Blue & Gold Banquet

Each den was in charge of different things for the Blue and Gold Banquet. My partner (Gina) and I were fortunate enough (at least we thought at the time) to be over balloons and confetti. I had envisioned making a huge arch of balloons like you see at most large events and marathons. Little did I know I had NO clue how to do it and how much time it would take to make such a thing. A few hours later we managed to pull together a few bouquets and an arch. Thank heavens for helium!

Jared earned a bead, his religious knot and a couple of belt loops. A year ago if you would have asked me about such awards I could have cared less. Since then, I have found myself pushing and encouraging Jared to try and get something each pack meeting.

Belt loops are one of the easiest things to earn, not to mention I think they are pretty cool. He earned the snowboarding and basketball one this month.

Jenny and Gina with our massive balloon chain.
It looked more like a giant lollipop.

It's always sad to spend so many hours decorating and at the end of the night having to take all of it down. I couldn't leave without taking a photo of our long chain of balloons. As you can see the boys wanted to join in as well. We made the executive decision to let them go in the air. (sorry for all you environmentalist out there I hope we didn't kill any birds). It was super windy and kind of cool to see them float off in the distance.

Momnesia

Yes, this is a REAL term and I suffer from it horribly. (even my daily photo documenting is suffering!) I am not sure why it took my kids to be older before I actually saw the symptoms, but it is what it is. Despite my disorder I seem to be able to function on most occasions. Thumbing back through photos gives me the proof. I do, do something worth while (most of the time) here is just a taste of my life in the past 5 days.....

Thursday I received a photo traffic ticket in the mail. Ouch. I learned they are NOT cheap. I've had such a clean record in the past six years (okay we won't include the car accident a year ago), but seriously no speeding tickets!! The worst part is, there is no way out of it. I couldn't believe how clear the photo of me was driving and how sly the camera was. I still have no idea where I was going at the the time. Between Doug's parking ticket last month and now this it's enough to make us both sick! We have definitely supported our police departments this year. Ha.

This is what you do when you don't have any form of entertainment
digital cameras seem to work out pretty well!

Friday I survived Luke's well check up which included not one, but two shots. He was amazingly a tough cookie. He didn't even budge or complain after being poked. I was also informed my children are extremely short, he currently falls into the 25% for height.

Saturday was our third trek training meeting. While the men learned to butcher chickens, the women were instructed how to make the "perfect" dutch oven bread. Surprisingly, it didn't taste too bad. I'm sure it tastes even better if you are starving (which we will be by day 2!) And for the main course..........Yes we DO have to kill and eat our own chickens!! Beware below post is graphic.

I stepped over to take a peek at the men doing their manly thing. You can't really tell due to all of the hands. But this rooster was alive just an hour before they chopped of it's head, skinned and gutted it (sorry for the graphics) This was to prepare us for what we will be making for dinner on the trek along with stewed vegetables.

Two thumbs up for a successful kill. I am just glad Doug is the one doing this part and not me! 4 trek training meetings down 1 more to go!!

Changing gears, after a dance competition (in the morning and NO photo--sorry Tay!) and a basketball game. Doug headed over to Erik's house aka tool heaven to work on Jared's pinewood derby car. Once again I am not sure who cares more about the car, dad or Jared.

Tiffany, Heather, and me

And because we wanted to add just one more thing to Saturday's agenda.... The Brown's graciously invited us in on their date night with the Hunters. I was pretty hammered, but I don't usually pass up on a good movie. It was pretty intense, but I am an action movie girl. Definitely worth seeing in my book.

Our running pack

Minnie, Tiffany, Amber and I-- (looking scary!)

Today we headed East for the third week in a row to tackle more hills and add a few miles. (11.5 to be exact) Tiffany and Minnie ended up doing their longest run yet. Way to go girls!! We've come along ways since last August where none of us had ran over 6 miles ever (except Amber). I officially lost my first toe nail today (gross I know), but from what I read it comes with the sport. As our race is approaching I am getting excited and anxious. Tomorrow I will be revealing our team, our cause and new shirts.

Tick Tock

Each December I find myself in the very same predicament, over scheduled. Period. Once Thanksgiving is over, December feels more of a blurred month then all 12 put together. Those service projects (why is is always crammed in December?), school events, parties, and extra activities all seem to be scheduled in the month of chaos. Despite feeling stressed, truth be known I am sure I would be a nutcase if I had absolutely NOTHING on the calendar. We seem to complain if there is too much or too little. Such is life.

