. It sounded just like the weird sort of thing our family would love, so I agreed and we made our plans.
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On Christmas Eve Cool Daddy and I hosted The First Annual Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree. Everyone in the family participated except for the babies since we figured that a tricked-out sweater might be a choking hazard.
The Ugliest Christmas Sweater Champion would be awarded the Ugliest Christmas Sweater Trophy of Awesomeness. Contestants also had the opportunity to win the title of overall Most Festive Attire and Most Naturally Ugly (unaltered) Christmas Sweater (they’d win the title and bragging rights, but no award).
Here are all of the 2010 Ugliest Christmas Sweater Contestants…can you guess who won?
(The winner is announced at the bottom, so don’t scroll down and cheat! Cheater.)
First here we are, the Cool Family.
I think our sweaters prove just how cool we really are. Ahem.
When planning the party I didn’t consider the fact that Adaline might be freaked out by all of the sweaters.
I thought she would love them and try to pull at them.
Well.
Adaline was freaked out by all of the sweaters.
Isn’t that the ugliest Santa head?!
I found it at The Dollar Tree. What a treasure.
There were lights around the Santa head but they didn’t show up on camera 😦
My hat had Santa legs coming out of the top (so that it looked like Santa was going down the chimney), but the legs kept flopping over, so it just looks like I’m wearing a brick-print top hat 😦 .
Still awesome, but not quite the same. Sigh.
Cool Daddy can rock a woman’s sweater vest like nobody’s business.
There’s lights on the front and back (but again, they’re hard to see) and it’s covered in glow sticks. I’m not really sure why.
He’s wearing a Christmas tie that plays Jingle Bells (um, awesome, anyone?).
He purposely shaved off his goatee to have his creepy mustache compliment his sweater.
You better believe it was gone before the night was out. *Shudder*
So my sister waited until only a few days before to get her sweater together. Then decided that she couldn’t find anything (that she was willing to pay for), so she turned a shirt inside out and wrote all over it with a Sharpie. Um, okay.
She did even less for her husband having him wear an old sweatshirt, which for some reason he decided to fold up into a mid-drift. Sure.
I wised up when taking the picture of my mom’s sweater and turned off the flash so that you can see her lights. The lights on her sweater were sa-weet! They were shaped like stars and changed colors!
(P.S. The tinsel on her sweater forms a Christmas tree…in case you couldn’t tell.)
Oh Christmas Ben, Oh Christmas Ben, how lovely are thy sweater…
My cousin Ben is sporting a Christmas tree sweater, complete with presents for shoes. A jingle bell fur collar adds musical appeal while tinsel and Christmas trees on the back make sure that you have a Happy Holiday from every direction. Oh yes.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
a peacock in a pear tree…
Okay, so I think that my cousin, Aunia’s, sweater is actually kinda cute. And I would totally wear it to the grocery store peacocks on the shoulders and all.
(Then again I would wear my totally rockin’ Santa sweater to the grocery store too because I’m super weird and have no shame…)
She’s stylin’ with a pear tree on the front of her sweater, peacocks on her shoulders (because apparently partridges are hard to come by) and feathers on the sleeves.
My aunt, A.C., is trimmed in lovely green tinsel and featuring giant candy canes surrounded by puffy balls.
My uncle, U.A., is wearing a sweater that I originally thought was a reindeer head…and now I think might be a clock. Not really sure.
Either way, my favorite part was that he had real mini candy canes in the stockings. Tee-hee 🙂
Now’s your last chance to pick your winner
before scrolling down to see the results.
Okay. So here are the 2010 winners of Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree Ugliest Christmas Sweater Contest.
My brother-in-law, Matt, won the title and bragging rights for Most Naturally Ugly (unaltered) Christmas Sweater because he had the only unaltered shirt…even though it wasn’t Christmas-y. But my sister said that it has red and green on it so it counts. I guess.
Ben won the title and bragging rights for overall Most Festive Attire.
Wearing an entire Christmas tree on your chest will do that.
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.
My very own main squeeze, Cool Daddy, rose victorious as the Ugliest Christmas Sweater Champion.
I think we all voted for him because we were so creeped out by the mustache.
And we wanted it to go away.
Very quickly.
And never return.
And this is supposed to be a picture of Ben sad because he didn’t win the trophy, but the sad picture that I took of him ended up being really blurry and so I used this one instead wherein he is kinda smiling and holding up one finger even though he was very sad and truly tortured to the very core of his being for not having won the trophy and he must be pretending that he is number one in order to make himself feel better and not cry in front the entire blogosphere. I thank you for not laughing at him during his hour of great pain and distress.
(Nothing says, “Feliz Navidad!” like a good nonsensical run-on sentence.
You are welcome.)
Which ugly sweater is your favorite? (Mine!)
Let me know in the comments!
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10 Days of Christmas PJs! Day 10: 2010 Part 1
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Here we are on our 10th Day of Christmas PJs…but I can’t show you our Christmas jammies photos from this year yet because…well, we haven’t taken them yet! I didn’t think that through when I came up with this whole thing. Oh well.
So…for this post I’ve decided to include one (or two) photos from each year that I’ve posted so far to tide you over until I can post photos of this year’s jammies.
Enjoy.
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
10 Days of Christmas PJs:
Day 1: 2001
Day 2: 2002
Day 3: 2003
Day 4: 2004
Day 5: 2005
Day 6: 2006
Day 7: 2007
Day 8: 2008
Day 9: 2009
Day 10: 2010 Part 1 You are here 😉
Day 10: 2010 Part 2 Still to come!
If you’re looking for ideas for your Christmas PJs tradition check out my post 10 Ways to Shake Up Your Christmas Pajamas Tradition
What are your Christmas pajamas traditions?
