My Little Cubs

We had a pack meeting tonight. Kyle received an award.  He's pretty new to cub scouts, and he took this pack meeting pretty seriously...

This was a big night for Colton, because he had finished all his requirements to earn the highest honor in Cub Scouts - the Arrow of Light award!

 Our Cubmaster had Colton remove his belt so everyone could see all the beltloops he had earned.  They didn't even fit on his belt anymore!

There was a special "mother's pin" he got pin on me...

I LOVE THIS BOY!

Then he got to cross over the bridge, signifying leaving Cub Scouts to enter Boy Scouts.  The boys he is walking over to are 11-year-old Scouts and they welcomed him in a unique way...

They each put a hand on Colton's shouler, left then right, and gave it a pat.  Then Colton moved to the next boy who did the same.

His new leaders are Brother Schroeder and Brother Lundell.

 He was so excited to be moving up!  My boys have all really enjoyed the Scouting program.  It is great way for boys to learn how to be good men!

FAMILY HOME EVENING: Lehi's Dream

Mark was in charge of the lesson for Family Home Evening tonight.  He talked about Lehi's dream.  As he read the story in the Book of Mormon, each of our kids had the opportunity to illustrate it on a white board...

 The kids really enjoyed this activity and it really helped them to learn the significance of each part of Lehi's dream.

UTAH TRIP - days six, seven, and eight

My kids love the Jergensen's dog, Talbot (aka Bert).  Kyle loved snuggling up next to him on the couch.  Talbot considers himself a person I think.

 The kids decided to sleep out in the backyard in a tent one night so that Colton could pass it off for his Webelos badge.  They had a blast setting everything up.  You can see all the smoke in the background.  There were actually TONS of fires all over Utah this summer.  One popped up in the mountains right behind the Jergensen's house while we were there.  It was actually a concern that we might get evacuated.  The fire was probably five miles away.  Luckily, by the next morning it had been put out.

We LOVE hangin' with the Jergensen's!

Friday night we ate dinner with the Jergensen's the drove down to my Aunt Elaine's to stay the night so we wouldn't have to travel as far the next morning when we needed to pick up Bryan from EFY.

Saturday morning we picked up Bryan and started the long drive home.  We had to do it in one day instead of two on the way home, which is always a little painful, but we had such a wonderful trip!  The ride home was filled with hearing all about Bryan's experience at EFY that week.  He had such a blast and came home really wanting to try harder to please Heavenly Father - he's a fabulous example for his younger siblings already, but now he was even more focused on becoming the person his Heavenly Father knows he is.  That kid amazes me.  I'm so extremely proud of him and the person he is becoming!

UTAH TRIP - day five (INDEPENDENCE DAY)

We love going to see Stadium of Fire at the BYU Stadium.  It's always an amazing show.  This year was no different.  The performer was the Beach Boys!  I had been playing Beach Boy songs for my kids for several weeks to get them excited.  Of course they talked about how these guys were SO OLD! :)

When we got there it was like one big dance party.  EVERYONE in the audience was singing EVERY SINGLE SONG.  So fun!

There was the traditional flyover by the military, with the head of the formation talking to the audience over the loudspeaker from his cockpit as they did it.  I couldn't even sing the national anthem with the audience because my heart was so full.  I sure love the country we are blessed to live in and be a part of.

Alex Boye performed throughout the show also...

Colton and Kyle were so excited when one of the beach balls being tossed around the crowd during the Beach Boys concert was hit to them!  They didn't want to send it back out into the crowd...but they did.

The fireworks display at the end of the concert is always amazing.  There's a reason they call it Stadium of Fire.

We drove back to Elaine's that night to sleep, then left for the Logan again in the morning.

UTAH TRIP - days two, three, and four

There are some really beautiful parts on the drive from Arizona to Utah.  Here are some of the pictures I took along the way...

We drove all day Saturday to get up to Logan, Utah to stay with Mark's sister and her family.  On the way we decided to stop and get dinner at Gandolfo's (our favorite sandwich place in Provo) and go to the BYU Bookstore so the kids could pick out some BYU stuff.  They had been saving up for several weeks for that.  Then it was on to Logan.

Sunday we attended church with the Jergensen's and had an AWESOME dinner to break our fast.  Mark's sister is an AMAZING cook!  That night we drove back down to Bluffdale (about 30 minutes north of Provo) to stay with my Aunt Elaine.  She is such a sweetheart!  I've always loved being with her.  She is so sweet to my kiddos and we could talk for hours (and we do).

Monday morning we went and dropped Bryan and his friend he was rooming with at BYU for the start of a wonderful week at EFY.  I LOVE EFY!  It was so fun for me as a teenager, and I love that my kids are now experiencing it.  After dropping them off we drove up to Park City to go on the Alpine Coaster and Slide.  We met up with my sister, Jamie, her friend Clint, and my sister Brittany.  Brittany had made lunch for all of us - and boy was it ever delicious.  She is so thoughtful!  We headed back to Elaine's that night.

Tuesday we decided to spend the day at the zoo!  Elaine and her granddaughter came with us.  We also met up with my cousin Shellie and her kiddos.  It was so fun to see Shellie!  I miss her.  Here are some of the pics from the zoo...

We watched a pretty amazing bird show.  Those big birds flew over Colton and Kyle's heads as they were sitting in the audience.  They were only an inch above their heads!  Good thing they didn't put their hands in the air!

The polar bear was so funny.  It played with that ball forever - leaping into the water after it over and over.

The giraffes were fun because you could go up to the second story of their enclosure and really be eye to eye with them...

I always LOVE going to the zoo!