Issue 174

A New Adventure

Steve starts his new job in the morning! He's already in New York and will be waking in 4 short hours to prepare to meet with a major client. After two months of crazy roller coaster ups and downs while securing the job, it's finally official. He has joined his two former bosses as a partner in their new company that they formed at the beginning of the year. Steve is the Senior Vice President of Training and Consulting. We are so proud of him! He will travel some, but be working from home when he's not. This will be an exciting new adventure!

Issue 173 Sheep Dog Championship by Whitney

Every year Soldier Hollow host a sheepdog trial competition. Specially invited world-class sheep dog herders from across the globe attend as they compete against each other to win medals and advance to the National Border Collie Association's World Championship. This year we attended and watched several pairs go at it. Racing against a twenty-four minute timer the handlers remain stationary as he or she directs their canine counterpart with whistles, directing them across the hillside. They must first retrieve two separate herds of sheep, directing them between two posts. Then the full herd is maneuvered across the hill and through two separate gates to finish in a marked circle. Then the handler, using a shepherds crook without actually coming in contact with the sheep, works with the collie to separate out five of the sheep that are wearing red collars. This is much harder than it sounds due to the herding behavior that keep the sheep almost inseparable. Assuming the timer hasn't already expired, the pair then direct the five collared sheep into a small pen on the other side of the hill, while preventing them from rejoining the remaining herd of thirteen standing by. Without the gate touching any of the sheep, the door is closed by the lucky shepard and the crowd cheers. The judges tally their scores while the exhausted and overheated collie plunges into the provided tub of water.
Along with the omnipresent bagpipers, camera crews filming a documentary entitled "Away to me" added to the atmosphere as the giraffe necked camera swiveled around to keep up with the contestants. Other exhibitors including the Salt Lake counties' K9 unit also presented classes and demonstrations. It was a fun-filled day of enjoyment that I would recommend to everyone.

The Silver Beaver

Saturday we had the chance to see Steve's Dad receive the prestigious Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver award. It is a high honor in scouting that recognized a life full of outstanding service in scouting. Andy came straight from a scout camp where he was training other leaders, which just goes to show his dedication. We are proud of you Grandpa!

Knight's Summit

Knights of Freedom is a club, like scouts, where there are a ton of groups and each group meets together every other week to learn about famous men in history like Christopher Columbus, Davy Crockett and a ton of other people. In Knights of Freedom we also learn about the knightly virtues and once every year all of the groups come together for two days and we get swords and shields. We learn 5 knightly virtues. Things like learning to work as a team, earn a weapon, prove yourself in battle, go on a quest and other stuff. At the end we fought a lot of bad guys. My favorite thing about the summit was the big battle at the end.

Issue 172

2011 First Day of School

Daniel and I have the opportunity to spend the whole year this year, one-on-one. 12 years old is a critical development time for those with dyslexia, and we felt the best choice was to spend a year focusing on his education. We had a wonderful week of long walks, goal setting, biking to the library, reading "Where the Red Fern Grows", going out to lunch. The harder stuff will start this week, but the focus our first week relationship. Here's to a great year!

Janey started 4th grade this week! She finally gets to fulfill her life long wish of riding the bus everyday. It was strange to see her off for the day, after having her home for so long, but she is bright and loves her new teacher.

Ellie also started first grade this week. Above is just before her first day. Below is just after returning from her first day. Ellie has a wonderful new teacher and is doing great with her reading.

100 Meter Swim by Daniel

For scouts, to earn my 1st Class Rank I had to swim 100 meters and I trained for two months. I finally got it passed off and I felt tired after I had done it. It felt awesome to get it done after so much time practicing my swimming.

Issue 171

Happy 17th!

Hard to believe Whitney is 17 and a senior this year! We realized that next year she'll have to come home from college to celebrate her birthday! She ordered steak and sweet potato bake for her dinner meal. I had to hurry up and research how to cook both but they turned out delicious. We followed up our party watching a movie of her choice, and then celebrated again at Grandma's house. Happy Birthday Whitney!

Temple Baptisms

Daniel and Dad did an early morning session of Temple Baptisms this week. Daniel really enjoyed his first time to the temple to do service.

First Day of High School

Wow, 2 High Schoolers this year! (And ouch on the school fees!)

Whitney is starting her senior year and is Student Body Secretary. This fall will be full of college and scholarship applications.

Steve L. is starting his freshman year. Many of his homeschool friends attend the same high school so he has a built in social crowd already. He's also excited to be starting seminary. Here's to a great year!

Shakespeare Festival

Well, a little while ago me and the Shakespeare group went down to Cedar City for the Cedar City Shakespeare Festival! It was awesome! We saw two of their productions over the period of two days. The first (after a nice dinner at sizzler) was Richard III. Bloody and gory. Decapitated heads and deception. Death and destruction. Need I say more? The second, a matinee performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream. It was just about the polar opposite of Richard III. It was absolutely hilarious! To really get it though, you would have to go see them preform. I also got some pretty cool swords from the gift shop.

Issue 170

Twin Lakes by Daniel

I went on the Twin Lakes hike with the scouts. We had to pack differently because we needed our packs to be as light as possible because it was a very difficult trail. At Twin Lakes we caught 6 fish and cooked and ate them. After dinner we played Ghost in the Graveyard. For lunch we had tuna and crackers and beef jerky. For dinner we had two packs of Ramen and rolls. And for breakfast we had pop tarts. And after the hike we went to a good restaurant and bought hamburgers and fries and delicious shakes. When we got back we hopped in the shower and took a nap and then we finally unpacked our packs.