On Friday, right after we finished up the Homecoming Parade, the girls and I packed up the van for the Leader Daughter Retreat at Trefoil Ranch up Provo Canyon. We were almost out of South Jordan when Bossy insisted we turn around and take her and Fajita back home. She just felt like she needed to stay with her family this time.
When we finally got back on the road and up the canyon, we were running much later than we wanted to be. We met Princess at Vivian Park and she climbed in with us. The only other one missing was Prima Donna and she was planning to drive up from Ogden when her rehearsal was over.
As soon as we got to the lodge, they had us eat dinner and then get settled in our own private cabin. We could have stayed in the big lodge, but we would have had to sleep on the floor with 75 other small girls running around. The cabin slept 8, so that was just perfect.
Since Prima Donna was going to be late, we made a plate for her and we got comfortable in the mess hall to wait. By 8:00 we were getting pretty nervous. It shouldn't have taken her that long. By 8:45 I was ready to send the older girls back down the mountain so we could at least have phone service.
Drama Queen and Teach were walking to the parking lot when the leader of our Girl Scout Community came to tell me that they had word that Prima Donna had been in an accident. She was fine, but the car was not.
I sprinted down to the parking lot, calling for the older girls. They were just getting in the van when they heard me. Teach stayed back and Drama Queen and I anxiously drove down the winding mountain road until we had phone service.
As it turned out, Prima Donna had turned a bit too early in the dark toward Vivian Park and high centered her car on two large rocks. It ripped the undercarriage off her car (and a few other things), but those rocks saved her from landing in the river.
Bossy and Gamer had already rescued her (along with an expensive tow truck) and they were on their way up the mountain when we all got together. I was so happy to see her! She joined us in our van and it wasn't long before we were all warm and safe in the lodge.
The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful and other than the fact that we didn't sleep, we all had a great time. The girls did crafts (sponsored by Princess), and we made little scrapbooks. After lunch we cleaned up and headed for home.
The mountains were so beautiful and the leaves were changing. We got so many amazing pictures, but I will just share a few of them with you. If you get a chance to get up in the mountains in the next week or so, I highly recommend it.
But be careful!
Princess turned 20 yesterday and although we sang to her up at Trefoil Ranch and she was embarrassed to stand up in front of all the girls, we decided we still wanted to have a big party today.
My sweetie did all the cooking except for the cake (I'll tell you about that in a minute). Princess had requested eggplant parmesan and we also had chard, tomato salad, and alfredo. My favorite part was my sweetie's homemade Italian bread with roasted garlic, oil, and balsamic vinegar. I was pretty full before the meal even started!
I was in charge of the birthday cake because it was also a special reveal cake for Twiz and Teach. Princess is such a good sport, she was totally fine with letting them upstage her for a minute. I made the cake half pink and half blue and then marked the right side so Teach would know which one to cut.
The cake was still partially frozen when she cut into it and the pink piece sort of flew up in the air. The kids all cheered! They all knew they were hoping for a girl. Such exciting news!
