Scout Camp

Steve is in his 5th year as the scout master for 12-13 year-olds. Good thing he loves it! Our boys have been so fortunate to have their Dad be so involved in their scouting years. They camp year round, and their December camp was at the Harry Potter fort. Ironically there was no snow to be found this time around.

Antelope Island

The scouts headed out for a rainy adventure on Antelope Island. They lucked out with a pavillion, so they used our 12 man tent as a wind screen and stayed as dry as possible. The next morning they attacked a 10 mile bike ride including a 23% grade hill. Scouts can do hard things!

50 Mile Bike Ride!

Daniel is working toward his Boy Scout Eagle award, and one of the big hurdles left was the 50 mile bike ride! Dad invited the other scouts and they rode 50 miles on the Rail Trial in Park City. They left at 5:30 in the morning from our house and were gone 12 hours round trip! The bike ride started out a little rocky, since they hit a patch of thorns right off and had to repair or replace several tires before moving on. But, on a gorgeous, cool day they accomplished all 50 miles in under 8 hours! Eagle Scout, here we come!

The Denali Award

Steve earned his Scouting Denali award, the highest award in Varsity Scouting, at the most recent court of honor. Just look at all those badges!

It was an honor to have Grandpa attend. He is developing a new training program for the Varsity scouts with the LDS church, so he knew what the Denali award was all about! I asked the bishop's wife what the next award or milestone is, since she's been through it all before. She said, "Mission!"

BLAB

Dad and the boys spent a week at BLAB (Bear Lake Aquatics Base) for scout camp. Some of their favorite activities were Shotgun shooting, Archery, and exploring the Paris Ice Caves.

Scout Trebuchet!

Daniel and Steve (dad) spent Friday night under the stars out as Five Mile Pass. The place got its name for being 5 miles west of Lehi and a stop on the famed Pony Express Trail! They enjoyed a simple dinner, a warm campfire and a beautiful view of the stars. The next day they built Trebuchets and competed in a competition with other scout troops. All in all a good time was had by all! Love Scouting!

A Star and a Silver Palm

At their last court of honor the boys earned new rank advancements. Daniel earned several merit badges and his Star Rank. Steve also increased his merit badge count and earned his Silver Palm, the highest ranking palm in scouting. Way to go boys!

Ski Camp

Steve took the scouts to his favorite place to cross country ski on this beautiful weekend. We don't have any snow anymore (it was 60 degrees) but there was plenty of snow in the mountains. I'm so glad he loves to camp and be outdoors with the boys! It's such a great experience for all of them.

For the Birds

Presidents' day we took our 4th Annual excursion to see the Bald Eagles migrate through the Bird refuge in Farmington. We also identified 15 other birds for the boy's Bird Study Merit Badge. My favorite was the brilliant yellow Western Meadowlark we saw. This year we got to show Analese the birding ropes and Steve's sister Emily and her kids joined us last minute, for a very enjoyable day.

For 3 Saturdays every February the boys attend a Merit Badge Pow Wow. This year Steve decided to share his love of birding by leading the Bird Study Merit Badge class. He put a lot into making it a successful and fun class, and both Steve and Daniel were able to earn the badge. I hope Steve will teach it every year and pay forward the love of nature and birding that was instilled in him by a talented and caring science teacher long ago.

Chess Merit Badge

It's Pow Wow season and the boy's have been working on merit badges. The Chess merit badges is brand new and the boys had fun earning it. Steve was pleased to last the longest playing chess against the merit badge counselor.

Scout Camp Update

Winter camps this year have been interesting, since winter had failed to arrive. Daniel's troop went to  the Klondike last weekend, where he specialized in fire building. Steve's Varsity group participated in the Biathlon this weekend, although they had to abandon the snow shoeing for lack of snow. He is however a crack shot when it comes to shot gun shooting

Scout Camp

Yes, it's hard to believe, but that is snow! It snowed the whole time at scout camp for Daniel and Dad this weekend, but that never stops the fun!

A Big Week for Daniel

Daniel began fencing this school year and loves it. He takes from a Russian Coach who is amazing and works them very hard. Daniel has a talent for fencing and won all his matches this week. It will be exciting to see him start to compete.

 Daniel also received his First Class Scout rank advancement and 6 merit badges. It took many months of work, especially the swimming part. Steve also earned his Boy Scout Gold Palm.

Daniel was also crowned a King in his Shakespeare class. To be crowned he finished listening and watching 17 Shakespeare plays in the last two weeks. The idea is to be immersed in the Shakespearean language, like learning a foreign language. At first he didn't understand the plays but by the end he was really enjoying them because he knew what they were saying.

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!

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.

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.

