Father and Sons' Campout

The campout was April 25-26 at Whitney Pocket.  This is the first year that Connor has gone with our ward for anything in a long time and Don actually hadn't taken the boys on this campout for a few years.  The Elders Quorum had to cook breakfast and so that was right up Don's alley and since he is in the presidency they basically put him in charge.  Connor loves to cook at any event he can so that was good for him.  They made huge breakfast burritos with eggs, sausage, potatoes, green chilis, salsa and cheese.  The motto for Father and Sons should be "what happens at Father and Sons, stays at Father and Sons"!!  There are always many stories the boys some home with from camping and most of these their dad tries to get them not to tell me mostly because I may be a little concerned that their safety was not first priority   This year's story involves getting chased by a bull.  Connor and Caleb went on a 4-wheeler ride with Brother Jackson and his boys.  They were going down a road and kind of in a canyon when they came upon a bunch of cattle.  On their return trip they saw them again but this time there was a bull and he was none to thrilled with their presence.  He started coming toward them and you can imagine the words coming out of Connor's mouth!  A few choice 4-letter words starting with S and D.  He seriously about wet himself.  Brother Jackson had them go up on the sides of the canyon walls a little bit so the bull could not get them and they hurried right out of there!  Cayden visited many campfires the night before just chatting with several of the men mostly asking for stories.  Cayden also go incredibly sunburned.  Not because there was no sunscreen but because there was none applied to his body.  He could not bend his legs Sunday morning to the point that he got to stay home from church and then he missed school on Monday as well because he was walking like a hunched over old man!

Smelly Fort

After the boys got home from the Father and Son's campout Cayden played with his friend Dallin.  They were quite ingenious in building a movie theater in Cayden's room with blankets and video rockers.  They layed in there and watched a movie or two.  They had the door shut.  When they opened it the smell billowed out and if smell had a color it would have been a noxious green cloud.  2 smelly boys who had been camping the night before, covered in dirt and then had the dirt patted down with a little water from a water fight they had outside, playing in an enclosed space for 2 hours= Get a clothes pin and the lysol!  It took all evening to air out that room and I couldn't hardly stand it.  Even with the door closed it was still pretty bad.  Thank goodness for showers and soap and deodorant and Febreeze and Lysol!  

Scout Activities

On Saturday, January 26 the young men in our ward went on their 2nd Annual Brian Head Ski and Snowboard Trip.  Even though Don was not in Young Men anymore he volunteered to go.  They needed him to help drive and he wanted to go skiing so that worked out really well!  They had to get up really early in the morning to meet up with everyone and leave by 5am.  They were able to take lessons in the morning if they wanted and then head to slopes or just ski all day long if they wanted.  Caleb tried snowboarding this time and he said he liked it and was able to go down the bunny hill later in the day.  They headed home around 4:30 and stopped for dinner.  I can't find any pictures of this so I don't think any got taken.

Caleb and Cayden got to participate in the merit badge pow wow that our ward held in February.  There were 3 Wednesday's where they attend different merit badge classes and by the of those they could have 3 merit badges done.  Cayden needed to go to a town board meeting so he went with Sister Boren to one in March.  They both need service hours for their citizenship in the community merit badge and they are taking care of those by volunteering at the fair.  Caleb got his 8 hours done over 2 days and Cayden started his and has 1.5 hours done.  This is really not a hard thing for them to do mostly because they love the fair and any time they can be up there-even when it is not even open yet and even when it is picking up trash or emptying boxes of toilet paper, they are happy to do.  Caleb is really close to having all his merit badges for his Eagle and just needs to finish a few and then figure out a project.

Caleb has been excited about going to YM every week-a fact that I am grateful for.  Right about this age, 14-15, Cody decided that he was done with YM.  It was hard for me not "force" him to go and there were sometimes I insisted but it was a weekly battle to get him to go.  Most of the time I lost.  Caleb usually remembers and doesn't fuss about it at all.  He even goes when it is a deacons activity even though he is a teacher now.  The deacons have a campout atleast once a month and because all the boys are supposed to get their camping merit badge, they all need nights of camping. Brother Barlow invites everyone who want to to go camping with them even it is only his garage or backyard.

Connor has been going to young men activities this year since he turned 16.  That hasn't happened since he was 13.  The youth leaders and others in that ward are very helpful and have accepted him for who he is and he feels much more comfortable there.  He even calls it "my ward" when we are talking about it.  He went to his first campout EVER by himself in February.  This really is a huge deal.  Even when he was 11 and 12 he only went on maybe 2 campouts and Don went with him both times.  Grandpa took him out and stayed with him until about 10 but then Connor stayed the rest of the night by himself and had a great time.  He did most of their cooking on his dutch oven cooking stuff he got for Christmas.  He has been going to some of the Wednesday activities too once in a while.  I really am grateful for that ward in accepting him and loving him and allowing him to be who he is.  That ward is smaller than ours and there are less youth and that makes it easier for him as well.