Muddy Greetings!

As I said last week, my Christmas cards went out. (thanks for all of your nice comments). I do have to disclose I had nothing to do with the creativity of our card. For the past several years I have left the photo up to my husband. This year due to all of my complaining about our dirt backyard he thought it would be fun to make "use" of our land. That we did. My older kids loved every minute of it, my little boys however cried the entire time. It was comical. Much thanks to Courtney for being our photographer!


The first Monday of the month we decided as a family it would be nice to start doing anonymous things for one another. The idea was to write down our deed and place it into the jar. At the end of the month we would go through and read all of the "Christ-like" things we have done. I happened to catch Doug in one of his kind deeds. It's not to often you see a masked man vacuuming your home. This same weekend Doug worked his magic and got the house lights up. After two full days of hard work at last they were done. We even scored a new yard snowman this year. My sister was tired of storing this 3 foot guy so I happily took him off of her hands. It was just what we needed for that extra spruce.

(click to enlarge)

If you have a cub scout or HAD one you definitely can relate to how much the scouting program LOVES service. I think it's great that they teach boys at such a young age. Last Saturday our pack went to bring cookies and act out skits to the elderly. Each boy took around a Christmas card. The most endearing moment was a woman asking Jared for a hug. I think he was a little taken back (from the stiffness of his body) but just look at the cute smile on her face.

Monday 4 of us ran up to the summit of South Mountain. Normally we run in pairs which works out nice, except Amber's jogger happened to have a flat so she went to fix it and we started ahead of her. Even though we were 30 seconds apart I ended up running solo for most of the run. It wasn't terrible until I realized I was alone on a mountain without a phone or water. As I watched a few odd people drive up the hill thoughts of what I would do if something happened began to race through my head. I am most certain a camera would NOT be a good defense weapon. Luckily Tiffany and Tisha ended up catching up to me. We all ended up around the 10 mile mark (5 miles up 5 miles down) which happens to be my personal longest run ever. I won't lie the hills were quite challenging, but it felt great to accomplish that goal. Yay for me!

looking at the climb ahead

The steep 5 mile climb up

Hurray for downhill!

Monday we took the kids to see the temple lights. It truly is amazing how many lights they can cram over the grounds. I think the best part is they are put up all by volunteers. These are one of the trees Doug's young men helped with. After a few minutes of oooing and awing over lights my kids were done. Darn hunger pangs anyhow.

Looking back I can't believe how much we have already managed to cram in the first couple of weeks alone. There is still so much in store. Here it is nearly 2 weeks until Christmas and my shopping isn't done, I have a favorite things party coming up(so excited) and a few other items to check off the calendar. If only I could add an extra week into this month. Unfortunately, the clock keeps on ticking. *Sigh*

Gung Hay Fat Choy

This is my lazy attempt to bring a dessert.
Love my choice of lettering?
Yes, we do love scouts :)

I think we are the last pack to have celebrated blue and gold for cub scouts this year. I was completely oblivious as to what blue and gold was, what it represented, etc. I ventured out to the scout store a few weeks ago and it was then I had my very first lesson in cub scouts. A, it's EXPENSIVE. B, I do wish along with the badges that were required I had known about magic badge. Don't worry I am sure I will be making friends with the scout store peoples (since I have 3 boys), which learned are a little on the gruff side. I bought the book and since then have given myself a crammed lesson about how the scouting program worked. It's actually a great little book that helps better them as an individual and teaches them importance of service, etc.

The spread of goods

I also learned that the blue and gold actually is a fancy party for the scouts birthday. Last night our pack celebrated this special occasion. Apparently the theme is Chinese New Year. Kind of an interesting choice if you ask me. We had chicken, rice and egg rolls (I guess that is as Chinese as we American's can get). The program was short and sweet (we only have 4 cub scouts in our den). Jared was awarded one yellow bead and earned another patch, which I won't be sewing this time--thank you Kelly! Oh, and in case you are wondering Gung Hay Fat Choy is greetings in Chinese. I am learning something each and everyday.

Brother Meinhart and Jared

blessing: having a daughter responsible enough to babysit.