Issue 71

New Zealand Grandparents

We had a lovely weekend spending time with our adopted New Zealand Grandparents, Hoki and Owen. They were visiting Utah for General Conference, and we were honored to haves them spend time with us. Lots of other fun things happened this week, but they will all have to wait until the next issue since this blogger desperately needs to go to bed!

Issue 70

Lucky 13

Happy 13th Steve! Legos, Legos and more Legos. A family party on the big day and Birthday B-B-Q with his friends on the weekend. What more could a guy ask for?

Issue 69

Star Scout

Steve advanced to the rank of Star Scout this week and was awarded a clutch of merit badges that he earned over the summer. Environmental Science

Soil and Water Conservation


Rifle Shooting

Orienteering

Indian Lore

Basketry

Cycling

Bridging to Brownies

The adorable girls we get to be with at brownie scouts.

Brownie bridging is a ceremony to officially become a brownie scout. I remember my bridging ceremony from 29 years ago vividly and was excited to provide the same experience for Janey. I was so thrilled when I found the same story about what it means to be a brownie (helpful elf) for our ceremony, that they read at my own bridging ceremony.

Since Janey starting asking to become a girl scout she has also been asking for a camp out. After all, Dad and Steve are scouts and constantly camping. It's only fair right? Well we tried for months to arrange a family camp out and bridging ceremony, when everyone could attend. Well, it's a good thing Girl Scouts are flexible and determined, because Plan A and B fell through and as Denise put it, we ended up with Plan F. Our brownie bridging ceremony was moved from a camp ground to a park (couldn't get reservations) to a church (micro burst winds) and our s'mores and camping were moved to Denise's front lawn with an outdoor movie. Dad arrived from his business trip just as the movie ended and it was time to pitch the tent. A pancake breakfast topped it all off, and Janey loved her camp out. Thanks Denise!

Service Project by Steve L.

Eric advising us not to get our heads chopped off by the tiller

me and Daniel in front of on of the boxes

On Saturday, Daniel, Dad and I helped Eric (a scout in our group) with his eagle project. Our job was to fix grow boxes at the senior citizens center. First we weeded the boxes ( you wouldn't believe the weeds) and added fertilizer to the dirt. Then we scraped the dirt off the boxes (all six of them) and wiped them down. we then stained them and, voila`! It took longer than you think! It was a lot of fun!

Issue 68

Shakespeare King

Steve is taking a Shakespeare class this year and having a lot of fun with it. They held a contest to see who could read, listen to or watch 17 Shakespeare plays first. Steve decided to go for it and in 5 days he finished all 17 plays. He said that by the 3rd play he could understand what they were saying with out having to translate it in his head. He really enjoyed to project and it was fun to hear him laughing out loud while listening to or watching a play. He came in second (because he doesn't do homework on Sunday), but they treated all 3 students who finished the first week like royalty. He was crowned and celebrated and named the Shakespeare king!

Cycling Merit Badge

On Saturday, as a scout group we went on a 50 MILE BIKE RIDE!!!!!!!!! We got up in the morning at 6:00 and had a tiny breakfast, then left. We started the ride at the head of the Jordan River parkway, and set out! It was hard, long, and tiring but we got 37 miles in before lunchtime! Back at the head of the trail, the moms had put together a lunch buffet. (Funny, I wonder why it’s spelled like that) It was delicious! We started out again, but the last 10 miles must have been the worst ten miles in the world! In the course of five minutes everyone had a flat tire! Shortly after fixing Eric’s tire (he’s one of the scouts) he completely BLEW his back tire! It was hard but we had a lot of fun! (It still hurts to sit down though.)

Issue 67

Another Painful Week

At my 17 week appointment Friday, the Doctor was unable to find the baby's heartbeat. Not worried yet, we went down the hall to the ultrasound room, three youngest kids in tow. The children enjoyed seeing the image of the baby on the screen, but I could tell from the Doctor's silence that something was wrong. He sent the kids to the lobby with a kind nurse, and a second doctor confirmed my worst fears. I had lost the baby.

That first day was full of anger and tears. Saturday morning, we went to the hospital. Because I was so far along, they had to induce labor. I've had 5 c-sections and a natural birth was a new experience for me. The doctor, nurses and staff couldn't have been more wonderful and understanding. Everything went as well as possible and Steve held my hand through it all. The anger has passed, replaced by peace and comfort. My emotions are too close to the surface to write anymore.

Our heartfelt thanks to our family and friends for the kind visits and calls, flowers and gifts, hugs and tears, childcare and hot meals, e-mails and prayers. You can't know how much it meant to feel your love and support during this hard time. Thank you.

Issue 66

Goals

Whitney was tenacious about achieving her goals this summer. She started a new online Algebra course (that I think is amazing by the way) towards the end of the last school year. The teacher gave her the summer to complete it. The first weeks of summer she did an hour a day. By mid-summer we realized she'd never finish at that pace and started doing 6 to 8 hours a day! The last week of summer, was crunch time and Mom and Whitney sat at the kitchen table together doing Algebra for 50 hours, until she finished her course! Keeping her 4.0 GPA was a huge motivator during the early mornings and late nights. I'm proud of her determination to reach her goal, even though it was tough.

6:oo am Algebra session

Another goal Whitney set for herself was buying a small laptop computer for school. She spent many hours this summer babysitting for her aunt, who is an author. The last week of summer she finally had enough money saved and as soon as she finished her math course we went to the store. She has a novel writing course this year that it will really come in handy for, not to mention all the papers she's likely to write. Way to go Whitney!

The first day of school, Sophomore year.