Little Philmont

Because of D's calling in the Stake YM presidency, we got to spend Friday night and Saturday at a training called Little Philmont. It's basically put together by Scout leaders to help all those working with Scouts (from cubs on up to venturers) catch the vision and be better leaders. The neat thing is that they had all kinds of fun activities for the kids and spouses while the leaders spent 5-6 hours in meetings!

Friday night was just for the leaders and spouses, so our kids got to spend the evening with SPH-1 and Daddy-o. They cried when we left and then when we returned to pick them up, they cried cuz they didn't want to go home...sometimes you just can't win!

While D was in the meeting with the other leaders, the spouses got to do a puzzle, socialize and do stuff with beads (it's scout stuff right!?)

We started off the morning Saturday by watching an Apache helicopter circle and land in the field next to the church. And then they let the kids (of all ages) climb in and answered all kinds of questions. That was definitely a highlight of the day, even though I thought the initial rotor wash would knock poor little Sweetsa off her feet! (It did push her back a bit, but she managed to keep herself upright.)

There was also a drum circle where the kids (and adults) got to learn a few African drum series/patterns. It was fun hearing the kids saying under their breath after wards "Walk the fat dog!" (the memory prompt for one of the patterns). It was also fun to be able to do some "noodling", or jamming on the drums to a beat. The drum leader/teacher guy said that we all sounded really good, probably the best he's ever heard a first time group sound!

The kids also got to go on a leaf walk, make a collage, do a blessing box, and listen to a professional story teller. Those are the things I actually saw them do, when I wasn't hurrying around trying to get to my classes.

The spouses got to choose between an art class (taught by a university Professor), making hats, playing games, dutch oven cooking, the drum circle, and something else that I obviously didn't go to because I can't remember what it was!

At the end of the training, there was a lunch, the helicopter took off and a guy brought a bald Eagle to show everyone. That was really cool. Mimi said the eagle was the best part. Sweetsa must have agreed, because she saw the bird and immediately said, clear as day, "Eagle!" and has continued to say eagle since then! She wants to see the pics I took on the phone all the time, "Eagle peas! Bye-bye Eagle!" I will try to figure out how to get those pics from my phone to the blog...stay tuned!

Fun in the fall

After our freak October Snowstorms, we have had some beautiful Indian summer days this past week or so. The kids have been begging to collect leaves and make leaf piles to jump in. We all love the sound of crunching leaves and go out of our way to step on the scuttling things! I love this time of year (and not just because football is in full swing either!) So here are the kids enjoying the weather.

I've been tagged

I don't even know how long ago I was tagged...sorry it's taken this long to respond!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Rooming with Taffy=)
2. Working in the dish room at the MTC...good times!
3. Recovering from a self inflicted concussion (dumb bunkbeds!0)
4. Dreaming in Albanian
5. Asking questions with British inflection

Five things on my to do list today:
1. Rest!
2. Catch up on Blog posts (mine and everyone else's)
3. Survive Stake Conference with three active LOUD kids, and a sick hubby
4. Read scriptures
5. Decide which way to vote on Referendum 1 on Tuesday

Five things I will do when I'm a millionaire:
1. Get a new house to fit our family (and pay it off!)
2. Invest
3. give more to charity
4. Build my personal library
5. get a better computer!

Five things I'll never wear again:(Are you kidding?! I grew up inthe 80s and 90s! The possiblilities are endless!)
1. Sally Jesse Rafael glasses...oh save me!
2. Floresent pink purses
3. colored polo shirts (collar up) under men's white dress shirts with an elastic belt to top it off!
4. Pink or yellow
5. mascara (sp?)

My favorite toys:
1. a football
2. a basketball
3. lasso golf
4. Kubb
5. Boardgames

Five people to tag:
1. Carolioness
2. Wood
3. Amy
4. Eliza
5. Kate

Masquerade!

The kids had definite ideas of what they wanted to be this year for Halloween. I think I had plenty of notice, if only I had taken them at their word! LOL! "Are you sure that's what you want to be? What about this (the costumes we already had)!" Nope. They stuck to their guns and so we had:


The Blue Power Ranger (who refused to wear the mask, which was really ok with me).













Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (the movie since the shoes are red, not silver). I made the jumper from fabric I've had for probably five years. And I decided to take a page from Taffy's book and make it without a pattern. YIKES! There were a few mis-steps, but over all I think it turned out ok!


















And the incredible horse-riding Duck! She didn't actually ride the horse for trick-or-treating, but refused to get off for the pics!)













Even though we only took them around our block and to maybe 4 other houses, they have enough candy to last for them until next summer I think (unless I eat too much of it, that is)! Why do we parents do this every year?

Eye Spy!

Hopefully you've noticed something new on the blog by now. I put the banners up about 3 weeks ago, but I guess they were less conspicuous. So now the truth is out there in the "blogosphere"! Oh yeah, it's a girl due March 9. (Buddy's reaction:" Ah mom! Why did you have to grow a girl? When will you grow my brother?" LOL!)