Other Christmas Posts
*Dear Santa: Part 1 Writing a Letter to Santa
*Dear Santa: Part 2 Mailing a Letter to Santa
*Dear Santa: Part 3 Paper for Writing to Santa: Free printables and more!
*Dear Santa: Part 4 Emailing a Letter to Santa
*My Letter to Santa 1984
*10 Ways to Shake Up Your Christmas Pajamas Tradition
*Phone Calls from Santa
*Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree Rules
*Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree 2010 Photos and Winners
*Traditions, Truces, and Cartoon Moments
*Food as Tradition: Norwegian Butter Cookies
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family this holiday season. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!
*Subscribe via email*RSS*Facebook*Twitter*Networked Blogs*Blog Frog*
10 Days of Christmas PJs! Day 9: 2009
2009 brought about more “new” for us. It was our first Christmas with the next generation, my daughter Adaline was almost 5 months old, and my sister was pregnant with her son. We took a group photo of all of us together in our jammies for the first time.
We ladies had knit pajamas with green tops and red, white, and green striped bottoms. There were candy canes on the tops which read “Holiday Sugar”. Adaline had a cute “1st Christmas” sleeper that was white with red stripes and had a few red and green presents on it. The little red hat that you’ll see her wearing was mine as a baby.
I had a harder time with the guys pajamas last year. I couldn’t find any pajama bottoms at all so I asked the guys to bring a pair from previous years (you’ll notice below that they each wore a different pair, one from each year, unplanned). I couldn’t find a top in my husband’s size either, so I had to get him a smaller size. He cut the sleeves off so that he would be more comfortable and then he and my cousin, Ben, tied the cut-off sleeves around their heads. Before the shirt was destroyed it was a green t-shirt with a gingerbread man with a broken leg that said “Oh snap!”. Tee-hee ;).
The girls.
Cousins.
Da Boyz
The whole crew
The Cool Family 2010
THE END
10 Days of Christmas PJs:
Day 1: 2001
Day 2: 2002
Day 3: 2003
Day 4: 2004
Day 5: 2005
Day 6: 2006
Day 7: 2007
Day 8: 2008
Day 9: 2009 You are here 😉
Day 10: 2010 Part 1
Day 10: 2010 Part 2 Still to come!
If you’re looking for ideas for your Christmas PJs tradition check out my post 10 Ways to Shake Up Your Christmas Pajamas Tradition
What are your Christmas pajamas traditions?
Other Christmas Posts
*Dear Santa: Part 1 Writing a Letter to Santa
*Dear Santa: Part 2 Mailing a Letter to Santa
*Dear Santa: Part 3 Paper for Writing to Santa: Free printables and more!
*Dear Santa: Part 4 Emailing a Letter to Santa
*My Letter to Santa 1984
*10 Ways to Shake Up Your Christmas Pajamas Tradition
*Phone Calls from Santa
*Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree Rules
*Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree 2010 Photos and Winners
*Traditions, Truces, and Cartoon Moments
*Food as Tradition: Norwegian Butter Cookies
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family this holiday season. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!
*Subscribe via email*RSS*Facebook*Twitter*Networked Blogs*Blog Frog*
10 Days of Christmas PJs! Day 8: 2008
2008 jammies! In these photos I’m 10 weeks pregnant with my daughter and my sister just got married almost 3 months prior. The ladies received white pjs with red and green reindeer on them while the men got red “Grinch” t-shirts and red and black plaid bottoms.
And then the photo fun ensued.
Cousins
I have about 3.5 million (o.k., maybe not that many) pairs of Christmas socks and slipper socks. Do not ask me why I’m wearing plain white tube socks in the photo above. It makes me sad. I’m ashamed to show this to the world. A perfect opportunity for festiveness was entirely overlooked and for that I should be punished 😦
Just the girls
I shall show you my calf. Try to control yourself.
Go on, guys!
(my uncle ended up in some of these photos accidentally…
U.A. meet the bloggy people. Bloggy people, meet U.A.)
Hey, Santa you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Santa! Hey Santa!
The newlyweds with new fluffy furbaby, Sammy.
We like to hold dogs in photos so that it appears they don’t have any heads. That’s just how we roll.
And our really bad Cool Family pic of 2008
(this was the best one there was, people)…
…at least it was better than this one! (????)
10 Days of Christmas PJs:
Day 1: 2001
Day 2: 2002
Day 3: 2003
Day 4: 2004
Day 5: 2005
Day 6: 2006
Day 7: 2007
Day 8: 2008 You are here 😉
Day 9: 2009
Day 10: 2010 Part 1
Day 10: 2010 Part 2 Still to come!
If you’re looking for ideas for your Christmas PJs tradition check out my post 10 Ways to Shake Up Your Christmas Pajamas Tradition
What are your Christmas pajamas traditions?
Other Christmas Posts
*Dear Santa: Part 1 Writing a Letter to Santa
*Dear Santa: Part 2 Mailing a Letter to Santa
*Dear Santa: Part 3 Paper for Writing to Santa: Free printables and more!
*Dear Santa: Part 4 Emailing a Letter to Santa
*My Letter to Santa 1984
*10 Ways to Shake Up Your Christmas Pajamas Tradition
*Phone Calls from Santa
*Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree Rules
*Uncle Ugly’s Christmas Sweater Jamboree 2010 Photos and Winners
*Traditions, Truces, and Cartoon Moments
*Food as Tradition: Norwegian Butter Cookies
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family this holiday season. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!
*Subscribe via email*RSS*Facebook*Twitter*Networked Blogs*Blog Frog*
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Fun and Dysfunction 