Look Who's Home!

Mom and Dad are finally home from Russia. We all went to the airport to greet them and make a fuss. It was great to be on the same continent again.

There they are!

The whole gang. Only Scott was missing. He's at a stake high adventure campout in Jackson Hole.

Eagle Scout

Sorry about the picture overload in this post, but this doesn't happen every day. I didn't post all I took, I promise. :) Last night was Scott's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. He looked very handsome and we were so proud of him.

Brandon, Trevor, Scott and Ryan taking the Eagle Scout oath.

Hug from mom. In case you're wondering why his merit badge sash is all skeewampus, it's my fault. I put the badges on the wrong way, so the sash would cross his chest over the wrong shoulder. I must have put them on the back or something. When tried he put it over the correct shoulder it had to twist all funny in back. Oh, well, this is the only photo you can really tell there's something wrong unless you're looking for it in the others. I haven't sewn any of Kevin's merit badges on yet, so I'll try to get it right for him. Not sure why these simple concepts sometimes are so difficult for me.

Hug from Dad.

Ogden Nature Center brought their bald eagle with an amputated wing. The caretaker was trying to do these cool pictures with the eagle and the scouts and their parents where he would hold the bird above us, but I think they turned out more humorous than he intended. The eagle is not really sitting on Scott's head.

This one turned out a little better. It was a very impressive eagle. It visits Matt's school quite often, because they have adopted it as their school's mascot.

Future Eagle Scouts

Posing with Sherm, their 60+ year old scout master who had them run the Ogden Marathon Relay and Half-Marathon, bike around Bear Lake (50 miles), back pack all over the Uintahs and Book Cliffs, cross country ski who knows where, and tuck their shirts in.

Scout Camp at Bear Lake in 2006. Can you find everyone in the above picture? It's amazing how much boys change in 4 short years. It's a great group of boys and leaders and I'm grateful for their support for Scott.

Top of the World

This last week was Girl's Camp in our stake and Wednesday was hike day, and I do mean hike day. We didn't just go on any old hike. We hiked to the top of Ben Lomond peak. Apparently there are 2 trails to the top and back - a 16 mile not-so-steep trail and a 12 mile steeper trail. We took the 12 miler, and when you added on the distance from our camp it was a 13 1/2 mile round trip. Let me tell you, I've hiked to the top of Timp several times, and maybe I'm just older now, but this about did me in. The way up was hard, but not too bad, we just all found our own speed. It was absolutely gorgeous. There were wildflowers the whole way, in every color. These pictures don't do them justice -I kept my camera in my backpack most of the time. And the views were spectacular as you would expect. It was the trek down that about tore my poor old knees and feet apart. There were several hobbling old ladies around camp that night and the next day! But every girl in our ward made it (one against her will) even though there were several from the stake who turned back and it turned out to be a good experience. There were a lot of spiritual parallels drawn to our journey through life, and I think everyone accomplished something they didn't think they could.

Flashback Sunday

My Internet has been down for a couple of days, so this Flashback is delayed a little, but better late than never.
We are all looking forward to Mom and Dad returning on Wednesday, but I didn't want to overlook a very important event happening on Tuesday. We are FINALLY going to have Scott's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. It has been rescheduled about a hundred times. Apparently fitting into 4 families' summer schedules is not an easy task. I thought maybe Mom and Dad would be home in time the way it was going, but not quite.
This is a picture of Scott on the first day of Cub Scouts. He's grown up in a lot of ways since then. He's had a lot of adventures (some I'd rather not know about) and had a lot of wonderful and patient and caring scout leaders who have helped him along the way.
Congratulations, Scott! We're proud of you!

Summer Sports

This week Kevin's team played in a soccer tournament in Cache Valley. It was fun to get a taste of what's to come this fall and it looks like they're going to have a pretty good team. They lost a few players and replaced them with new ones for the upcoming season, but they all seem to be playing together well. They placed 2nd in the tournament losing only to this team (from Logan) who were BIG and strong and shaved at half-time :) And if you ask us they were dirty players, but no one's asking us, especially not the refs. It got so bad our coach was ejected in the final, but our team played really well and hard. Kevin had the job of defending one of their best forwards and he stuck to him like glue. I think we have an exciting season ahead of us.

Matt is playing comp soccer for the first time this fall so he's been practicing all summer, too. It'll be fun to watch him when his games start.
For the first time in years Scott isn't playing soccer this summer because he's playing football. We're holding our breath hoping that he won't get hurt. So far only sore muscles, bruises and scrapes, but his friend, Brandon (another 1st timer) is out for a while with a hurt arm. I guess defense is in our family's blood because he has gradually moved into the linebacker position. They had their first scrimmage this week and he got 4 tackles, and played all but 3 plays in the JV game, and played in a few plays in the varsity game, so he felt good. He thinks his soccer defending experience helps him read the offense. I'm a little nervous to go to his first game and watch them all trying to kill each other, but I guess I'm a football mom now, too. If he can do it, I can do it!

Flashback Friday

It's hot out!

July 2004
Zions National Park

Flashback Friday

Happy 4th of July -2002

Congratulations are in Order!

4,4,3,3

Camille passed all her AP tests!

Fireworks and a New Yard

I'm so glad we are almost done with our landscaping. It has been hundreds of hours of work and we are all getting really tired of it. Especially now that it's getting HOT! Just a couple of projects left, and the maintainance, of course. Whew.

Flashback Friday

This week's flashback only goes back 2 years, but with our recent boogy-boarding and zip-lining adventures and with Grandma and Grandpa's approaching return my mind has been drawn to where we all were exactly 2 years ago. On the vacation of a lifetime, that's where. Unfortunately, I wasn't blogging then, but here are just a few of the highlights.

Only two years ago, but a lot of inches ago for most of the kids in this picture!

Youth Conference at Pineview

I have no words. At least all his bones are intact.