Uintah High Adventure Base

Well, all I can say is, I'm all camped out. After joining my brother on a week-long camp two weeks before, and then going on my own recently, I feel like I'm going to drop dead. Don't get me wrong, it was a ton of fun, but that much camping can run someone into the ground. Anywho, we went camping up at the Uintah High Adventure Base, up the East-Fork-of-the-Bear canyon. Hot, wooded and full of bugs like you wouldn't believe. (Nothing a boatload of bug-repellent couldn't fix...) With a wide variety of activities to choose from and a lot of down-time, you couldn't help but have fun. Among the activities were action archery, mountain boarding, (got a nasty scar from that one) team building, (really fun) medieval engineering, (our trebuchet was the best) and shotgun shooting. Plus a dozen others. The food was great, the weather was fantastic, (Except for the first night. Hoo boy.) and the compitetion in the card games was brutal. All around it was the best camp ever!!

Week Long Scout Camp by Daniel

Scout camp was fun and great! I earned the Rifle shooting merit badge, the Archery merit badge, Leather Work, Orienteering, and Environmental Science merit badges. We had great food. For dinner we had game hens, steak, and other great stuff. And we played cube in between merit badges. It was fun! Although the first few days it poured, and poured and poured rain. But then the rest of the days it was sunny and great. Although the one down side to the camp, was there were literally thousands of mosquitoes everywhere. You had to coat yourself 5 times a day with bug repellent. Even then you got tons of bites. All the bug bites I got were on the back of my head. It made it painful to sleep because the bug bites were pressing against my pillow. My brother Steve came to the camp to help me out and I really appreciated it. :):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

A Day in the Life

Saturday was a crazy, busy, wonderful day. It was the culmination of months and even years of hard work on so many fronts.

-6:30 am Woke up and got Whitney off the her last day of ACT Boot Camp. She is taking the test again in June and wants to do well.
-7:30 am Exercised while reading conference talks. Multi-tasking was going to be the only way to succeed this day!
-8:30 am We rushed through our morning chores.
-10:00 am Took the girls to the store to buy refreshments for the Court of Honor.
-11:00 am Dropped Ellie off at a friend's birthday party and then bought out 2 shoe stores of silver shoes in Whitney's size. One of them would have to work!
-12:00 pm Dad and Daniel arrive home from Camp Yougottawanna, the annual 11 year-old scout overnight camp. Steve had fun going as a Dad this time, instead of the man in charge!

-1:00 pm Ellie and Whitney arrive home and Mom and Janey head out for Janey's final dance competition of the year.

-1:55 pm Find out mid false eyelash gluing, that Daniel has left his sparing gear in my car!

-2:00 pm Dad takes Daniel to his Karate blue belt test and I arrive 20 minutes later with said sparring gear.

-3:00 Daniel has passed his blue belt test! Very few students make it to their blue belt. Way to go Daniel!

- 3:00 pm Mom arrives back at the dance competition in time to see Janey compete (with both false eyelashes!) in her first dance. They take second place!
-4:00 Arrive home in time to help Whitney with her hair and make-up for Prom and help Steve L. transfer his scout badges on to his new uniform.

-5:00 Dad madly tries to finish the awesome slide show we have been working on for a week. Technical Difficulties abound.
-5:15 pm Arrive at the church to finish getting ready for Steve L's Eagle Court of honor. It was a wonderful ceremony. Both Grandpas giving their scouting memories was a big highlight and Dad getting choked up while administering the oath was very touching. All of Steve's Shakespeare friends, mentors and many of their family members turned out, as well as family, friends, scouts, and scout leaders, which made it all very special! We are so proud of you Steve!

Proud Mama!

Steve gave his Dad the mentor pin, in addition to the Dad's pin, for all the help and support he has given him in Scouting!

Steve L. was given a beautiful neckerchief by the stake and a flag, that was flown over the US Capital in his honor, by the Ward.

The Eagles' Nest

6:00 pm We stall the Eagle Court of Honor proceedings long enough for mom and grandma to see Whitney and her date off to Prom and of course take a couple pictures! Doesn't she look amazing?

-6:30 pm Clean up Court of Honor and take the boys to their play cast party.

-7:20 pm Arrive back at the dance competition.

-8:20 pm Janey dances in her second number, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Grandma and Grandpa came to watch too, and the team did an amazing job on their clogging number!

9:00 pm Ellie goes with Mom and Dad out to eat. We have some fun two-on-one time with her. Janey stays back to hear the dance awards.

10:15 pm Janey gets home. Her dance took High Points, First Place with a huge trophy! What a fun way to end the season!

11:53 pm Whitney arrives home from a wonderful time at Prom.

12:40 am Lying awake in bed, overwhelmed with gratitude for amazing opportunities, wonderful children and supportive family and friends. Today, as busy as it was, was a little bit of heaven. I can only imagine what next year will be like when Ellie starts dance and violin!