We Love to see the Temples

Cameron took out his endowments about a month ago, and we have been able to visit five temples so far. Friday we flew to Califorina for the day and went to the San Deigo Temple, one of my very favorites! (Jake, we yelled "Hi" as be passed by Carlsbad!) Grandma Haupt sent us some family names to do and we spent the day working on the names. Cameron's one arm shot, not too bad. He got us and the temple pretty good.

Cameron got to see first hand why the San Deigo temple is one of my favorites because of the beauty inside and out. After going to Germany, it reminded me of some of the beautiful castles we visited. Can I just say "WOW". It was such a fun amazing day.

Another of Cameron's one arm shots, he did great at getting the whole temple behind us.

We had only a couple of hours before our flight when we got done at the temple, I really wanted to go to the beach for a few hours. Unfortunaley, we got stuck in traffic and decided to get off the freeway and head to the beach. On our way, we passed a "Cold Stone" and grabbed an ice cream to take to the beach. What could be better, ice cream and a beach. Because we didn't have much time we were only able to stick our feet in the ocean then we had to head for the airport.

This California girl was glad to feel the sand between her toes and smell the salt air. A perfect way to end our day in California. We are so blessed and I love my job! Thanks for the fun day Cam.

Friday, August 7, 2009 Cameron turned 19. Holy cow, how did that happen? Made me stop and realize just how fast time really does fly. He had a great day hanging out with me, going to the Salt Lake Temple, lunch then a party with his friends. What a great young man he has turned into. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. I had started labor pains in the morning, and being baby number four, I wasn't in a hurry to go hang out at the hospital for hours. I had a Dr. appointment at 1 PM and when I went the Dr. freaked out and told me I was dilated to an 8 and he was going to call an ambulance. I refused, because we had no insurance and the hospital was across the street. Cameron Wesley Leavit was born 14-minutes after I walked into the hospital. The easiest recovery of all. He was and still is our " Easy Go Happy" attitude kid. Here is a quick trip down memory lane.

This is Cameron's 5th Birthday. A pool party with his friends. He loves the water. When we put our pool in he was only 2 1/2 so I took him to swimming lessons, they called it water adjustment class since they wouldn't teach 2-year olds to swim. After the first class he pointed to the high dive and wanted to go on it. I said "No", but his teacher said if he really wanted to he would be there to catch him. So off Cameron went to the high dive, jumped and swam to his teacher. We bagged the class, he was a natural swimmer. Cameron watched the summer Olympics one year and decided he was going to be a diver and win lots of medals when he grew up. He lived in the pool and practiced diving everyday. He still hasn't gotten over us leaving Las Vegas and his pool. He really misses playing in his pool everyday. He is certified in Scuba diving, that is about as close as he has gotten to being a professional diver.

At six Cameron got his "Yellow Belt" in Taekwondo. He had to compete one time to get his belt. When he got in the ring for the match, he just protected his face and wouldn't fight. His coach pulled him to the side and told him what to do and Cameron would not hit the other kid. He didn't want to hurt anyone. Yes, he is just a big Teddy Bear. Third grade Cameron was chosen to be "Principle for the Day". He took his dog Kallie to school that day. He loved his reign as Principle, being the offical "Lunch Taster" was the highlight of the day. We had to put his best friend down in December, he had his dog since he was five.

Cameron loves to perform. Such a handsome guy too. He took singing an dancing for several years and always stole the show. He still sings and dances, something that I love him to do. I have always told him that guys that can sing will melt a girls heart. Keep on singing Cam! Cameron was baptized at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the last of our four children to be baptized there. He was so excited to be baptized. And now he is getting ready to go out and preach, and baptize on his own. Time has just flown by!

Cameron's Top 19 things we love about him List:

19. All his ties, great variety.

18. New Haircut.

17.Plays games with us on Sunday.

16.Throws great parties.

15. Makes us laugh!

14. Great Listener

13. Gets awesome grades.

12. Make funny short films.

11. Great running partner, enough though he hates running.

10. Hard worker

9. He's very creative.

8. Happy all the time

7. Has an amazing singing voice

6. Has AWESOME Chef skills.

5. Has great Texting skills and texts us all.

4. Caring, always takes time for others

3. Strong Testimony of the restored gospel.

2.His great smile!

and the #1 is HUGS! He is a great hugger!

Happpy 19th Birthday Cameron!

Us singing to Cameron for his birthday......

Family Fun

Four days after we returned from Germany we were blessed to have Steve's Mother, Step-Father, nephew and his sister Cheryl come to visit us for a week. We had a fabulous time together. We took them up to Park City to the Alpine slide. Steve and his Mom took the scenic tour and went to the top of the mountain and back on the lift. It took them about an hour and half, they said it was a beautiful ride, but too hot! The rest of us took off to the slide.

Here is the rest of the gang taking the lift to the sledding trail. We were having a great time, Courtney took mine and Lexi's picture then I turned and took everyone else's picture.
I don't think Micheal liked the lift ride. At least Casey and Kandace smiled. Lining up to go down the hill. Not quite sure what Cheryl is doing, but at least it got Micheal to smile for a minute. We all raced down the hill. I got stuck behind a little boy that didn't know how to go fast, oh well, I got to just sit and look at the beautiful scenery. The rest of the time we spent playing everyday. We went to the movies, and if you go and see "My Sisters Keeper" take a box of tissues. I took the girls shopping at all the fun Utah shops, "Rod Works" Gardner Village" and other great girls stops. Steve took the guys four wheeling and to the Bingham Cooper mine. Casey and Tineke provide us all with a great brunch on Sunday. We had such a good time. Thursday everyone left, then Friday our next batch of family came in to visit. Austin and Cody Okuda and family stopped in for a few days.

