It's that time of the year again. The kids & I were on our own for 6 days while Matt spent the week at Scout camp!
I made plans to keep us pretty busy so we wouldn't go insane. I didn't take pictures this week which was kind of a rebellious move for me. I usually regret it and I do, but it was kinda nice just to go about our days without documenting every move. Makes for a pretty boring blog post, though! ;)
On Monday, we spent a good majority of the day cleaning so I wouldn't feel guilty about going and doing the rest of the week. After Brooklyn had dance, I picked up pizza and we had a movie night at home.
Tuesday morning we went to the library, checked out a bunch of books and went to Target. The library is NOT Preston's favorite place to be. I tried my best to keep him contained in the stroller by giving him DumDum suckers while I was browsing the shelves for books. Blake had a friend's birthday party that evening and I took the other three kids to the ward garden to pick corn.
Wednesday morning we met Jen, Josh, Emily & Adam at the "dumping cup" pool, as my kids call it. We played in the water for a good 4 hours or so before heading home. That night, we had dinner at the Turner's house, another Scout camp widow for the week. ;)
Thursday morning, I may have had a moment of temporary insanity when I allowed each of the kids to invite a friend over to play! It was pretty loud but they all had a great time. :) Blake had karate that afternoon and on the way over, Preston puked up watermelon all over. I got to test the wipeability of the leather seats in our Suburban, which I was very thankful for at that moment!! I had Bunko that night so I got a sitter to come stay with the kiddos. I needed, no DESERVED, a little time away!!
Friday morning I dropped Preston off at a friend's house and I took the older three to the movie theater as a treat for surviving the week. We were the ONLY ones in the theater to see Kung Fu Panda 2!! That night was Brooklyn's dance dress rehearsal and let's just say it was a loooooong night!!
We sure were happy to see Daddy's face, albeit a hairy one, when he walked in the door Saturday morning!! He made me hurry up and take this picture so he could get upstairs to shower and shave it all off!
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Matt's turn to jot down a few notes about his experiences at camp...
This year was the second time our stake decided to do an Aaronic Priesthood Encampment. We did it 2 years ago just after I was put in as Young Men's President. I was excited as this year I had 6 boys going(Tyler Fairbanks, Jared Gurr, Jordan Bowes, Adam Kimble, Wesley Kimble and Lucas Jarman) vs. only 1(Alex Francisco), 2 years ago. We went up to Lake Ashurst(near Flagstaff) for our base camp. The scouts stayed at base camp and got anywhere from 8-12 merit badges. The Varsity scouts were doing an adventure race that consisted of a 15 mile bike ride over rocky terrain that was followed by a little more biking and an 8 mile hike. The Venture Scouts went on a 35 mile backpacking trip that incorporated the Kodiak Leadership Training Program.
We met Monday morning at 2:30am so as to get to base camp in time for the opening games. We had 16 boys in our ward attend and a large number of leaders to help with covering time at camp. The opening games were a lot of fun. They had a 2 person saw competition, jousting, rocket making, blow darts, Wall climb and other COPE games. The boys enjoyed themselves a lot.
Not five minutes of being there Wesley Kimble cut his knee pretty good and Jared Gurr(very tough kid) sprained his ankle. We got them taken care of and prepared our packs. I had met with the boys 2 days earlier to do a pack check to eliminate unnecessary items(lighten the load) and make sure they had everything they need. I was packed at about 35lbs before I added 2 quarts of trail mix, a power aid and my Nikon D40 with 2 lenses. So my pack was about 42lbs. The hike started near lake Ashurst and headed north where it picked up the Arizona Trail. The terrain was extremely rocky and by the half way point nearly everyone had blisters.(I knew I should have tightened my shoe after 5 minutes of walking).
After 7 miles we stopped near a dried up lake where we ate lunch, taught Commission 1 of the kodiak program and had a competition with our homemade sling shots. We initially wanted to use black powder rifles here, but with the fire restrictions we had the boys last minute make their own sling shots. The boys thoroughly enjoyed making sling shots. Some of them made 3-4.
Just as we were heading out I saw our varsity boys scramble past on the trail riding their bikes. They looked beat and were dreading the next 8 miles to Marshal lake as much as my boys.
