Month: September 2011

School Carnival

Every year the school has a carnival and we’ve never been before, just because I didn’t want to take a whole bunch of kids to a carnival at the school all by myself. This is the first year that the kids have been in school that Kyle isn’t working a second job, and so he was able to go to. So we decided to go this year. The kids had lots of fun. We got them all wristbands which allowed them unlimited access to all the slides and bounce houses and things like that. And we almost didn’t see them much after that. We got ONE picture:

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We were too busy making sure we KNEW where all the kids were to bother with taking lots of pictures. 🙂 We had a good time and the kids were just so excited to be there, until the carnival was over and we had to go home. Then they cried and cried and cried as they watched the carnival people deflate everything and take down all the game stands and the food stands. I think they cried most of the way home. Why can’t kids just be happy that they got to go in the first place??? We were having a great time until the crying started. 😛

General Relief Society Meeting

I had the opportunity to go to the conference center for the general Relief Society meeting again this year. I think this is the third time that I’ve been. This year I went with several ladies from my ward, and we got there just after the time that we were supposed to be in our seats. But there were women EVERYWHERE outside the conference center waiting to get in. Every other time I’ve been everything has been so organized and they get us all in so quickly. This time there was no order whatsoever. We stood in line waiting for our turn to get in. Once inside we had to have our purses inspected and we had to walk through metal detectors so maybe that is what was taking so long. We didn’t actually get seated until after the opening hymn and opening prayer. I really enjoyed being there though, and I really enjoyed listening to the talks. And it was really nice to spend the evening with some great ladies from my ward. 🙂

Relief Society Retreat

Our ward’s relief society planned it’s second annual retreat for this weekend and I for sure wasn’t going to miss it! This year was a lot colder than last year. Last year it didn’t really get COLD until after dark. This year it was cold and rainy when we got there early in the afternoon.

After unloading the trailer we hung around the fire trying to stay warm. Some of the ladies tried roasting startbursts instead of marshmallows, and thought that was the best thing ever. Just hold them in the fire until they just barely start to bubble and then eat it before it falls off your stick!

We spent the afternoon just sitting around and talking while a few priesthood members made dinner for us. Dinner was good. I think dessert was rather too sweet for me.

The Stake relief society presidency spoke to us some encouraging words. We had a testimony meeting that went late into the night, but since last year’s testimony meeting went until 1:30am or so they decided to make an end time before we even started this year. 🙂

I decided to sleep in the cabin for people who wanted to sleep. The other cabin was for the party animals. I think a LOT of people just came up for the afternoon and dinner and program and then went home. There weren’t very many people left in the morning.

I ended up waking up around 2am feeling like I needed to use the bathroom, so I got up and went on my way, about halfway there I ended up blessing the bushes with some vomit. 🙁 I guess that stomach bug that has been bouncing around from kid to kid finally caught up with me dang it! I was really hoping I wouldn’t get it. I ended up finishing my journey to the bathroom and hung out in there for a bit before heading back to bed.

In the morning I didn’t eat breakfast, I just laid in bed and when the first carload of people were ready to head back home I got in too.

I had a good time despite the nasty stomach bug, and I really enjoyed spending time relaxing with so many amazing ladies the night before I got sick. 🙂

Ethan Gets His Wolf

Ethan had a pack meeting tonight and we knew they were going to be presenting him with a whole bunch of stuff. He had actually finished his Wolf at the end of July, but they forgot about giving it to him at the August pack meeting, and we have been doing scout stuff through the summer months like crazy. So the cub master called him up and presented him with all the progress towards ranks beads, and his wolf, and he had Ethan pin me (which I was prepared for this time 😛 ).

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He also explained arrow points and presented Ethan with one gold and four silver arrow points. Then, since Ethan had also earned several belt loops, the cub master started telling the boys about belt loops. Then as he presented each one to Ethan he read off what they were for and all the kids sounded so excited about the different subjects: archery, bb gun shooting, video games (at this all the boys got REALLY excited and seemed to jump out of their chairs), photography, and wildlife conservation.

I think people were rather impressed with how many things Ethan had earned and I don’t think they realized that he has been working on all these things since he started in January. He just hadn’t been awarded anything before this because at one  pack meeting he had several of the wolf requirements started, but none finished, so they couldn’t give him any of the beads. Then there was July where there was no pack meeting because the boys went to a day camp instead, and he had finished ALL of the wolf trail by the end of July. Then in August they forgot to give him his beads and wolf….So he’s been working on all of this stuff for a really long time and it was just time to get all caught up on giving him the stuff he had earned. 🙂