Saturday Morning Austin and I ran a 5k. We are training for a half marathon in September. We are proudly sporting our awards that we recieved. Austin came in third in her age division and I came in second for my age division. Whew...now if I can make it 10 more miles for the 1/2 marathon. Austin gave me "Glitter Toes" after our run. She actually ended up doing 4-sets of "Glitter Toes" before she left. We loved it! Thanks Austin for tackling our toes.

The highlight of the week was our trip to the Draper temple Saturday night. Cameron took out his own endowments. We stopped outside afterwards and took a quick picture. In this picture is Adair and Vicki Vaterlaus, Grandma and Grandpa Haupt, Karen, Cameron, Austin and Cody Okuda.Courtney and Leah made us all some "Death by Brownies" Leah remembered making cookies with Courtney last year and wanted to make a treat. I think she was in it for licking the spatula when they were done, what do you think???? Sunday after church we all took Courtney back to Oakcrest Girls Camp. She took us on a great hike to the top of the mountain. This is Austin and Cody carrying Leah and Elynn up the steep mountain trail. Austin said she was sweating, and it was tough, so I took Elynn for the rest of the trip up. I found out why Austin was sweating. Elynn was heavy.

Courtney, Kandace and Cameron pose for me as they hiked up the trail. We got to do the "Zipline" Obstacle course and archery. We had soo much fun.
Okuda Family picture at the top of the mountain. Such a cute family. We finished out our time with the Okuda's by attending the Oqurrih Mountain Temple open house. This temple was beautiful, the girls loved it. We were so lucky to have great company stop in and visit us these last couple of weeks. The summer is flying by and October will get here too fast for me. I really hope everyone keeps stopping by, we love to have you come and visit! Thanks for the family fun!

Germany...WOW..What an amazing adventure!

What can I say, Germany is absolutely amazing. We arrived on Monday morning at 8 AM, that was midnight Sunday for us. We hit the ground running. Our exchange student Thomas and his parents Gert and Barbara Frahsek were the best tour guides ever. We started with a tour of downtown Dusseldorf. Then we drove to Koln. This first picture is of us in front of the Koln Cathedral, one of the worlds largest buildings. The construction of the cathedral took over 600 years. The building has turned black from the pollution. The cathedral was hit serveral times during World War II, you can see the repair on the bottom left of the building.

This is the entry into the Cathedral. There are carvings of biblical prophets and the arch is also carvings, the details were endless. We were amazed at every detail. Cameron, Thomas and I climbed to the top of the bell tower, 533 steps to the top. The view was worth it. This is me and Cameron by the bells, thank goodness they didn't go off while we were standing there.

The Frahsek's took us on a 3-day road trip of East Germany. This is a picture of us shopping at a cute village in the Rhine Valley. The Rhine valley had a castle around every corner, we lost count of all the castles.This is the side view of the Heidelberg Castle. Noticed that the side of it has been bombed.This is the courtyard inside Heidelberg. More amazing architecture.Cameron practicing his tracting techniques at the Castle door. No one answered.Here I am at my favorite Hotel "Hotel Bergidyll" It was like stopping at Grandma's house for the night. I loved how quaint it was. In the morning we woke up to what I thought was wind chimes. We later found out it was the cowbells as the cows were grazing on the grass. We had a balcony view of the Alps of Austria. It was breath taking!Here is Cameron and Thomas at the Neuschwanstein Castle. Patiently waiting to begin our trek up the hill. Steve, me and Cameron in front of the Castle before we take our tour inside. Steve, me,Cameron, Gert and Barbara Frahsek in front of the castle.
The courtyard. This is just one of the absolutley breath taking views out one of the windows of the Neuschwanstein Castle. There were amazing views out every window. There are seven lakes to view from the top. So this is just one of the lakes.

Another view out another window, another lake. Notice the Alps in the back ground.

Details at every corner. Can you make out what this is?

This is a view of "Mary's Bridge" named after King Ludwigs mother. This is where we stood to take the next picture....
This is Cameron, me and Thomas on the bridge. A great view of the castle, but a little scary with a million tourist on it and soo high in the air.
This is St. Coloman church that was near the castle in Bavaria.
This is the view from outside of the church, notice the Bavarian Alps in the background.

This is the amazing art work inside of the church.

Cameron kept saying that all he wanted for his souvenir were Lederhosen. We really thought once he tried them on he would change his mind. Oh no, he came home with a full outfit. Lederhosen, shirt, hat, socks and shoes. Ask him to put them on next time you see him. He is quite proud of his outfit.

After his big purchase, it was time to eat. Here are the boys enjoying lunch at the village butcher shop. They had "Liver cheese" yea, just the name turned me away, but they really liked it!
Us walking through the town square in Munich. Another town full of history and architecture.
This is Steve in front of the Nurnberg Castle door.

Cameron, me and Steve at the Munich Castle, the view over looks the rear courtyard where they would stock deer for hunting.

This is us with all of Thomas's family on our last night in Germany. We were so blessed to have such wonderful host to show us all around the country. We were all amazed at the beauty and history of the country. We hope we will have the opportunity to go again and learn and see more. Thanks Frahsek Family for the fabulous memories! We'll miss you Thomas!