As we started out Jordan was dehydrated and started getting the runs. I gave him a pepto bismol tablet and Tyler and I carried his pack. Tyler always found a way to carry the pack longer than me. Several times leaders on 4-wheelers(Rocky was one of the leaders) or a Rhino insisted on dropping the pack on the vehicle, but we insisted on carrying it. Tyler is such an amazing boy. He is so selfless and with his physical prowress can do many things. Wes also gave up his pack. I offered to carry it as well, but it reminded me too much of his old house where they had 60 cats.
The hike was difficult and broke the boys down physically(exactly what I wanted). Everyone was tired and sore. I was sore in places I had never been sore(mainly my hips). As Jordan prepared our backpacking meal, I had each boy come sit down with me as I attended to their feet.
The boys and myself had wished we had packed lighter. That night we completed our 2nd Kodiak Commission and went to bed early. I have struggled with sleeping in the confinement of a backpacking sleeping bag, but my small air mattress(Peak Elite AC Long 17oz) helped me relax.
The second day we grabbed our camelbacks and went canyoneering near Aspen Point. The hike was 6-7 miles. I stayed back to wait for Brother Russell to join us. It was great having Brother Russell there because up until this point I had felt alone even though I was camping near Derek and Brother Glenn. Everyone was pretty far ahead of us and I wanted to be there to encourage my boys. Brother Russell and I ran a good majority of the way down the canyon even though my blisters were screaming. It was great when we met up with the boys in a small cave. I made sure I was sprinting down the hill to them. I wanted them to know you can enjoy hard things and "endure it well." We went a little further to another cave that was pretty cool. Everyone was tired except for Tyler who was climbing any hill he could see.
The hike out wasn't too bad because the boys knew we had a big meal at base camp waiting for us. We had some time to work on Survival Bracelets and do a few COPE games. We then taught Commission 4 and went to sleep.
We lightened our loads the next day(giving unneeded items to Brother Russell) and with our full packs headed on our 9 mile hike to the other side of Lake Mary that stretched to about 11 miles when we were done with it. I was impressed that all the boys carried their packs and were in much better spirits than the first day. They had already benefited from doing hard things. They knew they could hike 11 miles. We kept ourselves entertained doing the alphabet game, singing songs or attempting to answer some of Scott Potter's crazy riddles. We were short on water this time as our supply point did not bring enough and some of our boys thought 2 small water bottles would be sufficient for an 11 mile hike. As Adam made dinner that night we taught Kodiak Commission 5 and did the Closing.
The next morning was the end of our hike(~3 miles) and my boys were packed and walking out at 6:30am. We finished with a raft building competition which the boys enjoyed.
We arrived at base camp about 10:00am and I thoroughly enjoyed the shower that was waiting for me. The boys had free time where they shot guns at the gun range, but they were all eager to return to camp and work on survival bracelets. I had learned how to do it and then taught Tyler Fairbanks how to do it. Who would have thought it would be such a big hit! It spread like fire in our ward and before we knew it Tyler Fairbanks and few other boys had helped make ~50 bracelets for a number of boys outside our camp.
That night we had our Stake Fireside. Our boys did a skit on Virtue where a small deacon beat some older ventures and their leader at stick pull because of his "inner strength", his virtue.
Later that night we had our Bishop's Testimony Meeting. This is my favorite part of being a leader. I love to hear the boys testify of the things I am trying to teach them. My favorite picture of me in scouting was leading the testimony meeting 2 years ago around a campfire. I sure do love these boys! It was a fantastic camp! I know this is where I need to be serving in the church. I see who they are and only wish they could understand and realize their own potential.
Scout Camp was fantastic! One of the best parts of it was that I was able to do it with my brother Derek.(He is YM President in the neighboring ward) We have always had an amazing relationship and enjoy being together especially when it involves the outdoors. I can't wait until I get the opportunity to do these things with my own sons. The week is long and I often think back on my beautiful wife Lindsay and my wonderful children. My second most important memory of Scout camp from 2 years ago is still hanging on the door to the garage where my kids made a sign that says "Welcome home Daddy!" I love my family tremendously and appreciate their sacrifice of letting me go and serve the Young Men in our ward.
At least for 6 months until the baby is born! I've done the math and I've had kids in diapers for 8 years straight! This is the first time ever I'll have a break with diaper changes before a new baby comes.
